KDStudios Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 (edited) Okay so I was bobbing around and stumbled across THIS This is a tracking page linked up to Skyrim Nexus. Displays everything from what resolution the users are using, operating system, browser and more importantly... Their IP...What is with this?Why is this information open to the public for anyone to access?Hackers for example?Not to mention marketing information that I'm sure many on here would like to know they were contributing to... Check it out for yourself. The button is on this part of the nexus:http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/1596/trackerk.png Here's what it takes you to (Blanked out information because it would be bad for me to do so...)http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/8168/wwj8yv5u3r.png Edited March 9, 2012 by KDStudios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark0ne Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Why is this a problem exactly? The statistics are completely anonymous, and actually, quite interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaturnC Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KDStudios Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Interesting yes, but I'm fairly certain this is putting people at risk that they don't know about.I admit the risk is small but it's definitely there.I'm not trying to make a point or attack the Nexus. I'm a long time user of this site. While I agree, the results are interesting, but behind closed doors, in safety. Not open to the public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark0ne Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I'm just wondering what risk you think there is? We had a few people going bat-crap-crazy about a year ago because Giskard was spreading some fear mongering about the same thing (e.g. "derp, don't go to the Nexus, you can get hacked!") on his sites. They seemed to be pretty clueless about how the internet works and just got suckered in to the anti-Nexus talk that Captain Derp spreads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Only risk I see is letting the public know how much a website is worth. Demographic website info trackers have been around for years. seems extremetracking.com is trying to market new software to track info better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McclaudEagle Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Having your IP address shown isn't really much of an issue anyway. The most the average person (even Dark0ne) will see is the general location. It requires police permission and ISP clearance to actually get the exact IP address to the exact location, and that requires a very good reason that most everyday people will never be given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark0ne Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Extremetracking gives ball-park figures, but the thing that sets it aside from other tracking (like Google Analytics) is its public nature, the fact you can provide proof of your traffic. The reason why I like having the stats visible for all to see is that when I say "we're getting x amount of visitors a day", you can actually see I'm telling you the truth. It's a way of remaining transparent. I go to sites sometimes and see them post up amazing statistics and then think "well, that doesn't really sound right...I'm not sure I believe these figures". And this confusion spreads from what people class as unique visitors, visitors, impressions, page views, hits, and so on and so forth. I've had this on the Nexus sites (and all sites before) since 2001 and never had any complaints until Giskard posted it on his forums. Woe is me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzlsacatanango Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Doesn't look out of the ordinary to me. Big sites need ad revenue, ad companies want demographics and metrics. I think most people realize that connecting to the internet in the first place means getting a unique address on the network that could at least theoretically be tracked to you. Ok, maybe most people don't realize that, but they should. It's part of the deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korwyn Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Having your IP address shown isn't really much of an issue anyway. The most the average person (even Dark0ne) will see is the general location. It requires police permission and ISP clearance to actually get the exact IP address to the exact location, and that requires a very good reason that most everyday people will never be given. Actually that isn't entirely accurate. The requirements to obtain exact user account info from the client IP depend on your particular jurisdiction and regulatory framework. Here in the US under the Patriot ACT, it actually requires very little for the FBI or DHS to track back to a particular user. The 'judicial oversight' laws have been completely gutted in the last 12 years. All of that aside, unless you are using a TOR or similar anonymiser system you shouldn't expect any privacy on the net anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now