I'm wondering how is it someone can trace an IP address on a message board? How do you know which poster's IP address you're getting? Is a tracing program used? What information besides the IP address cis revealed?

I'm sure some of you can see my IP address posted, but my question is how? How can I find someone's IP address on a message board, instant messaging, emails, etc? I'm not asking for malicious purposes, I'm geninuely interested because I don't understand it.

Can I block my IP address from others who are trying to trace it?

Also when I type in IPCONFIG at a dos prompt I get a different IP address when I use a website such as www.whatismyipaddress.com

Thanks in advance

When you run IPCONFIG you are looking at your local IP for your home network. I presume you are referring to the standard 192.168.1.x IP address? That's not your real IP. You're running XP right?

Are you behind a router? Open another browser window, and delete the Http:// part. Type in 192.168.1.1 just like that. Assuming you have the router of course. For this example I'm using a Linksys (hopefully you have one..) A box will pop up asking for a login and password. If you've never been here before, it's simply "admin" for both. Now the settings for the router load. Up along the top you'll see links. Click the one that says "Status". Here you will find your actual IP address listed as "Default Gateway". Does this match what you get at www.whatsismyip.com?

As for blocking it I'm afraid I can't answer that. Personally I don't care that someone sees mine. The likelihood of anything coming of it is slim as far as I'm concerned.

Now with regard to your message board question, well that is different. On all the message boards I've ever been to there was an option to allow or not allow all members to see IP addresses. MOST good boards do not allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to see your IP. They only let the staff like mods and admins see it. This is usually because staff might need to ban someone by their IP or range of IP addresses. So if you're concerned about your address showing up I'd contact the board staff and as. On forums such as Invision Boards or Ikonboards there is a link at the bottom of each post that you can tell is where they log IPs, but as a regular member you will see something like all 0s or something but not the real address.

To carry on from dashwood, you cannot block your IP Address, it is part of the TCP/IP protocol that you use to communicate over the Internet.

You IP address is embedded into the header of every packet you send out. That is so that the receiver know where to send any information back to. You can hide you IP address by using a proxy then all the receiver sees is the proxy address and the proxy keeps tabs on who sent what and when.

However, knowing your IP address is no big deal. All that can be gleaned from it is the name of you ISP. You ISP will know who owns that IP address but they are unlikely to reveal it without good cause and court order.

Stuart

Thanks for replies and yes I get the same IP address when I type 192.168...

The reason why I was asking is because I was on a message board and there was a person with multiple fake accounts and another member posted a message sayin he traced the IP address it all ended up being the same person. I was just wondering how he did this, and if he's allowed to do this or if he's bluffing. I know many people have fake accounts on message boards and I don't really care about that, I guess my question/concern is if another member (not admin) can see IP address.

I don't care about my IP address being displayed as long as no other personal information is revealed but I'm a little bit paranoid because one time I was on ICQ and someone message using my real name even though I never revealed it to anyone.

I do have a firewall and I check it against www.grc.com and it always passes.

Thanks again

There are sites out there like this one where if you know the IP you can trace.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/pinkypimpette/151028.html?view=169460#t169460

You can also use WhoIs.
http://sunny.nic.com/cgi-bin/whois

Sorry. That first link isn't what I meant to paste. Silly me didn't copy it first.

http://visualroute.visualware.com/

That's the other one I meant.

With a program like WhoIS you already an IP address to trace, what if you want to obtain the IP address itself?

I've also heard that an IP can only be traced if a person sends info, such as an email...so was this person bluffing? How can an IP address being obtained from an email?

re: email & IP.

send your self an email. hotmail is a good way to test. go to OPTIONS in hotmail, mail display settings, change message headers to advanced. then go read the email you sent. Your IP address will be listed as

X-Originating-IP : xx.xx.xx.xx

any email service that will display the header will tell the IP addy of who sent the email.