I had some fun today and sliced and diced my logs. I did pour it into some hoppers that fed into some software that wants to find patterns whether they are matching patterns or activity by time of day. I did it mostly because I wondered how far I could push it. How much information can you get out of someone's IP address? It turns out quite a bit. Taking an active address and analyzing patterns of how they are arranged in geography i could see someone posting at home, going to work and posting, breaking for lunch then going back to posting. These active ones I can tell how long your commute is. Domain names and IP addresses are somewhat randomly handed out but there really is close proximity find to it. If there is doubt just a few trace routes and "get all info" and the place an address resides is quickly matched to known entities.<br><br>I did this for fun and a proof of concept. It can very easily be done. I did write two scripts to automate some digestion of data but I mostly had all the tools already lying around. But really anyone with a web site to post jpgs on and access to the log file could do it. It would just take more time "by hand".<br><br>But that is the end of it. Stan doesn't reveal socks and IP addresses and I won't either. I knew that anything I do on the internet is out there. I'm an open book. I was surprised when using Google Analytics how even every single search you have ever made is recorded along with your IP address. Every [censored] cat you ever looked for. If you went to a site showing kittens you were recorded.<br><br>A learning experience. By doing this I hope I did not to make anyone paranoid about using the internet. That would not be my intention. But if you were doing something that was really ticking someone off you better hoof it down to your local library and even then you should get in the car and drive a distance because comcast at home and library will be trace routed right next to each other.<br><br><br>Aside:<br>I actually might write a paper on it. How the identity of regulatory transcription factors and how they interact can be used to unmask sock puppets on a forum. It is very interesting how similar the two are. The feedback loops are dissimilar in reasons but not results. Example. A factor X is a negative regulator of factor Y. If you see X than there is no Y about. Same with someone who posts at home and at work. If they are never in both places at once that is one explanation. The partial log I posted only showed one small increment of info that is in these things. I removed repetition to keep it down to a dull roar. But in repetition and many multiple hits one can get a very fine painting of the activity. <br><br><br><br><br>

Interesting. Is this because your avatar is on your site so you can record the hits? What about people who have DCHP and their IP changes every so often?<br><br>

"Who are the socks?"<br><br>I don't know but I hope he/they gets a job, life, girlfriend, boyfriend, online role-playing life replacement game, or whatever it takes for the mountain of crap filling up these threads to start eroding some. Hey, if all of the above choices are too much trouble, there's always more live kittens to surf for. I promise not to track you if you go right away.<br><br>We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle

As does mine, at every restart...<br><br><br>...but the range of numbers remains consistent with the members approx location.<br><br>Like I'll always show up in within a few miles of Newark, NJ<br><br><br>

Yes, Everytime you view a thread with my dog I geet a record of it back at my place. I know what version Firefox you are using, you computer, whether you have upgded to MacIntel and on and on. I've always had the space so my logs are set to collect everything. <br><br>DHCP hands out the same range of numbers. Since the last buy outs and mergers the ranges remain quite static. I have had the same comcast IP for over a year. But even with IP changes it is very easy to spot who changed to who if you have your logs set to collect everything. The router at the end of your street. xxx.xx.xx.1 (or 2) has probably not changed in years. The domain name that rides on top hardly ever changes. Software ads this additional bit of info easily.<br><br><br><br>

Talk about who watches the watcher...unsettling. Anyway, more importantly, why isn't that Jill person in your little picture collage for your avatar? Maybe you could make a black and white version of her to make her more congruous with the others pics, but I think she is a necessity.<br><br>We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle

No kidding...that's interesting news.<br><br>Can you tell what podcasting I'm listening to? What is added to my coca-cola to make it taste good? <br><br>How about giving us a hint as to who it is? Does the IP for the sock puppets come from South Carolina and/or Indiana? <br><br>

OK Smartie.... what time did I go to work and come home on Oct 4th 2006? <br><br><br>Big Brother Poly... humh !<br><br>David (OFI)

Sorry, no hints, no suggestion no responses to PMs. It is skating clearly into Stan Flack territory. He owns this site, I do not. He runs a site with very few limitations and I am not going to be the one to constrict in anyway those limits. <br><br>Who gives a shi[/i]t who these sock puppets are anyway? Can saying, "Ah ha I knew you were that as[i]shole!" going to make that person any less of an as[/i]shole than he already is? Will there be fewer as[i]sholes if we go around placing labels on them all? My list of aholes might be very different from yours. <br><br>I can only embroider a 98% certainty unless I spend way too much time. In theory someone could set someone else up the way I am doing it. (I know this would be a bit of a stretch.) Stan knows exactly who each sock puppet is. He even knows who Dusty is. I can see why, now that I have been put into the same situation, why he keeps mum 100% of the time.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

Mums the word, but you still insist on giving juicy little "I'm in the know" tidbits. Jar or cookie? <br><br>We are what we repeatedly do. -Aristotle