Following the IP address, can they find my home?
Latest update time：2024-01-09
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Author : Ruiyue, biu
Editor: Sleeping Chong
Since last year, major Internet platforms have successively displayed user IP addresses, but
users cannot choose to turn this feature on or off.
The first to be discovered were a number of accounts certified as "local information bloggers" and "overseas information bloggers". The IP addresses did not match the data addresses.
Some people support the platform forcing users to display their IP address in the foreground. They believe that this will restrain some people, at least they will not be able to pretend to be in a certain place. Pretending to be someone else will have an additional distinguishing factor, and news that happens in the "fake scene" will also be self-defeating; There are also many people who doubt that they are now equivalent to running naked on the street, and their personal privacy will continue to be eroded.
It should be noted that
the basis for establishing a connection between the user and the platform is IP. The IP addresses of both the sending and receiving parties must be disclosed, and the user's IP information will be recorded by the platform server.
This is also the reason why even if the user turns off device positioning, the platform can still obtain IP location information.
Image source: Unsplash
Currently, these platforms disclose the user's IP address rather than the IP address, which is generally only marked at the provincial level.
In October 2021, "displaying user IP location" has been reflected in the "Regulations on the Management of Internet User Account Name Information (Draft for Comment)" issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Among them, it is required that the Internet user account service platform should display the account IP address location information in a prominent manner on the Internet user account information page. Domestic users must be marked with the province (autonomous region, city), and the overseas account IP address location information must be marked with the country ( area).
People are worried that IP will leak their privacy, and they are worried that someone will use this information to accurately locate individuals, or use it to gain more information about themselves.
IP, the house number of the online world
In reality, people use longitude and latitude to mark geographical locations; in cyberspace, people rely on IP addresses.
This is a typical IPv4 address, divided into four parts and eight numbers in total | Wikipedia
An IP address is an address defined by the IP protocol. The IP protocol here is the TCP/IP communication protocol.
In the 1970s and 1980s, when people first started trying to connect to the Internet, the Internet was not like it is today, with the World Wide Web (WWW) being the only one. At that time, different types of networks such as the Computer Science Research Network, ALOHA Network, Internet, and ARPANET appeared, and information exchange between them became a problem.
As a result, some people began to study the "language" that computer networks commonly adhere to. Finally in 1978, Stanford University professor Vint Cerf and project manager Rob Kahn developed the TCP/IP communication protocol. Now, all computers on the network can "talk".
The two inventors of TCP/IP | Wikipedia
By 1983, ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet, officially ran TCP/IP.
Among them, IP determines the addressing method, the encapsulation structure of the data packet, and ultimately allows the data to be transmitted from the source host to the destination host. People often compare IP addresses to house numbers on the Internet. Person A in this house can only "visit" if he knows B's "house number".
At this time, some people changed their houses into service places such as schools and shops. They felt that the eight-digit pure IP address (IPv4 version) was difficult to remember, so they invented a "domain name system" - DNS. From then on, domain names (such as www.xxx.com) and IP addresses (such as 192.168.xx) are mapped to each other, and access to either can reach the destination. Of course, everyone will choose a domain name that is easier to remember.
It can be said that the Internet is essentially the sum of visits from one IP address to another IP address. Here, the IP address is the most basic unit, and every connected device has it.
IP addresses are often assigned, in a sense, the user does not own it.
Image source: Unsplash
Specifically, when you use your home broadband to connect to the Internet, the operator will assign an IP address to this broadband, and any device connected to it will share the same IP address. When you use a mobile signal to access the network, an IP address is assigned by a nearby mobile base station. As you move, the base station IP you obtain will continue to change.
In addition, there is also a way to connect to the Internet through the Internet Data Center (IDC). Compared with mobile signals and broadband, the IP number range used by the IDC computer room is relatively fixed.
Whether it is an operator, a base station or a data center, they all have real geographical affiliations, so the IP addresses issued by them indicate these locations like telephone area codes. For example, 220.181.22.1 is for Telecom in Beijing, and 210.22.84.3 is for China Unicom in Shanghai. The location of these IP addresses can be easily found by searching.
To sum up,
in reality, people can find your home directly if they know your house number, but in cyberspace, knowing your IP address, the "house number", may not necessarily be able to find this device. specific location.
Because IP can be moved and changed.
Some network usage habits will lead to changes in IP ownership. For example, many companies that value data security will require employees to use a "proxy" when working in non-encrypted network environments such as hotels. This is equivalent to intercepting data midway and allowing the data to After the destination is changed to another address, it will be transmitted to you from that address. In addition, using public Wi-Fi may also lead to the hiding of specific device IPs.
There is one more piece of “exposed” information
People expose too much information online, and now there is the addition of IP territoriality.
This time, when various network platforms disclose their IP addresses, one of the concerns stems from the invasion of privacy. As a popular comment said,
starting from IP, followed by regions, streets, communities, building numbers, house numbers, and ID cards, people are worried that privacy will be eroded step by step.
If you only look at the IP address, this worry may be unnecessary. Even if the specific address number is known, the country/region/city, latitude and longitude, IP host name, Internet service provider and other information are mainly displayed during the query.
Information that can be directly linked to an individual, such as the user's name, exact address, phone number, etc., is difficult to obtain by relying solely on the IP address.
Image source: Unsplash
Wang Congwei, deputy director of the Legal Professional Committee of the Beijing Network Industry Association, said that
currently the IP ownership range only shows the province or country, without direct pointing, and it is impossible to associate the IP of a certain province with a specific individual.
But the platform not only masters IP information, the various data they obtain can still restore most of a person's information.
Taking a mainstream platform as an example, its user agreement shows that the information it obtains from users includes user identity and authentication information (such as natural person identity, account number, basic information), usage process information (such as location, contacts) and device attribute information. . If the user uses specific services, further information such as ID number, facial recognition characteristics, payment account number, etc. will be collected accordingly.
In addition, the content published by individuals on the platform, friend relationships, activity traces, etc. also fall within the scope of platform information collection.
Social platforms are usually anonymous on the front end and real-name on the backend. The "Internet User Account Name Information Management Regulations" that came into effect in 2015 proposed for the first time an "online real-name system", which requires Internet information service providers to follow the principle of "backend real-name, front-end voluntary" and requires Internet information service users to pass real identity information authentication Then register an account. Zuo Xiaodong, a professor at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Science and Technology of China, said in an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily:
"
Because China implements an online real-name system, every netizen may be accurately traced
- which also means that if problems arise, they can be dealt with through subsequent administrative procedures. level of supervision without having to disclose the location in advance.”
In fact, in addition to privacy, there is a concern that it is the location information, combined with other information, that will add other meanings to the display of IP location. For example, it promotes "regional blackness" and presets speech attitudes through local information. What's more, this disclosure of IP territory has not been approved by users, and the legal basis that can be adhered to has not officially come into effect.
Image source: Unsplash
Leaking privacy and infringing on personal rights are always comprehensive gains.
how should i protect myself
Yang Caiguang, a lawyer from Liaoning Changxin Law Firm, said in an interview with Southern Metropolis Daily that
the information disclosed by IP addresses belongs to the category of personal information and does not yet involve user privacy rights.
In the era of website forums, people can speak without logging in and rely on IP addresses to identify each other. There was also a third-party auxiliary software based on Tencent QQ - Coral. One of its biggest features is to obtain the IP address of each other's friends and convert it into an Internet area.
But today, people’s desire to express themselves and the level of publishing on the Internet are completely different. In a sense, IP is not a completely independent data. It is often strongly bound to people's life information.
In some tutorials introducing "human flesh", a malicious person only needs to use a packet capture tool and make a phone call to the other party, and the latter's IP information will be "phished". Then, they will use the IP query website to roughly locate the IP, and then import it into the latitude and longitude analysis website, etc... and then go to relevant websites to query which platforms the victim has registered for, and continue to collect the other party's information on various platforms.
Rather than IP exposing the victim's true location, people sometimes share photos with precise location information. Because when they take pictures on their mobile phones, the camera often turns on geolocation by default.
Therefore, hide location information when sharing photos and turn off the "precise location" option in settings to prevent malicious people from learning your specific location from just one photo.
In iOS 15, "All photo data" can be unchecked on the image sharing page｜Provided by the author
In addition, first “human flesh” yourself on search engines and online platforms, pay attention to which information about yourself has been exposed, and try to delete information you do not want to expose; on each platform, you can use different user names and personal information, and avoid setting the password to the same format and content.
Image source: Unsplash
Finally, beware of software from unknown sources and avoid installing malware. Once compromised, personal privacy including personal accounts, passwords, photos, shopping records, itinerary records, etc. will be stolen.
Hackers will integrate and analyze the leaked user data, archive it together, and build a "social engineering library" to make profits. Inquiring into and building a social work database is an act prohibited by the state, and in serious cases one will be held criminally responsible. However, current phenomena indicate that social engineering libraries are still active in the underground industrial chain of the Internet.
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