Every Internet user is assigned an IP address that traces their steps on the Internet while they are browsing web sites. Generally, ISPs provide each user with a IP address that is either dedicated to their account or rotates as often as hourly, services such as AOL use a rotating IP address for various customer location ranges that potentially thousands of customers may be surfing with at one time.
There are many different reasons why you may need to know where a user comes from. Some web sites keep detailed records of who visits what pages, who views what for how long and who downloads something from a particular page. These statistics help determine a web site's metrics as well as gage different factors for a web master who might be trying to figure out where to go next with ads, content or products.
For example, if a web master who sells pre-paid phone cards realizes that a particular value of cards is not selling to a certain population, perhaps, the web master will re-evaluate carrying those phone cards for another type that might do better in that area. These types of statistics can help set the tone and merit of a particular web site and cater towards a general demographic of visitors which in the long ran help keep the web site afloat.
Metrics play an important part in any web site that is seeing a lot of traffic. Everything from search engine optimization to marketing techniques can be determined by where your visitors come from and what they are browsing while they are there. This can help a web master determine the best route to go in marketing a product or service in a particular area for that specific demographic.
Other reasons for determining a person's location can be simple or more discrete. Forum administrators and moderators may deal with problem posters on a daily basis who have been banned from their boards. Some posters feel the need to circumvent a ban, and IP addresses can determine if such a user is breaking a ban. This information can help administrators find the poster in question and report them to their ISP for the infraction should such action be necessary.
Web sites, forums and chat rooms that use date and time scripts can use a person's location to determine the correct date and time to showcase. This information can also be helpful to determine when users are browsing from during a time of the day for metrics purposes.
Everything from e-mail to instant messages can be traced via IP with the right software. Every time you visit a web site, download a program or music file or even surf via a proxy server can be traced back to your original IP address with a little bit of detective work.
How do I go about determining a location from an IP address?
The easiest way to go about determining a location from an IP address it look it up in reverse. Web sites and programs can do this for you with little effort, but since most web browsers are not using a dedicated IP address assigned from their provider, more work is necessary to pinpoint their exact geographical region.
You can go to WhoIs.sc and plug in an IP address or web address and learn the details behind it. This, as illustrated, is the easiest way to go about determining where an IP address leads.
Most countries user their own country code domain, typically referred to as ccTLDs. Many countries even go so far as to list the city, region or closest metro area within the domain to track them further. A few examples of country codes include BH for Bahrain, DO for the Dominican Republic, HU for Hungary, LY for Libya and SN for Senegal.
With a little deductive reasoning, you can figure out from the canonical address where exactly in a given area a person is surfing from.
Let's look at an example of a canonical address: dialup-4.155.253.110.Dial1.Baltimore1.Level3.net. Already, we know two facts about this particular user: First, this web browser is using dialup and hails from Baltimore. Chances are they are using a rotating IP address and hardly ever surf with the same one twice.
Another example, 70.129.13.254, when traced back via a WhoIs search reveals this resolves to Texas Womens University in Denton, Texas. If you were having a problem with this poster on a forum or web community, the WhoIs information will provide you with the necessary contact information to inform the university of problems should the need arise.
You can breakdown the IP address of any web user to find out facts about that particular address and figure out what part of the world they may come from, in the one example, down to the city and in the other down to a specific portion of the city.
Is it full proof?
Determining a web browser's location from their IP address is by no means full proof. For most users, you can determine where they come from or who their ISP is with little problem. For more advanced Internet users, proxy servers and other tools of Internet circumvention may stop you from getting to the truth of a user's location in the world. Users depend on proxy services and software to keep their identities hidden. Some users prefer to surf anonymously or they cannot visit specific web sites because their ISP prohibits it.
With a little bit of research and some practice, anybody can learn about their web site's users from their IP address and use the information to their advantage. There are many resources on the Internet as well as in print that will guide you through more advanced procedures to track users and find out where in the world they come from. The more you learn, the more precise you will become at determining where an IP address leads. Taking the time to learn these techniques may just make your web site more profitable or keeping unruly chatters or posters at bay.
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