Proxy Server

[Jazzy]

Since I am using a dial up connection, I have an outside internet service provider. I'm finding that several websites will not allow me to register. I'm guessing that it's because of the proxy server from my internet provider.

Some sites, I have no problem but others just give me a message: You are not allowed to register and your IP has been banned.



Just wondering, if you're a site owner, do you block proxy server IP addresses?

 

[Evil Eye]

And that's why a judge ruled that IP addresses can't be used to identity people.



Banning public proxies is a reasonable thing to do. Banning an IP shared by multiple people per default is not. But how can you tell the difference?

 

[Jazzy]

To an extent I can understand it. But why not give a person the benefit of the doubt? I mean if that member registers and starts crap on the forum, that's one thing and they can easily be banned. A member, like myself, who has a lot to contribute to a site is not even given a chance.

 

[Evil Eye]

Yes, but suppose an IP address is used by five (pick a number >1) people. One of these is a troll/flamer/spammer, you name it. This person keeps creating accounts over and over again (after being banned, obviously). Now, you can't really stop them from doing that, but banning their IP goes a long way (combined with banning every free proxy server you can find*). By doing so you also unknowingly banned these four other users. Unless some of these others were already using your service, you can't know that'll happen.

This problem persists as long as you can't identify people but IPs.



*Note that this doesn't block actual users, just servers only used for the express purpose of hiding one's identity. (So, not a big deal unless you're some sort of major political outlet for people in dictatorships.)

 

[Jazzy]

What then happens when people hide their IP addresses?

 

[Evil Eye]

What then happens when people hide their IP addresses?

Ultimately that's simply impossible.

To get a response (a webpage for example) you have to send your IP so said webpage knows where to go. The only thing you can do is use intermediaries (proxies), you send a request to them to send a request to some other site. The proxy still knows your IP, your ISP still knows your IP... Privacy is a lie.

Having said that, as long as your ISP doesn't care what you're doing and your proxy doesn't care what you're doing, you're golden.

 

[Jazzy]

I'm golden and now my IP is probably on some blacklist somewhere. Oh well, might as well just stay here and reek havoc!

 

[Evil Eye]

Reek?

Maybe you could ask for an IP change. Wouldn't count on them doing it, but you could try.

 

[Jazzy]

Maybe you could ask for an IP change. Wouldn't count on them doing it, but you could try.

Meh, it isn't worth the effort. If those other sites don't want me then I'll keep reeking here!

 

[Evil Eye]

Lovely

They don't even know they don't want you though!

 

[DrLeftover]

Ahhh, point of order, IP addresses may not be able to be hidden but they can be spoofed, and have been for a long time.

Criminals have long employed the tactic of masking their true identity, from disguises to aliases to caller-id blocking. It should come as no surprise then, that criminals who conduct their nefarious activities on networks and computers should employ such techniques. IP spoofing is one of the most common forms of on-line camouflage. In IP spoofing, an attacker gains unauthorized access to a computer or a network by making it appear that a malicious message has come from a trusted machine by “spoofing” the IP address of that machine. In this article, we will examine the concepts of IP spoofing: why it is possible, how it works, what it is used for and how to defend against it.

http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/ip-spoofing-introduction





More

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ac123/ac147/archived_issues/ipj_10-4/104_ip-spoofing.html