[wplug] A little OT: Tracking down an IP address

[Bill Moran]

Scott Bourns wrote:
> This is a little odd, but how would I track down somebody who posted a form
> that recorded their IP address?
> 
> I have the IP of the poster, and time and date of post.
> 
> The problem, for the curious, is repeated, profane and libelous posts to a
> forum site I'm associated with. I really just want them to know I know who
> they are - spook them a little. ;)
> 
> This might not be possible, but I figured you guys would know if it could be
> done.

whois is your friend.  The whois record should tell you who has legal
responsibility for that IP.

Now, it's likely a cable or dial-up company (like Verizon or Comcast or
someone).  This is both good and bad.  The good news is that Verizon and
Comcast and most others have a AUP that this most definately violates.
The bad news is that (in my experience) those big companies don't care,
they'll just ignore your complaint.

However, there are things you can do.
1) If the IP is the same all the time, just refuse to accept posts from
    it.
2) If you can afford a few $$, hire a lawyer to write an official
    complaint to whoever owns that IP.  That should cause something to
    get done.

Don't expect to find out who the offender is.  ISPs are scared shitless
about what kind of trouble they'll get into if they give away their
customer's names.   I don't know the exact reason.

As an example, I contacted a company the other day to complain about all
the viruses their mail servers were forwarding to me.  They replied that
it wasn't their problem because it wasn't their computer that was infected.
I responded by asking for the contact information on the computer that
_was_ the problem, and they replied that they couldn't give me that
information.  So I've added a Postfix rule to block their entire domain.
I really don't have time for people who make up rules that end up meaning
that I have to pay for their incompetance.

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com