V'chol Maasecha B'sefer Nichtavim

And all your deeds, in a book, are recorded.

I don't know about that, but I do know that your IP address is recorded and passed around all over the place.

I want to thank Mis-nagid for pointing out to me about the need to be more careful with my IP address.

I'm not an expert in this but I did want to publicize a few things. And feel free to chip in and add some more info or correct any errors.

In case you're new to this planet, every end point into the Internet is represented by an IP address. It might look something like 91.32.32.12

I pulled that number out of a hat.

The number is associated with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who owns a range of addresses for example 91.32.32.1 thru 255. (I'm just making these up, if this happens to be your address, well that's a co-incidence).

A search on http://www.arin.net/whois/ tells me the owner of that range of addresses.

If you come in from a Cable company or Dial up, your specific IP address is probably assigned to you dynamically when you connect and may not be the same every time you connect.

When you connect to a web site, that web site can capture and record your IP address. Say you logon to Yahoo and send Email from there. Yahoo has your IP address which might identify you as connecting from the IRS in Minnesota. Or it might be Verizon Wireless - which has no Location. Or it might be AOL.COM from Long Island, or it might be 47Th Photo in NY (which no longer exists, but you get my drift).

When you send Email from Yahoo and most other places, the originating IP address is sent along with the Email. The receiver of the Email can view the IP address and look up the ISP of that address.

Likewise when you connect to CITIBANK, CITIBANK has your IP address. And when you connect to a Blog, the owner of the Website (BLOGSPOT or BLOGGER) can capture your IP. But if I run a blog out of Blogger, I control the screen that you see. I can insert HTML that captures your IP address. Normally, individuals do not code this directly, but subscribe to a third party vendor which will do this. This third party software also keeps statistics as to how many visits there have been to the Blog.


I guess you see where I'm going with this. If you're a skeptic and wish to remain anonymous there are steps you might want to take.

Now, is anyone really looking to out me? I don't think so. Nevertheless, I don't want people to know who I am.

Here's some things to know. HUSH mail and GMAIL do not pass along your IP address. So I switched from Yahoo to GMAIL.

I normally don't refrain from commenting on other Skeptic sites. I trust them. We're in the same boat. But see below for an important caveat.

As a general rule, I might comment on other very busy sites where it's difficult for the Blogger to correlate times.

Also you can use what is known as an "Anonymizer". It is effectively like sending a messenger to do your dirty work. The messenger will get shot. The target web site sees the IP address of the intermediate machine. See www.antiwebfilter.com for a free version. It does have limitations; unless you install a special piece of software it does not support SSL so you cannot logon to Yahoo and protect your address.

Also, I have found that some sites (for example Lakewood Yid) do not permit commenting when coming through the anonymizer. I don't know if it's a function of Haloscan or not. I sent LY an Email, from Gmail of course, but he could not figure out why I can't comment on his site. So I don't comment there; sorry LY.

I also can not anonymously comment on Blogger Comment Sites if Word verification is on.

Scroll to the bottom of my Blogpage and you'll see a rainbow colored Icon by Sitemeter. I don't have thousands of hits yet, so my Icon does not publicize my Hit count. If it did, you would see a number indicating the number of visitors I had.

But separate and distinct from the raw number of visitors is the IP information about those visitors.

I configured my Sitemeter account properly and no one can access the addresses and information of my commenters. So when you visit my site, even without an anonymizer, no one else sees your IP address.

But, other sites, such as Dov Bear, are configured as public so all the IP information is available to anyone. Just click on the Sitemeter Icon in the frame on the right side of the page.

(Do not get confused between the Hit count and the ability do see the IP stats. They are configured separately.)

Now Dov Bear's site is relatively busy and it is probably difficult to correlate a comment with an IP address.

But there are plenty of other low activity blogs whose IP stats are public.


So here's what I've done so far.

A) Switched to Gmail.
B) I use a free (remember I'm Jewish!) anonymizer.
C) I don't comment on any non-skeptic sites if I can't use the anonymizer.
D) Before I comment on a Skeptic Blogsite, I click on all "Icons" on the screen to see if I can access the visiting IP addresses. If the stats are public then the same rule applies; if I can't use an Anonymizer, I stay away.

Will I lose you guys? I hope not.

If you have any concerns about commenting here, please send me an Email at BAALHABOS@GMAIL.COM

Have an easy fast.