What do we mean by IP Address and what is the significance of knowing someone else's IP Address?

Answer 1

Just like you have a street address and/or a phone number that uniquely identify where you live, the internet has a similar addressing scheme. However, the internet's addressing scheme can get a lot more complicated than just a simple adress like:

256.256.256.256

There can be static addresses - usually assigned to universities, large corporations, government departments, etc. Often these are the backbone sites that make up the internet.

There can be dynamic addressess - assigned from a pool and change every time you log on. These are the type of addresses most individual users are assigned.

It gets further complicated because many companies may run their own network behind their main address. So they would have a main address and then inside the company there would be a whole new set of address assignment.

The science of directing all this trafic is very complicated and there are a number of diferent types of routing protocols that can be used depending on the type of network a company wants to build. Routing protocols are simply programs that look at the address in a message and decide what to do with it.

The net of all this is that knowing someone's IP address doesn't tell you very much, because most addresses are dynamic - change every time you log in. That's why the police and other law enforcement can only track a criminal down so far and then they have to get a warrant to search the service providers records.

Suffice to say, if you play safe, you'll be safe.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Internet Protocol and its simply an address unique to your network or connection. Its like a persons home address. You can be tracked to your front door if the people have the proper authorization! Police, government, etc. Some people claim to be able to do this but they can only trace to your internet service provider. The provider will not give this info to the general public. At the very most, if you have a local provider, someone can trace you to your town. There is one exception to this though, if you freely broadcast your IP anyone with a few brains can directly assault your system!

Answer 4

IP address is your computers unique number by which your computer can be tracked. If you know someones IP you can harm that person in so many ways, like you can look for open ports on that particular computer and send Trojans, viruses, even format his computer and can even lock the fan of his computer which would crash the other persons hard drive.

You can even change your own IP if you know a bit of DOS commands by releasing your IP and then get new IP. Lot of hackers keep changing their IP often.

Answer 5

IP Address means Internet Protocol Address. By knowing someone's ip address a person can track the internet usage & location of the person . for eg 12.12.23.123

Answer 6

IP Internet Protocol is simply a unique hexidecimal numeral address in which every computer in the world that is networked has and is identified by. No two computers have the same address, like no two residences have the same mailing address.

If you are using an ISP, your computer is assigned one for as long as you are online for that particular session. When you are logged out, the IP address gets returned back in the queue for the next computer to use whan it is logged onto.

For instance 263.642.81.3 might be www.joespoolhall.com. www.joespoolhall.com is easier fro we humans to identify and remember with than the numbers.

Most businesses have a set of dedicated IP address that is theirs alone for their LAN local area networks.

The only reason you would need to have another's IP address is for cybercrime issues, in my opinion.

Answer 7

Go Start>Programs>Accessories>Command Prompt.

Type this: ipconfig

This will show you your current IP address, gateway, and more. This IP (Internet Protocol) addressing is used to uniquely identify computers on a network (in this case, your provider and the internet).

If someone knows your address, that isn't inheritly bad. But if they know your address and you have no security protocols running, they can communicate with your computer (hack it) and steal files, leave viruses, etc.

Don't worry about your address, you need one to play on the internet. Worry about hackers and buy a good security program.

Answer 8

An IP address is the computer's identification code, with it some one could track down where a message came from or pretend to be using that computer.

Answer 9

IP address is like a phone number, it can be tracked right back to the person it is assigned to.

Answer 10

An IP address is simply the unique adress of your particular internet connection. If you can perusade somebody to send you an email, it will appear in the jumble of gobbledygook at the top. Unless your a hacker, or are trying to track down the source of something, its not very useful information.