Jibbler

Just a quick question regarding internet security. I've read the threads in the past about IP addresses and how they are handled by Rick, our webmaster (for those that don't know, your IP address is not logged on this site per the webmaster).

I'm curious about one thing. If you link from one page to another while surfing, other websites can log your IP and also the "referring page" that sent you.

So my question is, can LEO investigate your internet actions based on the records from other sites? I mean, if I'm here reading about how to grow pot, then I surf over to Yahoo, or my financial institution's website, or say I get linked from here to the FBI website, is there any action they can take?

3hounds

I only go to and from this site by way of one my own personal pages that I designed as a home page. My site is on a server I trust. I open the browser, come here, then close the browser. I usually keep another one open for "legit" surfing.

I would never go straight from here to say... Microsoft updates or something like that. Scary!

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FrostyBong

You should use a proxy to hide your real ip address. When you use a proxy you are connecting to the proxy server and having the proxy server connect to the website and it relays the data back to your computer. So the webserver sees the proxy servers IP instead of yours. All you need to use a proxy is a IP and port number for a anonymous proxy server. You can find huge lists of them on these sites.

StayInvisible.com
FindProxy.com
AllProxies.com

Once you found one then on the top menu of Internet Explorer click Tools / Internet Options / Connections / LAN Settings. Now check the "Use a proxy server" and "Bypass proxy server for local addresses" check boxes. Next enter the IP Address and Port number of the proxy server and your done!

To double check it and make sure the proxy is working simply go to GRC.com and click on "Test My Shields!" If it is working correctly you should see the IP address of the proxy server you entered and not your real IP address.

Every once in a while the proxy server might go down so you can't connect to the internet as long as your computer is trying to connect to the proxy server. All you have to do is uncheck the "Use a proxy server" and your back online and can find another proxy server thats up.

dopenose

Webservers(the application that hosts webpages) often log visits, for many harmless purposes,most of the time for pretty stats about usage and hits,pageviews, etc etc. If the sysadmin decideds to log its really no big deal because all it logs is your ipaddress and what you looked at, and the type of browser you use. The FBI would have to subpoena the server(the computer that runs the site) and go through literally thousands of lines of redudant crap. But even then they would have to have a warrant and a reason. The most people do here is discuss growing and laws, I don't know or believe anything illegal is going on. The constitution allows us (US citizens) to discuss these topics (1st amendment). I have been doing systems administration for large sites like this for a long time, and when I say sites like this, I mean ones with "controversial topics", and in that amount of time I have only seen one person get busted for a questionable porn site. Your ip address is a public address the most of us lease from our internet service providers. Most of the time your ip is dynamic -- to semi-dynamic which means it changes every so often. So often you visit the site with one ip and then the next you visit you have different one, which makes it semi difficult to track. You could use a proxy server like someone suggested but often times public ones can be slow due to large use, and even then proxy servers log ip addresses. So in short I don't think you have anything to worry about, just don't come on here and talk about things that are forbidden like selling and things forbidden to be spoken about by the first amendment. So sit back, relax, learn,participate in discussions and have a good time.

Jibbler

I'm not really worried about my security online, more my curiousity. I'm on a cable connection, so my IP is static, sometimes for weeks at a time. However I believe internet records would be viewed more as an extension of basic communication than phone records, and thus much harder to obtain by LEO. LEO usually keeps things simple. I'd be more worried about my nosey neighbors.

A while ago, someone posted a browser check for security purposes on this site. When you went there, it listed all the info they could gather on you, based on your internet settings. Does anyone remember that link?

DanRather

I go to http://www.sygate.com to do a security check. One thing I have noticed using a proxy IP is that I have open ports when I just use my firewall in my cable router I am locked up tigther than a drum. If you want to be using proxy server software pretty seriously download some good software for your PC and yes you will have to pay for it. Or you could get Mandrake 9.0 server pack and use apache as your proxy server and firewall. But regardless it takes some work to trace a IP back to you NO MATTER who is doing it. But then again hackers use IP's to bounce around too. I agree with the earlier post just use some common sense and you will be ok.

FrostyBong

When your using a proxy and you go to sygate, its scanning the proxy server and not your computer. So all the open ports it says are the proxy servers. Your computer is still secure.

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DanRather

Thanks Frosty Damn why did'nt I think of t hat.

Jibbler

Can someone explain why the IP addresses are logged for people who post over on cheaptalk? In each post, there is a small tagline that says "IP:Logged". Over here in the garden area, the posts don't have this. I was under the impression that our IP address were not logged on this site. As far as I know, Cheaptalk is a sister site of marijuana.com. Can anyone offer any thoughts regarding this? Thanks in advance--

Jibbler

dopenose

The message board they use logs the ip address. Really, you don't have anything to worry about. Most of the time it is used for statistical purposes.