IP Address Detection

[herme3]

When somebody visits a web site, the web site usually logs the visitor's IP address. This can be used to see how many times the same person visits a web site.

 

How does this work? Can I create a script that will load a web site in a frame, and then randomly generate the IP address that the web site will log from my computer? Please let me know. Thank you.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

You can use a proxy, but it is impossible to hide your IP from a website you are accessing directly. After all, it has to know where to send the data to...

[5614]

Like Cap'n said, you can't fool a website about your IP beyond using a proxy.

 

I don't know the actual code used to log the IP, but it can't be too complex because the website must know the IP of the computer for the website to load (server needs to know where to send the data, the "where" is the IP of the computer)... if you have the website on your screen then it's because the server sent the data to you, from this it knows your IP, it's just a case of whether it has been logged or not.

[herme3]

Ok, I understand. Is there any legal way to send a ping from a randomly generated IP address, so it counts as a visitor? Could I create a program that could repeatedly ping a web site from a random IP address, so it looks like the web page has received lots of different visitors?

 

I don't want to create any type of program that is illegal or could be used to overload a web site. I'm just thinking about creating a tool that could make a web site's owner think they are receiving tons of unique visitors.

[5614]

Not that I can logically think of.

 

When you ping a computer you are sending a package from your computer to theirs. To get a result (ie. for a ping to work) you need to have sent the remote computer your IP so they can return the ping.

 

You could always change your IP or use a proxy which allows you to change the IP.

[Aeternus]

I think he just wants to send the request, he doesn't care about the response. This is possible, it is called IP Spoofing, but implementing this at a higher level (ie higher than the hardware or OS level) might be hard, not sure exactly how it is done (i doubt there will be much info easily available).

 

The legality of IP Spoofing is certainly dubious, you are obviously misrepresenting yourself and trying to misuse the system/network. If you are looking for an easy way to do it with some built-in functionality in most programming languages, I doubt you'll find it (as i said, I'd imagine you'd have to do it at the hardware/firmware or at least OS Networking level (as youd probably be changing the headers at the Network Encapsulation level (OSI Model).

[ecoli]

you could just go to web page and keep refreshing the page... obviously the IP adress will be the same, but that'll fool any web counter.

[Klaynos]

you could just go to web page and keep refreshing the page... obviously the IP adress will be the same, but that'll fool any web counter.

 

Depends on the counter, and certainly wouldn't fool most advitisers, but if you are doing it to artificially increase your webisites traffic for financial gain whether that is by increased advitiser revenue or to impresse prospecitive clients the legality of this is doubtfull...

[Pangloss]

There are programs out there that visit web sites (ostensibly to check them for functionality but in reality just to drive up their hit counts) automatically. There are scams all over the place that will actually PAY you to run such a program 24/7, and there's a very popular ponzi-like scheme that involves paying into an account which drives up your daily hit-count allowance, letting you (in theory) eventually rack up huge numbers which you can then (in theory) earn a profit from.

 

Isn't the Internet a nice place?

[herme3]

You could always change your IP or use a proxy which allows you to change the IP.

 

That is a good idea, but how would you do that? My cable modem automatically registers the same IP address every time I start my computer. Is there a way I can create a program that could visit a web site, change the IP address, then visit it again? Could it keep repeating this until the user of the program stops it? I would like this program to be compatible with multiple types of ISPs, because I plan on selling it to web site owners.

 

Depends on the counter, and certainly wouldn't fool most advitisers, but if you are doing it to artificially increase your webisites traffic for financial gain whether that is by increased advitiser revenue or to impresse prospecitive clients the legality of this is doubtfull...

 

Exactly. The counters that advertisers use check for unique IP addresses. I believe that the legality would depend on the terms agreement of the advertiser. My program should be legal for me to sell, but it would be the web site owner's responsibility to check the terms agreement of their advertisers.

[1veedo]

In PHP it's

 

$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

[Klaynos]

your IP adress is assigned to you from your ISP, if you have a static IP (something which is normally agreed when you sign up for the service) then you will need to talk to them about changing it, if you have a dynamic one it is pretty much luck, how your ISP run their network and your useage.

[herme3]

your IP adress is assigned to you from your ISP, if you have a static IP (something which is normally agreed when you sign up for the service) then you will need to talk to them about changing it, if you have a dynamic one it is pretty much luck, how your ISP run their network and your useage.

 

My IP address is dynamic, but I figured out how to change it. When I go to the Internet connection's properties, and then go to the Internet Protocol TCP/IP properties, "Obtain an IP address automatically" is checked. However, I can check "Use the following IP address:" and then I can type in another IP address. When I click OK, my computer will automatically register the new IP address. When I visit my web site, it will log the new IP address that I typed in, not the old one that I got dynamically when I first started the computer.

 

Is it legal to do this?

[RyanJ]

In PHP it's

 

$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];

 

I'm afraid it will not work if they are using a proxy but heres a little trick that will fix that

 

function RealIP(){
 $IP = null;
 if (!empty($_SERVER["HTTP_CLIENT_IP"])){
   $IP = $_SERVER["HTTP_CLIENT_IP"];
 }
 if (!empty($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR'])){
   $IPs = explode(", ", $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR']);
   if ($IP){
     array_unshift($IPs, $IP);
     $IP = false;
   }
   for ($i = 0; $i < count($IPs); $i++){
     if (!eregi("^(10|172\.16|192\.168)\.", $IPs[$i])) {
       $IP = $IPs[$i];
     }
     break;
   }
 }
 return ($IP ? $IP : $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
}

 

Hope that helps

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones