Evil people and my computer-help!!!!

**Liz** · 07-22-2009 02:10 AM

I had to go to this website because an adult told me that it had information on it that was “injuring him”....don’t ask please. When I clicked on the site it said something like “you have to be invited to enter this site. Your IP address is xxx. xxxx.xxxxx and your email is xxxxxxx.com”. I immediately exited but the IP address and email address were mine and now these evil people have my email and IP address. I also have a Mac so I know they have my mac #. My email address has no personal identification in it.

I have received varying opinions on the following questions from people who may be ignorant. Does anyone here have answers to help?

Can these evil people identify who I am and where I live? Is it true that if I unplug my router overnight that I will get a new IP address tomorrow morning? Is it true that people can actually spoof an IP number and do bad things with it? Will it do any good to cancel this email address?

THANKS!

**dsr** · 07-22-2009 02:32 AM

Client-side scripting can accomplish a lot of things, but to my knowledge, divining someone's email address is not one of them. XD If you're sure the person who told you to go to that site wasn't playing a joke on you, there's not much we can do without seeing the site.

Edit:

Originally Posted by Liz

Is it true that if I unplug my router overnight that I will get a new IP address tomorrow morning?

Resetting your router will only change your IP address if you have a dynamic one. Static IP addresses, as their name implies, don't change.

**Ynot** · 07-22-2009 02:35 AM

People knowing your IP address is not a problem
(as a moderator on this forum, I know your IP)

If you're tech savvy, it's possible to deduce a lot of stuff about people
I know your using a mobile 3G connection provided by Comcast

Your email address, however, is a different matter

Have you visited the site before?
Some sites will store information on *your* computer (called a cookie), so you don't have to re-enter all the info when you go back there

It's possible the site was just re-displaying info you'd previously entered?

Can you PM me the link to the site you went to?

**Ynot** · 07-22-2009 03:04 AM

Site uses OpenID

When logged into another OpenID service,
The website will attempt to automatically log you in with your OpenID

- Sign out of all OpenID sites (Google uses OpenID)
- Visit the site, your prompted for username and password
- Sign in to Google
- Visit the site, and the site will attempt to login using your OpenID information (but fails because the site is invite only)

This all happens client-side
The website does not know your email address
This is no cause for concern

**Liz** · 07-22-2009 03:13 AM

I thank everyone for responding.

**ninja9578** · 07-22-2009 03:27 AM

If they email you, forward the email to [email protected]. Most email clients recognize this action and will automatically block any other emails from this and the government will put the address in the database. They're supposed to fine the spammer, but I don't think that they do

**Ynot** · 07-22-2009 03:32 AM

Just for completeness,
the only people who can tie an IP address to personal information is your service provider

(personal information being name, postal address, contact details - they know these things, cause they bill you)

Short of a court order, no ISP will release these details to 3rd parties

**ninja9578** · 07-22-2009 03:45 AM

Ynot lives at latitude 51.5460, longitude .7040. Near the corner of West Street and Victoria Avenue in Southend-on-Sea, England

It's possible to map someone's address to an approximate location, because IP addresses are very local, so occasionally you'll see your location on a website, but it's only approximate.

Ynot, remove your address when you see this, because I'll forget.

**Ynot** · 07-22-2009 03:50 AM

You're about 0.5 miles out, but damn close

'least my town has a good name
wtf is Wappingers Falls?

**ninja9578** · 07-22-2009 03:52 AM

Is that at me? I've never heard of Wappingers Falls. I live in a town called Chester

.. which I believe in a British name

It's about half an hour away.

**Ynot** · 07-22-2009 03:54 AM

In that case, don't use the first google result for "IP 2 location"

it sucks....

*edit*
Wappingers Falls is 37 miles north east of you....

close

**ninja9578** · 07-22-2009 04:02 AM

lol, that sounds about right

**Marvo** · 07-22-2009 01:31 PM

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but your MAC-address/number has nothing to do with the fact that you have an Apple computer, except your Apple computer most likely has a netcard, something close to all computers in the world have. A MAC-address is physical address, that is physically burned onto a chip sitting on the netcard. All MAC-addresses are unique this way, but tracking a MAC-address down to a specific person, is pretty much impossible.

**dsr** · 07-22-2009 06:39 PM

Marvo, I don't think she was talking about a MAC address. I think she meant that if they have her Apple "MobileMe" email address then they would have access to her Apple account. I could be wrong though.

Originally Posted by Liz

I also have a Mac so I know they have my mac #. My email address has no personal identification in it.

Hard to tell though.