Why are our details being shown to the world?

[McclaudEagle]

The method I mentioned might only be for the UK, not sure about the rest of the world though.

[nosisab]

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.

Exposing IP is dangerous more because the risk of troll stalking of script-kid hacker willing to "make a name"... now that part about FBI and such made me laugh as if they depend on those statistics to "get their man"... or something like this I don't know how to express in your particular jargon or language.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

You might not want to go on Google, Facebook, LastFM, or any other website in the world then because they are sharing your IP constantly with ad services, any of which could easily use it for ill will.

 

I've heard the most effective method of protecting one's self are VPNs, or you could always wear a tinfoil hat.

[ginnyfizz]

I recently acquired Ghostery to block trackers, mainly because I am sick of the spam emails I am getting trying to sell me stuff.

However, I did notice that my details are NOT shown on the Nexus Extreme Tracker page. So those worried might like to try Ghostery.

[Arthmoor]

The only thing I really take issue with is the listing of the last 5000 users part. The rest of it is sanitized data you can't pin down to any one specific person.

 

Because...

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.

.... this isn't always true, and even in the US, there are ways the government can use this against you without a warrant.

 

Maybe we all need to pay more attention to what's on the page or something, but I think the big reason nobody complains about how Google et al do this is precisely because they're not displaying it for all to see.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

The only thing I really take issue with is the listing of the last 5000 users part. The rest of it is sanitized data you can't pin down to any one specific person.

 

Because...

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.

.... this isn't always true, and even in the US, there are ways the government can use this against you without a warrant.

 

If the government wants to know your ip or what you are doing online they will. Dark0ne having it in his statistics isn't going to change anything about that.

[Arthmoor]

There are other reasons for not wanting that stuff displayed besides the government using the information. That was just one valid point. With as much as people advocate for privacy these days, you'd think something like waving peoples' IP information around like that wouldn't go over well.

 

The rest of the stuff above the IP listings is fine, and is indeed interesting to see.

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Ok, I'll bite then, what's my IP address using only the statistics given on that link and no third party tools?

[Garagorn888]

This is actually quite interesting.

 

Details seem to be completely anonymous so I'm not worried about that.

 

I'm very interested to see that for some reason more people are using an OLD version of Firefox than the NEW version. o.O

[DrakeTheDragon]

This is actually quite interesting.

 

Details seem to be completely anonymous so I'm not worried about that.

 

I'm very interested to see that for some reason more people are using an OLD version of Firefox than the NEW version. o.O

Off-topic but I'm stuck with FF5, because the upgrade to 6 broke >80% of all plugins, and we are required to use a specifc set of them for work purposes, which up to now weren't able to be completely fixed. Just guess this will never happen though, seeing we're now at 10-something and every single upgrade of the last months redesigned the plugin-framework completely again and again. Mozilla apparently never heard of "backwards-compatibility" it seems, oh well. It's an office-order, if you like. "No upgrading your browser until there's a working compatible version of the plugins we need!" Me personally I couldn't care less.

 

Back on topic though, where is this icon link you're all talking off? I know I've seen it before, but right now for the life of me I can't find it again!