I don't think anyone is suggesting that IP addresses provide no evidence whatsoever or that they shouldn't be used as evidence at all. Certainly, they do narro

I don't think anyone is suggesting that IP addresses provide no evidence whatsoever or that they shouldn't be used as evidence at all. Certainly, they do narrow the possibilities down. However, by dismissing arguments of hacking or sharing an IP address as rubbish, an IP address effectively becomes a person's identity regardless of whether they can completely control it. Since many users are not technically savvy, they cannot control what happens at an IP address. Hence, parents and grandparents get sued for their kids behavior, coffee shops with open wifi face litigation, schools and businesses must enforce draconian security measures just to enforce a strong tie between a person and an IP when that tie is not natural.