ID:133008
 
I know you can ban the I.P. address and Computer_ID, but both of those can be changed...pretty easy. But the MAC Address is pretty hard to change...any way BYOND could add MAC Address banning?
Hi1 wrote:
But the MAC Address is pretty hard to change...

No, it's easy to change, probably far easier than changing the computer_id; this topic was rehashed and discussed many times already, having the MAC address is simply not useful especially now that we have the computer_id.
Hi1 wrote:
I know you can ban the I.P. address and Computer_ID, but both of those can be changed...pretty easy. But the MAC Address is pretty hard to change...any way BYOND could add MAC Address banning?

Of those 3 the computer ID is the most difficult to change... from what I've seen it requires a complete re-installation of your operating system, though I haven't done heavy testing on it. An IP address cannot be directly controlled by the user, and is randomly assigned on connection to their ISP. A MAC Address can be altered by simply editing your registry, it can also be easily faked.
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
An IP address cannot be directly controlled by the user, and is randomly assigned on connection to their ISP.

For the 50 billionth time, IPs are not hard to change! Not all of us are using ISPs who have a grand total of 4 customers. -.-'

And to the OP: We made countless posts on this, and they were kind enough to offer us the computer_id information. If you're smart with the information you're given about the users you should be able to keep a pretty good track of who they are.
In response to AJX
AJX wrote:
For the 50 billionth time, IPs are not hard to change! Not all of us are using ISPs who have a grand total of 4 customers. -.-'

Go reconnect your modem 10 times, lemme know what IPs you get. At absolute least they'll all be within the same range.
Also, this is only the 2nd time its come up, and last time somebody explained to you how your ISP is using outdated methods. If anything all ISPs need to upgrade their systems, making IPs function like phone numbers do, forcing you to pay for a new one.
What exactly determines computer_id? How can it be changed? From what I keep hearing people can bypass it quite easily, which is not the point of computer_id.
In response to Android Data
Android Data wrote:
What exactly determines computer_id? How can it be changed? From what I keep hearing people can bypass it quite easily, which is not the point of computer_id.

It's based off hardware. I'd be pretty shocked if the average user could bypass it.
In response to Falacy
AJX is correct, for a great bunch of people changing IP is a simple matter of disconnecting and reconnecting to the Internet (this varies by ISP and Internet solution). Often (from my own and friends' experience, obviously this varies) you can even change into a whole new IP range. No use arguing, even if it doesn't personally apply to you.
And irregardless of that, everyone can use proxies to easily hide their IP and show another one (even from different countries), even if their own computer has a static IP.

Falacy wrote:
Go reconnect your modem 10 times

Unnecessary work, you don't have to touch your modem. You can more easily and conveniently reestablish your connection through the software itself to get a new IP. This can even be automated. Personally I have a batch file that I click whenever I need to reconnect.
So yes, IPs can be changed or spoofed easily and so are not reliable to use to track people.
In response to Android Data
I have yet to hear of people bypassing or altering computer_id. In theory I guess anything is possible, but frankly it's far easier to change the MAC address. The new computer_id stuff should pretty much moot any concerns over the MAC.

Lummox JR
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Also, this is only the 2nd time its come up, and last time somebody explained to you how your ISP is using outdated methods.

Not true... Did you even read what Stephen was saying? He was saying that smaller ISPs would sometimes have very commonly repeated IPs... He never said anything about ISPs that don't have rapidly changing IPs were out of date... Wtf were you reading?
In response to AJX
AJX wrote:
Not true... Did you even read what Stephen was saying? He was saying that smaller ISPs would sometimes have very commonly repeated IPs... He never said anything about ISPs that don't have rapidly changing IPs were out of date... Wtf were you reading?

"A lot of ISPs use what you could term reduced pools for ADSL or cable for their IP block management. Each exchange or equivalent regional / metro service area will be dispatched a small dedicated pool of IP addresses to hand out to dynamic customers, usually provisioning for 2:1, 5:1 or similar contention. If there is an uncharacteristic peak in dynamic customers, a central pool will be drawn upon to service the excess.

Dated or small ISPs will typically just serve from a central pool, getting something closer in assigned addresses to what dial-up users see. It's an easier model and requires less technical capability to manage."

Wtf were you reading?
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
AJX wrote:
For the 50 billionth time, IPs are not hard to change! Not all of us are using ISPs who have a grand total of 4 customers. -.-'

Go reconnect your modem 10 times, lemme know what IPs you get. At absolute least they'll all be within the same range.

Each ISP only has a limited grab bag of IPs they can hand out, but saying that each reconnect to my ISP isn't a random IP assignment is like describing heliotrope without using the word purple. I get a different IP each time my DSL modem has to authenticate the connection (after power or line disconnects), and I've had IPs in the 74, 86 and 98 ranges, though generally the second and third quads are constrained to a small array of numbers.

Falacy wrote:
Also, this is only the 2nd time its come up, and last time somebody explained to you how your ISP is using outdated methods. If anything all ISPs need to upgrade their systems, making IPs function like phone numbers do, forcing you to pay for a new one.

Isn't IPv6 supposed to be popping up eventually? I remember reading somewhere that use of IPv6 instead of IPv4 will provide seven addresses for each atom of every person on Earth, or something equally as incredible (Google reveals the number of potential IPv6 addresses as 340282366920938463463374607431768211456). Also, I can get a new number from my carrier for free, though it's pretty obvious they just assign me a number not previously given to me before (as evidenced by the calls we keep getting for a guy named Jerry).
In response to Mobius Evalon
Mobius Evalon wrote:
Isn't IPv6 supposed to be popping up eventually? I remember reading somewhere that use of IPv6 instead of IPv4 will provide seven addresses for each atom of every person on Earth, or something equally as incredible (Google reveals the number of potential IPv6 addresses as 340282366920938463463374607431768211456).

Now this confuses me. If some ISPs move on to another networking format while others stay with the old, wont it create massive inconsistencies in the internet? Could new and old ISPs/websites/network connections still communicate with one another? I can't imagine a way that they could, but then again I don't know that much about networks.
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
"A lot of ISPs use what you could term reduced pools for ADSL or cable for their IP block management. Each exchange or equivalent regional / metro service area will be dispatched a small dedicated pool of IP addresses to hand out to dynamic customers, usually provisioning for 2:1, 5:1 or similar contention. If there is an uncharacteristic peak in dynamic customers, a central pool will be drawn upon to service the excess.

This isn't saying that one person will have only 2 or 5 IPs they ever end up being assigned... It means that there would be somewhere between 2 and 5 different people for each 1 IP address the company has available. It makes it so the ISP can have less total IP addresses than their customers...
In response to AJX
AJX wrote:
It means that there would be somewhere between 2 and 5 different people for each 1 IP address the company has available. It makes it so the ISP can have less total IP addresses than their customers...

How do you figure that would work? Most (if not all) DSL/Cable users are connected 24/7, how do you figure its splitting 5 customers between a single IP address when its most likely going to be needed by all of them at once?
In response to Falacy
Ok, TBH... You stumped me there. I hadn't thought about the fact that DSL/Cable modems stay on constantly... O.o... Well then I have no idea what the hell Stephen is saying there.

I'm left with the information that my IP changes every time I turn off/on my modem. :\ So meh.
In response to AJX
In response to Falacy
It's based on a lease time. With dynamic IPs, you are leased an IP for a certain amount of time. If after that time you don't request a new one, you don't get a new one until you request it. Even though your modem is on 24/7, if you don't use it, they may reassign the IP.

While this is more common on a LAN, it is used by ISPs.
In response to Falacy
Falacy wrote:
Of those 3 the computer ID is the most difficult to change... from what I've seen it requires a complete re-installation of your operating system, though I haven't done heavy testing on it. An IP address cannot be directly controlled by the user, and is randomly assigned on connection to their ISP. A MAC Address can be altered by simply editing your registry, it can also be easily faked.

Did you consider that instead of changing it, people can mask it with the arguably much easier method of installing a proxy and hitting some button which sums up to "Give me an IP address from [some European country]"?

I also imagine, when some people talk about changing their IP address, they do in fact mean: mask.

(As for me, my IP address hasn't changed in like, four or five years. Even with timeouts and disconnects.)
In response to Tiberath
Tiberath wrote:
Did you consider that instead of changing it, people can mask it with the arguably much easier method of installing a proxy and hitting some button which sums up to "Give me an IP address from [some European country]"?

I also imagine, when some people talk about changing their IP address, they do in fact mean: mask.

Yea, the laws of society suck. Deal with it.
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