I don’t know this seems so creepy, but to me it is. It used to be your IP address gave away your approximate location, like West-Central Michigan or Northern Ohio. But now, it’s so refined it takes you right down to your little town. It’s creepy I tells ya! It’s like someone sticking a tracker in your car and if anyone wants to know where you are all they have to do head to Facebook — where you spy on yourself – or find you by the tracking device they put on your car. I was kidding about Facebook – I think.
Maybe you don’t care that any advertiser, or anyone who has some knowledge of Internet protocols, can find out where you are in about 30 seconds. You see everything you do on the Internet leaves traces behind, like fingerprints. And once they are there, you can’t wipe them off with a cloth. Your ISP logs all the sites you visit, everywhere you go, every email you send, etc. and stores everything in what are called logs. You leave fingerprints on every site you visit –and they store them in what are called logs. All the social networking sites? Your fingerprints are there. And you can never wipe them away. I guess if you go belly up all your fingerprints won’t matter to you, because you’ll be eternally resting, but your fingerprints will be here, there, and everywhere as long as the Internet exists. To me that’s creepy, but you may think it some sort of twisted monument to your existence. 🙂 I’m just kidding; don’t get your britches in a wad.
But I’m not kidding about the fingerprints. Your ISP has them, the Web sites you visit have them, the advertisers on the Web sites you visit have them (which is why I get ads for female escorts in my area — GEEZ I’m just kidding, EB!)
Enough. You’re chortling so loud, I can hear you from here. I know you’re thinking I’m exaggerating again – no one is keeping your fingerprints anywhere. And I know you’re thinking this IP address stuff is just so much fluff. But everyone on this wonderful, spooky, creepy, beautiful, eclectic, World Wide Web has a unique IP address…oh yes they do.
Take for instance me.
Ha! I’m not really in San Francisco or Fremont, California! And I don’t even know what Hurricane Electric is – but I like their lamps and glasses. You just think I am in San Francisco or Fremont, California — as well you should — keep thinking that.. You don’t think I’m going to give you my home address do you? EB would string up all you ladies trying to get to me! And guys, I don’t want to fight — I’m a lover not a fighter!
For the purposes of this demonstration, I was using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to keep my location secret, because I don’t want to die by the hands of everyone I’ve ever angered, or by the gnarly hands of EB. But normally I don’t use a VPN. I just let it all hang out and it’s creepy I tells ya! Besides, if EB knew where I was she’d come and pummel me and you’d not get a newsletter next week — or any week unless she wrote it, and good luck with that 🙂
If you want to see the fingerprints you leave whenever you traverse the Web, just head over to http://ipfingerprints.com/ . Dontcha think it’s creepy?
YES! This IS creepy! And even more important it is an invasion of privacy! Which is something none of us have anymore unfortunately. 🙁 Of course, our email, phone conversations (and maybe more?) are being tracked or recorded by our government as well, if we can believe what we hear–and I’m a believer!
Another thing is that in any browser you can type in an address (try your own), and see the home and surrounding property in living 3-D color! You can even view the houses on either side, see what the street looks like, etc. Or zoom out and see the whole neighborhood and more. Just hope no one is trying to hide!
We, as Americans, have lost our rights to privacy under one guise or another–and most have not even realized it yet.
Just type *.log into your search facility and see just how many logs there are in your computer. All .txt files, so you can read them. Also check how long they have been there, click on column heading “Date modified” and see them arranged in date order. You will be amazed at how much information is stored in logs.