How easy is it to trace anonymous postings in a message board?
Ok, so I had a few choice words to say about a corrupt political candidate, so I posted my thoughts "anonymously" on a city blog/message board. Now, I am worried that he can somehow trace the words back to me. I used to work for him so that would NOT be a good thing. What are my chances? (That'll teach me to be so hot-headed and speak before thinking!)
Answers:
It's possible, but not too likely. All these things would have to happen.
1. The message board would have to record the IP address of the poster for each message, and save it.
2. The "corrupt" political candidate would have to get access to this information, unless it's posted in the message itself.
3. He would have to trace it back to you through your ISP. This can range from pretty easy to very hard, depending on whether you have a static IP. It's extremely likely your ISP would not relinquish this information unless it's they are subpoena'd or otherwise requested by a law enforcement agency.
Unless you defamed this person so badly that they might seek legal recourse, I think you're pretty safe.
People try to use these IP address to prove that someone is posting multiple times under different names, but even that is pretty shaky.
as long as there's an America you have a RIGHT to freedom of speech...so relax
At most you can get an IP address but not the identity of the person.
Rarely an IP number points to a particular person. If you have a dial-up service, your number changes every time you connect. It's a limited pool but unless the ISP tells you who was connected to that IP at that time, there's no way to know. And they won't tell you, most likely they're not logging that information. And, even if they do, they have no way to tell who used that ID if it was someone not the registered user.
It's the same for all other home services.
If you're in a cyber café or anywhere with a public access there's no way to identify you.
Companies are easier to identify by IP number but that only tells you what company owns the IP. Unless they log the activity, they can't tell you who was connected to the forum.
In any case, they won't. I wouldn't.
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