# What exactly can you tell from my I.P. address?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 13, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040 "2003-03-13T05:05:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040/21 "2003-03-13T15:05:13Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by galen \*  
> \*\*Which court? Ashcroft’s secret security court which nobody knows about? \*\*

**Galen** : be careful. Take a gander at [this sticky](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=166558) concerning political pot-shots in GQ. Remember: factual answers only; steer clear of political opinions.

And then take a look at [the repercussions](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=168966) of ignoring the sticky.

**Manhattan** is one mean twinkie that don’t fool around.

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**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040/22 "2003-03-13T15:13:52Z")

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You might also happen to have used some service where your IP/fqdn will be stored and searchable.

Some ftp sites e.g. will have their usage statistics/transfer logs online, sometimes this will include IPs - mostly for the top users( try a google search for “ftp statistics for”).

Another example could be mailinglist archives, if the headers are stored/shown, this could enable me to find some of your interrests/communications.

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040/23 "2003-03-13T15:17:26Z")

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As a side note, dynamic addresses are often not very dynamic. My DSL provider uses long DHCP leases and will give me the same address for a month or two. They’ll even reissue it to me if I have to re-connect. Dynamic in this case just means “won’t guarantee it will the stay the same”.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-can-you-tell-from-my-i-p-address/161040/24 "2003-03-13T15:29:31Z")

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TMP, you might enjoy this web site:  
[http://www.visualware.com/visualroute/](http://www.visualware.com/visualroute/)

It shows a world map of your connection & other things & they have a free page where you can try it out.

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