Forced net censorship

Hi All,

I have read a few of the postings on here from time to time as recently in Australia they are wanting to implement forced internet censorship.

To date I have never really been into any kind of privacy software ect and dont know the first thing about what most talk about on here DNS/Proxy ect, its all gobeldegook to me. BUT, I dont like the idea of someone telling me I cant look at a website because its "deemed inappropriate" and other lame excuses. Just to carrify here, I have never gone into any illegal content (that I am aware of) and just done the run of the mill surfing and chatting. I`m now concerned however that there is a potential to be watched all day every day and have blocked access to some personal sites, perhaps even youtube and if I so choose a porno site.

So I wanted to know if some of the services you hear about (VPN) like Findnot or XeroBank would be something that I could subscribe to, to get around the censorship if it gets into full swing (and if so, would a subscription be illegal to use)? And does such services offer privacy to IM chatting along with general web surfing? While most of my chatting is with relatives overseas, I dont want big brother reading my private messages and emails over my shoulder or gawking anything sent.

Also, until looking on here, showing my ip address is not something I`ve ever worried about, whats the issue with a site having or knowing your ip address?

I hope I`m not comming accross as paranoid or sketchy, just worried that I may lose something I cherish - my privacy.

Thanks JB

 

I was threatened by the owner of a message board once for making a few negative comments about the war in Iraq. And he let me know that he knew where I lived. That was my first clue that privacy might be a good idea. But other than that, from what I understand, people are collecting all of your personal information and selling it. Little bits and pieces here and a few bits and pieces there end up being a lot great big pieces. I guess it could be used for just about anything. Maybe you apply for a new job and a prospective employer purchases a huge file on you: who you talk to, what message boards you belong to, the kinds of things that you say on those boards, what your interests are, what you purchase online.....(including that little sex toy you bought last Friday, KIDDING). Even if you use an alternate name your IP address can tell who you really are.

But of course since you are not doing anything illegal, so it doesn't matter, right? So then you won't mind if I come into your home while you're gone and have a look around. And while I'm at it I'll just go through your mail and maybe scan a few items. Then Saturday on your day off when you go to the park and movies and stuff with your wife and kids, I am just going to follow you around and keep logs as to where you go, maybe log a few conversations that I can pick up on, and put it all into a little file along with all the rest that has been accumulating over the years. I will also follow you into your Dr. appointment, right into the private room so I can get get your diagnosis and prognosis. Well, your insurance company and employer want to know and that's another dollar in *MY* pocket. But hey, you aren't doing anything illegal, right? So you shouldn't have a problem with any of this. Caspian

PS Oh, and I guess I'll see you and the kids tonight while I log all of the TV shows that you watch together.....so carry on. Never mind me.

 

Reads as a bit over the top on your response.The message board owner may know your ISP but not where you live,get real!

 

Post your IP address and let's see how much information this community can get out of it...

 

Well many thanks for the replies, although they still never covered what I was asking, it was appreciated anyhow.

 

Yeah well if you go out for a stroll at a public park for a friendly chat with an old school buddy, do you expect that someone may be following you around with a tape recorder, recording your conversation? Or maybe monitoring you from a distance with one of those devices that can zero in and amplify your conversation and record it? And when you stop off at the ATM to withdraw some money, is it to be expected and reasonable that someone may be looking over your shoulder viewing your transaction, along with your pin number, and of course recording all of the details to file away with the rest of it that has been collected over the years? And then by the time you get home to check your mail, it has already been opened and scanned. Is that cool with you? I mean it's right out there by the sidewalk in a public place, right? Then you go out back to the pool to give your little girl a hug and then notice there are some old pervs propped up, off of your property, looking over the fence at your daughter. And you call your wife to discuss a personal matter and there are some people tapping into the phone call and recording it. That's cool too since those connections travel through public space just like your internet connection. Right?

 

I'm sorry. I use Xerobank VPN and it covers all of your internet connections. So that would include your chats and voip etc... They have a less expensive model also called shadowvpn.

 

Without a court order you will get the country,state,city,latitude,longitude,ISP,web browser and o/s.The location is the ISP's not the person's home address.Here you go, 24.241.244.210 and good luck!

 

Well in the particular instance that I was referring to, I registered with my real name. It was a long time ago. But I have heard that people use your IP to hack into your computer, and I have also heard that here are people who know how to use your IP to retrieve a lot of info. I am certain that Google does.

 

I heard agent 007 Bond,James Bond can and also agent 86 Maxwell Smart using his shoe phone.

 

LOL! That was funny.. Well I don't know much personally, so I have just been going by what people here have been saying.

 

There's absolutely no way anyone can get a real name and real address by just knowing your IP. Scanning an IP may find holes in a connection and use exploits to gain some kind of control of a PC. Now, since the majority of home connections are assigned dynamic IP's through a DHCP server, there's no knowing of what your IP will be the next time its renewed. You can get your provider info by knowing your IP but that's about it. Here's mine (69.179.107.120). Hack away if you must.... but find my address and what my real name is?....I don't think so.

 

I know that analogy sounds paranoid, but the internet is a free for all right now. There are no regulations as far as invading someone's privacy. And people are going to extremes to invade your personal life. If someone was tampering with my mail it would be a felony. And if someone had access to my home anytime that they pleased, without any oversight and without ever having to answer to anyone, then that would be like the Gestapo. Does the Post Office have the right to open and scan every piece of mail that comes through? Does the mail man? Why should an ISP? And why should a government in a free society? It's wrong.

So yes, this is about not wanting others to have access to private information. But for me it is more about the principle of it than anything else. And beyond that, it has become a freedom of speech and freedom of the press issue. NOT GOOD!

 

caspian, i completely agree with you.

 

Caspian, you need to understand that Freedom of Speech and Press are related only to the U.S Constitution, no other country is subject to it. And, in the case of Freedom of Speech, that relates to freedom from being locked away and/or executed by speaking against the government. It means nothing more if you go and actually read it, unlike what the media, courts, and interest groups believe. That's for another time though, the point is that countries are not subject to each others laws. Australia (which is the subject of the OP), can do as it pleases and there really isn't anyone outside the U.N that can do anything about it.

 

The U.N. do anything to any country about anything?Surely you jest.The Security Council maybe.

 

IP location appears to be Suffolk, Virginia [USA] [Latitude: 36.7783 / Longitude: -76.5987]

Mind you, the reverse DNS for that IP gave it away a little bit

Not entirely true. The location is generally the city where someone is located and not the ISP's headquarters. IPs are often allocated by ISPs to regions, sometimes with corresponding hostnames that give immediate clues to someone's whereabouts.

IP geolocation isn't perfect but it works quite well given the generally transient nature of IP blocks.

 

Correct as to state and city as I posted that you would get info on in post #9 of this thread.Use this link to track it to street level. http://atlas.mapquest.com/maps/latlong.adp and that is my ISP's address.I do not live in Suffolk but within a 35 mile radius of that location.A big area to find a home address in with no name to go by,true?

 

Yeah, a few services provided street map views but I find them to be pretty pointless. The generally dynamic nature of IPs means that you can only ever be as accurate as the ISP's IP allocation allows. Even static IPs can be allocated to anyone in a sufficiently large radius [eg. 35 miles like yourself] making it impossible to drill down any further.

My guess is that many coordinates are simply for the center of the region that a particular IP pool is allocated to. At best, it might be the actual address of the ISP if they have a regional office but I doubt this is even likely.

I guess people just need to see the investigative value in knowing the city where someone is from. An investigator would just add it to the pile of information they have on someone and use it to paint a bigger picture. As we've demonstrated, it's pretty much impossible to determine an individual exact location via IP if they're using a home connection.

 

Goverment agent's,court's using law enforcement can find you but not your average Joe.The ISP will give out the info to those people but not to a, I am comming to get you and your little dog too,type person.

 

This URL may give you a heads up. http://www.rsf.org/print-blogs.php3?id_article=15013

 

Well in my case, I used my real name when I registered at a website. So they had my IP plus my real name. That was years ago and I never did that again on a new account.

I am sure that only a law enforcement officer (with good reason and a valid warrant) should be allowed to get the specifics of an IP address. But evidently there are no strict guidelines for this and this can, and is being abused. In many cases, the line between a law enforcement officer and a criminal is very thin. They could get that information for a friend or for a fee. And with ISP's actually selling all of your personal information and surfing habits for cash, what would prevent them or an employee from giving out your name and address for a few bucks?

 

LOL!.. ...