Can dynamic IP's be tracked?

[Caedus2008]

For example if someone made 2 msn hotmail accounts with 2 different ip's for each of the accounts that was made, could those 2 accounts be tracked back to the PC that made them both?

[clanmills]

There's an IP address associated with each network card and normally you'll only have one IP address for your machine. However the IP assigned by your ISP may change daily.

When you connect to a server, the server always knows your IP address. If your IP address is dynamically assigned, the ISP could check the DHCP server log to know the user of that address at any moment in time.

So, even if you create two hotmail accounts at different times with the same ISP, it's possible to identify you as the origin of these accounts.

Can you explain a little more about why you're asking about this?

[Caedus2008]

Ahh i see... and im asking about this because ive had more than a few hotmail accounts in my time and i was wondering if they could all be linked in some way or another was just curious :+... can you change the ISP?

[clanmills]

Well, of course. You sign could sign up for accounts from different computers (for example at the public library), and then you're making the tracing more difficult.

However at my public library, I have to enter my library card number to activate the wireless connection to hook my laptop to the net. It's quite likely that the library maintains a log of who is using every IP address in its care.

[Caedus2008]

Hhmmmm how about making a hotmail account in like lets say... an internet cafe then? and after that you log in to it from your pc at home, would that make it more difficult to track you think... actualy maybe not because if you used it alot at home then they know your the guy who made that account at the cafe haha

[wimiadmin]

In my opinion, it would be really really tough to remain completely anonymous on the web. You would have to stay behind a proxy all the time, etc. It's probably more trouble than it's worth. In the end, if you're doing something bad, you're going to get caught anyway. So why not put those efforts into something positive and legal vs. risking going to jail for a long time. It's not worth it.

[Orange]

Essentially you're always going through an ISP, so at the very least your general location can be tracked.

[JTM]

Unless you're an AOL user apparently, since that tends to create problems for me at times, where thousands of people will have the same IP # as me and it always says I'm in Virginia when I'm nowhere near there.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can be more "unique" than those other AOL users that will have the same IP as me at the same time? I mean short of cancelling AOL and going with another service. Unique in the sense where I'm not confused for anyone else.

[AboveTheLogic]

Originally Posted by JTM

Unless you're an AOL user apparently, since that tends to create problems for me at times, where thousands of people will have the same IP # as me and it always says I'm in Virginia when I'm nowhere near there.

Does anyone have any advice on how I can be more "unique" than those other AOL users that will have the same IP as me at the same time? I mean short of cancelling AOL and going with another service. Unique in the sense where I'm not confused for anyone else.

are you using AOL dialup or using it over broadband?

[JTM]

Originally Posted by AboveTheLogic

are you using AOL dialup or using it over broadband?

I'm on dial-up.