Alright, so I'm on AIM and I find a name on my list that I don't know. I IM them and they say hello followed by a pause, then my first and last name. They said where I live, who lives with me, the vehicles we own, and all kinds of stuff. So I'm throughly weirded out and I want to know how does a person obtain this information with only and IP address. Thanks alot - Matt

I want to know how does a person obtain this information with only and IP address It's more likely that this is someone who already knew these things and is just using AIM to mess with you. If all the things they know are things that you've talked about in chats/email/etc, you may want to look into the possibility that a keylogger found its way into your comp.

A lot of that information is available on the web: if you ever registered with a site that asked for you IM information you may have been sold to some credit reporting agency or whatever and they can look you up now using only your IM address. You might look up the resources here: http://www.privacyrights.org/netprivacy.htm If you're interested in finding out how much can be discovered about you online w/o your knowledge.