Re: hi

From: "Lucy Stutz" <Lestutz@AOL.COM>
To: <CREED-DISCUSS@WINDUPLIST.COM>
Date: Thu
9 Aug 2001 20:14:53 EDT

In a message dated 8/9/2001 10:46:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
NightStorm_Draco_@HOTMAIL.COM writes:


An IP address is more like a finger-print... no two are the same.  When you
log onto the internet, your ISP (basically a network server computer)
assigns your computer an IP, totally independent from any and all other
computers on the planet.  ISP's usually have an entire block (or several
blocks) of IP addresses... and it just happened that Logan's was assigned to
him by a local ISP out of Columbus, Ohio (his actual ISP was a larger
company serving the Ohio and the surrounding areas, and used more local
routers to actually supply the Internet... kinda like how AOL and MSN and
CompuServe and those other big-name annoyances distribute their services).
Usually, you can figure out where a person is from town-wise simply by
performing a DNS lookup on the IP (preferably while the person is online),
and in some cases you can go so far as to perform a finger, which will (in
most cases) give you the actual ISP info, like a mailing address, a list of
administrators, and contact phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
All of this is very helpful if you ever need to file a formal complaint
against someone with their ISP... like, taking as an example, I run a chat
server, and often chat there in my free time... and I get, on average, 3 or
4 DOS attacks focused on my computer during that time (DOS = Denial Of
Service, specifically "Protocol Unreachable" DOS Packets).  A very basic and
crude form of attack, but usually effective when focused on a PC that isn't
running a firewall... one of the things that I'll like about switching to a
Linux system, other than being able to set up Shell Accounts (which last I
checked wasn't an option with Windows), is the ability to install packet
filters... must more convenient and effective than a wall.



Thank you for this.  I thought I knew alot about computers!  You know more!

Lucy