Do Yahoo, Google, YouTube, etc keep track of your IP address

[leoblob]

Just wondering... I don't like the idea of being watched all the time

[aaa]

Yes.

And cookies too, for when your IP changes.

To get around it you'd have to disable cookies and use a proxy.

[jdhurst]

Or, just use a secure, password-protected router. Then, they only know the IP and can't do much about it. ... JDH

[leoblob]

OK... trying to understand here... I delete cookies multiple times per day, anyway, so that part is covered. I have an 8-port hard wired router to share my high-speed connection out to the world. Will this do it? I mean, doesn't the router have an individually-identifiable IP address?

And BTW, I don't do anything "bad" here at all... I'm just not interested in bad stuff... plus, my computer is where my wife or kid could walk up behind me at any time... I just don't like being watched (ask my dog about that ).

[aaa]

A router won't do anything for that. The problem is with them 'only' knowing the IP.

[jdhurst]

If you are behind a secured router, people outside can't get to your PC (they sure cannot get to mine). So if they can't get to your PC, they cannot do much (other than that they already know your cookie). They also know what you are doing on their site as well. ... JDH

[aaa]

It's not a break-into-computer thing, it's a creepy-feeling-you-get thing when say Google's targeted ads apparently have some interesting info on you that they picked up from your web browsing habits a few months ago. And they're the up front ones about it, who knows what the other guys are doing.

[rkawakami]

I have an 8-port hard wired router to share my high-speed connection out to the world. Will this do it? I mean, doesn't the router have an individually-identifiable IP address?

Yes, your broadband "modem" is assigned an IP address by your ISP and which is what each site you visit could see. If you have a static IP address then there's not much you can do to hide that besides using a proxy. If you have a dynamic IP address then you could basically change it any time you want to by power-cycling your modem (at least that's what happens with my AT&T DSL service). Your individual computers behind the router cannot be "seen" by the outside world unless you specifically set up your router to open ports or forward traffic.

[leoblob]

Right, I understand... the cable modem is assigned an IP address... the modem connects to the router and whatever happens on the LAN side of the router is obscured from the rest of the world. BUT the IP address of my cable modem itself is "known."

We do have a dynamic IP address from the cable provider, but it acts pretty static. During the summer, our power went out for 3 days and when it came back on we still had the same IP address.

I am assuming that a program like Peer Guardian won't help here since the PC it would run on is on the "wrong side" of the router... ??

[rkawakami]

Correct. That seems to leave your only option: a proxy server.

[qviri]

Do Yahoo, Google, YouTube, etc keep track of your IP address

Just wondering... I don't like the idea of being watched all the time

Your question is roughly equivalent to:

"If I go into a corner store, will the cashier know what I'm looking at?"

in that the answers are:

- yes
- but you don't know if they care
- if you come in again, they may make small talk based on what you were interested in before and maybe try to sell you something

[jdhurst]

@leoblob - why on earth do you care who knows your outside IP? You can look up just about anyone's outside IP.

I had a problem with mail because Rogers purchase a block of defective IP addresses, blocking my mail vendor in the process. So I looked up the IP of the mail vendor, gave it to Rogers and said "Fix it - NOW or I go to Sympatico - NOW". It was fixed instantly, but no one is worse off because I know my mail vendor's IP. No one is worse off because I know Rogers various IP blocks.

Just out of curiousity, have you taken down the number from your house or apartment to ensure no one can find you? Same thing. Precisely and exactly the same thing.

... JDH

[leoblob]

@leoblob - why on earth do you care who knows your outside IP?

Because I'm a paranoid individual. I would think that's rather apparent.

As for the number on our house, we actually have it up there twice (front yard and front door) and we still get the wrong mail.

[rkawakami]

@JD: I think the house address analogy would be more like, "when you mail somebody a letter or package, do you put your return address on the envelope?". This would be akin to sending TCP/IP packets out to a web site and having them be able to see/record where the request originated from.

@leoblob: I too have a problem with USPS sometimes. We get mail from a different street name (but the same number) one block away AND the last name of those people ends with "kawa" .

[aaa]

Just out of curiousity, have you taken down the number from your house or apartment to ensure no one can find you? Same thing. Precisely and exactly the same thing.

No... It's not a "I'll find out where you live via your IP" thing. These sites recording your IP address is basically like giving them the history of every page you ever visited on the Internet. Well not everything, but they end up with a big chunk of the history of your Internet use. Almost as if they were standing right behind you watching...

[leoblob]

No... It's not a "I'll find out where you live via your IP" thing. These sites recording your IP address is basically like giving them the history of every page you ever visited on the Internet. Well not everything, but they end up with a big chunk of the history of your Internet use. Almost as if they were standing right behind you watching...

OK, so now I'm more paranoid again... can someone tell me about proxy servers? I did a little research on the Internet but I didn't understand it too well.

[rkawakami]

Essentially you access a web site through an intermediary (the proxy server), thus the site "sees" the proxy server's IP and not yours. I'd post a couple of examples but my company's firewall prevents access to "hacking" sites .

The few times I've used one you go to the proxy server's main page, enter the URL of whatever site you want to access into a text box and then go from there. Your request is passed to the proxy, which in turns forwards it to the destination. The reply is sent back to the proxy server and is passed back to you.

edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_server explains the ins-and-outs of proxies. Your usage would be with an "anonymizing" web proxy.

[tylerwylie]

Essentially you access a web site through an intermediary (the proxy server), thus the site "sees" the proxy server's IP and not yours. I'd post a couple of examples but my company's firewall prevents access to "hacking" sites .

You don't have a box at home to SSH to and forward web traffic through?

[qviri]

OK, so now I'm more paranoid again... can someone tell me about proxy servers? I did a little research on the Internet but I didn't understand it too well.

Or you could just not use Google if their data collection practices concern you...?

[aaa]

OK, so now I'm more paranoid again... can someone tell me about proxy servers? I did a little research on the Internet but I didn't understand it too well.

Or you could just not use Google if their data collection practices concern you...?

And you assume the others don't. Google's the only one that comes out and says it. I have noticed that Yahoo records what links you click on from a list of search results, something that even Google doesn't do.

[rkawakami]

You don't have a box at home to SSH to and forward web traffic through?

Actually I have two Sun Ultras (5 and 10) that I will probably get around to configuring as my own personal proxy, but it's not a high priority job for me right now.

[leoblob]

But doesn't the "signal" have to come into the modem first (yes...???) so where does the proxy server fit in there?

EDIT: I read that wikipedia article more carefully and I think I get it.

[rkawakami]

Here's a diagram that I found which might make things clearer (or not!):

http://www.muhlenberg.edu/library/techh ... proxy.html

The proxy web server deals directly with the communications between itself and whatever site you want to visit. Your initial request to visit a site goes to the proxy server and it in turn fetches the web page and forwards it back to you. The target web site "sees" the proxy's IP and thinks it's dealing with that entity alone. The traffic between your computer and the proxy is hidden.

[mattbiernat]

- if you come in again, they may make small talk based on what you were interested in before and maybe try to tell you something

and its quite annyoing cause they think that just because i reside in poland i have to speak polish. i'd love to use proxy servers but the problem is that some websites won't allow it.

[draco2527]

@JD: I think the house address analogy would be more like, "when you mail somebody a letter or package, do you put your return address on the envelope?". This would be akin to sending TCP/IP packets out to a web site and having them be able to see/record where the request originated from.

@leoblob: I too have a problem with USPS sometimes. We get mail from a different street name (but the same number) one block away AND the last name of those people ends with "kawa" .

LOL! I have similar road names one and two blocks away...I am (was) tired of delivering the mail to the other addresses...I would place them back in the mail with "delivered to wrong address" and guess what...yep...2 out of 3 I would get them back...so then I started driving to the post office and handing them off...GUESS WHAT...1 out of 3 made it back...so now I drive to the actual address...I never complained but I think the other folks did and in about a year; I am now on my "Third mailman"...this one seems to be doing well.

[qviri]

- if you come in again, they may make small talk based on what you were interested in before and maybe try to tell you something

and its quite annyoing cause they think that just because i reside in poland i have to speak polish. i'd love to use proxy servers but the problem is that some websites won't allow it.

Sorry, unfortunate typo, that was supposed to say "sell you something".

That said, I think it's a pretty good assumption given that something like 98% of people residing in Poland do speak Polish.

[mattbiernat]

That said, I think it's a pretty good assumption given that something like 98% of people residing in Poland do speak Polish.

i do too, i just prefer english. and the website assumes something that i don't like and this annoys the $*% out of me.

[jdhurst]

I still think this is pretty much a tempest in a teapot.

1. After *decades* of shopping data collection (I have lived in the same home for 30 years), NOT one retailer/vendor has a clue who I am, and NO targetted advertisement coming into the house reflects ANY buying habits I have. The correlation between me and advertisers is ZERO. The gas company cannot even forecast gas consumption properly.

2. My cookies and cache clear out on a regular basis and only is permitted to collect to a vastly smaller level than IE typically allows.

3. SpamAssassin and GreyListing has killed every possible advertisement that MIGHT make its way into my inbox for nearly 8 straight months (and counting).

4. No web page advertisement reflects who I am. In fact, advertisers are relaxing into the tired old regime of popping up drivel in the middle of news stories (stuff floating across the screens - not IE pop-ups) with the result that my general internet usage is fast declining. I simply cannot be bothered.

So at the end of a very long day, Google knows I live here and at a security site (98 percent), at my financial institutions (1 percent) and somewhere else (1 percent). So they get precious litttle for their efforts and actually know precisely ZERO.

... JDH

[leoblob]

Re: "protecting" my IP address... I surrender! .

Thanks to everyone who taught me something here.

[kensplace]

Most people have dynamic IP addresses which alter when they reset their router/modem.

If you have a dynamic one, its pretty random which ip you get from the range allocated to your ISP, so not much good for identifying a person for sure without access to the ISP logs which google wont have.

PS - Google does record what is clicked on, they use javascript to record what is clicked on in the search results.
Its a little devious as when you hover over a link, it looks like a normal link in the status bar, but if you dig into the html for the page, you will soon see what they are up to.

They also can track usage data via the google toolbar, google analytics on sites, adwords on sites, and will have a field day being able to collect data if you are signed into any google service like gmail, adsense etc when using google search - as you have identified yourself by logging in......

Perhaps what is worse, is their terms and conditions, I cant recall the url offhand, but if you find it and read it, part of the conditions are you accept the conditions when you use any google service, and the act of using the service (ie for example, searching for something on google) indicates acceptance of the long list of terms.

Its not like they have a warning popping up saying you must read these terms and agree to them before you search, its pretty underhand and sneaky.