Question:
How does IP address tracing work?
Mo
2012-03-07 22:37:48 UTC
I'm a little confused as to how tracing an IP address works.

Let's say someone takes their personal laptop to a local wifi hotspot (a McDonalds or something) and sends a message they don't want anyone to know had come from them. How would that work if someone wanted to find out who the sender is and traced the IP address?

Does the IP address just lead them to the McDonalds the sender was bumming Internet from? Or could it lead them all the way back to that persons laptop?
Seven answers:
Faisal
2012-03-07 23:08:24 UTC
simple open this website and you will amaze...

:D

you will see all details regarding your IP.

http://www.tracemyip.org/





Geolocation systems generally function for their intended purpose(s) but also suffer from some important limitations.

How Is IP Address Location Used?

Geolocation can be used in several different cases:



Managing Web sites - Webmasters can use a geolocation service to track the geographic distribution of visitors to their site. Besides satisfying general curiosity, advanced Web sites can also dynamically change the content shown to each visitor based on their location. These sites may also block access to visitors from certain countries or locales.



Finding spammers - Individuals being harassed online often want to trace the IP address of email or instant messages.



Enforcing the law - The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other agencies may use geolocation to find people illegally swapping media files on the Internet, although typically they work directly with Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

What Are the Limitations of Geolocation?

IP address location databases have greatly improved in accuracy over the years. They may attempt to map each network address to a specific postal address or latitude/longitude coordinate. However, various limitations still exist:



IP addresses may be associated with the wrong location (e.g., the wrong postal code, city or suburb within a metropolitan area).



Addresses may be associated only with a very broad geographic area (e.g., a large city, or a state). Many addresses are associated only with a city, not with a street address or latitude/longitude location.



Some addresses will not appear in the database and therefore cannot be mapped (often true for IP numbers not commonly used on the Internet).



Can WHOIS Be Used for Geolocation?

The WHOIS database was not designed to locate IP addresses geographically. WHOIS tracks the owner of an IP address range (subnet or block) and the owner's postal address. However, these networks may be deployed in a different location than that of the owning entity. In the case of addresses owned by corporations, addresses also tend to be distributed across multiple different branch offices. While the WHOIS system works well for finding and contacting owners of Web sites, it is a highly inaccurate IP location system.

Where Are Some Geolocation Databases?

Several online services allow you to search for the geographic location of an IP address by entering it into a simple Web form. Two popular services are Geobytes and IP2Location. Each of these services utilizes a proprietary databases of addresses based on Internet traffic flow and Web site registrations. The databases were designed for use by Webmasters and can be purchased as a downloadable package for that purpose.

What Is Skyhook?

A company named Skyhook Wireless has built a geolocation database of a different kind. Their system is designed to capture the Global Positioning System (GPS) location of home network routers and access points, which may also include residential street addresses. The Skyhook system is not publicly available. However, its technology is being used in the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) "Near Me" plug-in.

What About Hotspot Databases?

Thousands of wireless hotspots are available for public use around the world. Various online databases exist for finding Wi-Fi hotspots which map a hotspot's location including its street address. These systems work well for travelers seeking Internet access. However, hotspot finders provide only the network name (SSID) of the access point and not its actual IP address.
2012-03-08 02:18:57 UTC
When behind a router (@ McD's for instance) all connected units are given a Private IP; known only to the router. Specific machines are given this IP which is associated with that machines NIC card, which has it's singular MAC address. Traffic to and from that machine is coordinated by employing that Private IP.

(The Public IP is the address given to McD's, which is the one 'seen' by all the other 'Net connected machines. Machines behind the router are not 'seen' from the Public Internet.)

The only way to identify traffic to/from that MAC, would be to use a detailed router 'logging' function; and have cameras or some kind of registration-by-ID, where users have to provide some identification to access the LAN resources.



Without some form of association with a person, the 'logs' would only give MAC numbers...which of course can be spoofed, and therefore are not reliable, and inadmissible in a court of law.
2014-08-20 12:57:39 UTC
The best avaiable service is surely Reverse Phone Lookup.



You can check the website here: http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=538



The free reverse phone lookup sites generally doesn't provide anything interesting. To get interesting information, you should spend a bit of money. The free searches do not provide much more than what can be found through the phone book or personal knowledge and they only want your email to send spam. You should stay away from shady reverse phone lookup sites, most likely you won't get any information after you make the payment. Stick with a reputable reverse phone lookup site like http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=538 that has been on the market for a lot of years.



With their reverse cell phone lookup tool you can find out information behind any cell or land line number. Type in the persons cell phone number and you will be given access to their report, including name cell and land line numbers, and address.



It can be used also for a much deeper search. People wanting to get hold of all kinds of background reports, as well as cell phone numbers, addresses and names..



If I remember well there are 2 options:



Basic:

You get only one report.

[acabo]Advanced:



You get unlimited reports... I went with this option because I wanted to verify more numbers. You can get the name, other phone number, address history, relatives, and much more about anyone!



Anyway you can check on the website for further informations. Hope it helps! :)
Miha L
2012-03-08 07:47:43 UTC
You can learn how IP address tracing works with help of free IP trackers:

http://www.ip-address.org

http://www.ipaddresslocation.org

http://www.find-ip-address.org



You will get good idea how for example email tracking works.
JefferyV
2017-01-20 07:09:04 UTC
1
Chaython Meredith
2012-03-07 22:39:38 UTC
I could scan the IP address of your laptop or mobile device so whenever it is connected to wifi I know where you are... I can scan it thrue basically anything such as your yahoo question...
?
2016-09-16 14:01:37 UTC
it depends...


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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