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I really hate the people talk about 'collecting' IP addresses or getting their "IP address exposed". There is no risk in anyone knowing this, not to privacy, no

I really hate the people talk about 'collecting' IP addresses or getting their "IP address exposed". There is no risk in anyone knowing this, not to privacy, not to security. This is how the internet is meant to work. A bunch of equal nodes. Just because mega-corps and wireless telcos have gimped the wildly popular mobile computers and taken away their ability to interact (no ipv4, no ports, not much beyond web) doesn't mean interacting directly is bad or unsafe or giving away some 'secret' information. No, we need more people directly interacting with other people via the internet protocol. We desparately need widespread ipv6 adoption so that everyone can have their own IPs and expose them all to each other in the emergent network we call the 'net. This 'IP as privacy risk' is scaremongering and very unhealthy.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
> and very unhealthy very unhealthy indeed if you're a reporter in some parts of the world not doing what's judged to be right.
jefftk 6y ago
If we went full IPv6 and everyone had their own unique IP, then tracking people across sites would not require JavaScript, requests to trackers, or even cookies. There are things that are nice about a world like that, but it's definitely a step back in privacy from today where tracking protection tools work pretty well. Willful IP blindness is one way to have communication over IP without allowing it to be used for tracking: https://github.com/bslassey/ip-blindness https://github.com/bslassey/ip-blindness
CharlesW 6y ago
> I really hate the people talk about 'collecting' IP addresses or getting their "IP address exposed". There is no risk in anyone knowing this, not to privacy, not to security. That's like saying there's no privacy or security risk to everyone knowing your home address or your phone number. I can understand if you're not concerned by it, but it's non-zero. Privacy-wise, knowing your router's IP address is enough to score/segment you and (over time) to build a profile on you. Security-wise, an IP address enables bad actors to scan and potentially attack your router and possibly your internal network. Real Security Experts™, am I wrong?
marcinzm 6y ago
>This is how the internet is meant to work. A bunch of equal nodes. Things evolve, things change, we learn, we adapt. Many world governments will happily track down a dissident by their ip, kidnap them in broad daylight and then torture them. Just because you're not one of them doesn't mean those people don't exist and don't have real concerns.
- superkuh 6y ago
  Correct. And people that are living in a war zone should wear bullet proof vests and take all sorts of really burdensom security measures that detract from their quality of life and ability to communicate with their peers. But I am not going to wear a bullet proof vest while sitting around at home in my safe country. It'd be absurd to suggest so. The same applies to 'hiding' your IP during normal activities on the internet.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Bullets don't follow you around for the rest of your life like data aggregation does. And unlike being in a war zone, your IP can be collected and used against you without you knowing.
devwastaken 6y ago
Absolutely not. You are entirely wrong on this one to a level of causing dangers to others. An IP address, to a court, to officers, is you. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Proven by the countless number of times people have doxxed YouTubers by simply calling in fake terrorist threats to their police. ISP's know where that IP is routed to, and they will cooperate with authorities. Police can track even cellphones in real-time 10 years back. Plenty of civil cases use just IP's to prove copyright infringement. That's how BitTorrent cases catch infringers, regardless of who actually did it. Watch Leonard french on YouTube, copyright attorney, it doesn't matter to judges in Pennsylvania wether an IP is a person or not. They say it is, and thats good enough. That's why discord was created. So everything is proxied and safe for streamers and anyone online. Maybe you don't involve yourself so you don't know any better, but I've seen it happen, personally, friends get stalkers from the online world simply because the game they played was P2P, or the server admin for vent/teamspeak was a total creep with their friends. It's not how it should be, but that's how it is.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Discord itself has a fairly concerning policy with regards to cooperating with law enforcement.
jedimastert 6y ago
> This is how the internet is meant to work. After being slapped in the face by this for a few months now, I can tell you that this means absolutely nothing.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago

> and very unhealthy very unhealthy indeed if you're a reporter in some parts of the world not doing what's judged to be right.

jefftk 6y ago

If we went full IPv6 and everyone had their own unique IP, then tracking people across sites would not require JavaScript, requests to trackers, or even cookies. There are things that are nice about a world like that, but it's definitely a step back in privacy from today where tracking protection tools work pretty well. Willful IP blindness is one way to have communication over IP without allowing it to be used for tracking: https://github.com/bslassey/ip-blindness https://github.com/bslassey/ip-blindness

CharlesW 6y ago

> I really hate the people talk about 'collecting' IP addresses or getting their "IP address exposed". There is no risk in anyone knowing this, not to privacy, not to security. That's like saying there's no privacy or security risk to everyone knowing your home address or your phone number. I can understand if you're not concerned by it, but it's non-zero. Privacy-wise, knowing your router's IP address is enough to score/segment you and (over time) to build a profile on you. Security-wise, an IP address enables bad actors to scan and potentially attack your router and possibly your internal network. Real Security Experts™, am I wrong?

marcinzm 6y ago

>This is how the internet is meant to work. A bunch of equal nodes. Things evolve, things change, we learn, we adapt. Many world governments will happily track down a dissident by their ip, kidnap them in broad daylight and then torture them. Just because you're not one of them doesn't mean those people don't exist and don't have real concerns.

superkuh 6y ago
Correct. And people that are living in a war zone should wear bullet proof vests and take all sorts of really burdensom security measures that detract from their quality of life and ability to communicate with their peers. But I am not going to wear a bullet proof vest while sitting around at home in my safe country. It'd be absurd to suggest so. The same applies to 'hiding' your IP during normal activities on the internet.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Bullets don't follow you around for the rest of your life like data aggregation does. And unlike being in a war zone, your IP can be collected and used against you without you knowing.

devwastaken 6y ago

Absolutely not. You are entirely wrong on this one to a level of causing dangers to others. An IP address, to a court, to officers, is you. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Proven by the countless number of times people have doxxed YouTubers by simply calling in fake terrorist threats to their police. ISP's know where that IP is routed to, and they will cooperate with authorities. Police can track even cellphones in real-time 10 years back. Plenty of civil cases use just IP's to prove copyright infringement. That's how BitTorrent cases catch infringers, regardless of who actually did it. Watch Leonard french on YouTube, copyright attorney, it doesn't matter to judges in Pennsylvania wether an IP is a person or not. They say it is, and thats good enough. That's why discord was created. So everything is proxied and safe for streamers and anyone online. Maybe you don't involve yourself so you don't know any better, but I've seen it happen, personally, friends get stalkers from the online world simply because the game they played was P2P, or the server admin for vent/teamspeak was a total creep with their friends. It's not how it should be, but that's how it is.

saagarjha 6y ago
Discord itself has a fairly concerning policy with regards to cooperating with law enforcement.

jedimastert 6y ago

> This is how the internet is meant to work. After being slapped in the face by this for a few months now, I can tell you that this means absolutely nothing.