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Posted by #3 Aluxe on October 19, 2006, 1:46 pm
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On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 12:38:04 -0400, Chris F Clark wrote:
Hi Chris Clark,
Wow. Even though you didn't quite answer the specific question, you DID go
into a thorough detail on how to do the job better in a variety of ways.
I fully agree with almost all your points; and I partially agree with the
rest as explained below (for others to benefit from the conversation).
> If you *really* want to change/remove your NNTP posting host, then get
> yourself a linux server and a real netnews connection and a
> cooperative site that will forward your newsfeed into the usenet
> stream.
Understood. But, as you noted, that's a LOT more effort than just
unplugging the router momentarily (which is what I do today to accomplish
my goal). Actually, if I just found a router with an on/off switch, THAT
would be work just fine too! I didn't know that was a desired feature when
I originally purchased my Linksys router. In the future, a basic on/off
switch is on my list of router niceties.
> that's why people have been so "down" on your idea of changing your IP.
> The system isn't setup to do that.
> It doesn't provide any real value.
I only partially agree with you here. For you, and for most of the people
who posted, changing the IP assigned to you provides no value. But, for me,
where my ISP reports to the whole world my assigned IP address in every
post, it does provide additive value for the amount of work involved
(currently that work is merely unplugging the router momentarily after a
night's rest).
> I don't know what you have posted on alt.personals and am not
> interested enough to find out.
I don't actually post on alt.personals, by the way. That was just an
example to explain the "why" I was asking how to force the router to dial
into my PPPoE connection on demand. I didn't want to get into a discussion
of why ... it's all the nice people who responded who insisted we discuss
the why before we discuss the how. So, I told them why by using analogies
(some automatically assumed I was a criminal, paranoid, or worse!) :) LOL.
I think we've discussed the "why" to death ... if someone doesn't
understand the why by now (yes, I know you understood), then they most
likely won't ever get to the how (which is a much simpler question, albeit
non emotional).
> In particular, I wouldn't look by IP address, because most IP
> addresses are not specific to one person, most of them are connected
> to large sites with lots of users. The fact that yours happens to be
> your router (are you sure of that?
Yup. We proved it time and time again. Notice each day my nntp posting host
changes? It is 100% correlated with the IP address my ISP assigns me. It
doesn't matter which software I used (I tested Forte Free Agent, 40Tude
dialog, and Outlook Express). If anyone KNOWs the trick to tell the ISP to
not use my IP address as my NNTP posting host ... THAT would be a
conversation worthy of having!
> If you want more privacy ... you can get it by paying
> for it or by doing "hard work"
Or, I can just tell my router to dial into PPPoE every morning :)
> That being said, if you really do post on alt.personals (seeking some
> sort of relationship I would presume), thn you would be much better
> paying more money (or doing more ework) and getting some real
> anonimity.
Again. These were just examples. Do folks really think someone who wishes
to hide their IP address is going to actually provide "real" targeting
information to answer a wholly unrelated, yet still very personal, set of
errant questions of why I want my router to dial into a PPPoE account on
demand?
The made-up examples were illustrative of the only point I had which was
that all my posts today under any name can be collected by the IP address
for me (but not for most of you).
> You are not going to get enough anonymity from changing
> your IP to make it worthwhile.
At the moment, the "cost" of changing my IP address is momentarily
rebooting the router (sometimes it takes a few cycles). You are precisely
agreeing with me in that I am trying to get that "effort" down to zero by
intelligent setup of the router (to make it dial into the PPPoE account on
demand).
I think I've set the router to do that so we are testing it now (it failed
the first test, but, my test may have been flawed as I had shut down the
modem).
> That's like taking a shower in a
> public square fountain and then deciding that the next public square
> over is "more private". Yeah, right....
It's more like the ISP is putting my name tag (i.e., my assigned DHCP IP
address) over my shower in a very public place where everyone else is
taking a shower ... but their (and your) ISP doesn't put their/your name
tag over their/your shower so folks are not concerned with my problem with
it because they don't have the same problem.
> By the way, changing your MAC address at a public hotspot isn't going
> to add that much to your privacy--especially if you go to the same
> hotspot all the time.
I think we've established that this is additive to security. Of course, we
all know that a security camera can record that you were there and that
someone can walk by and watch what you're doing (think tempest) ... but
what we were talking about specifically was the PACKET traffic.
I think we've reliably established the only thing that the PACKET traffic
reveals about you (other than the content which is likely more revealing
overall in a global sense) is that you CHANGED your MAC address.
> No one cares that it is you posting something, unless you are
> "important" in your own right (or what you are posting is important in
> its own right).
Thousands of identity theft victims believed as you do. I understand your
point, and you understand mine, so we can just agree to disagree that
setting up a router to automatically dial into a PPPoE account on demand is
pointless (I believe it isn't; you believe it is).
> If you haven't noticed, most of the technical content in this thread,
> has not been about giving you ways to achieve what you want, but
> instead trying to explain why what you think you want is not worth
> having, because it doesn't get you what you really want.
Sigh. You do understand the situation well. So do I. It all boils down to
the shower-curtain analogy. THEY don't have THEIR assigned IP address on
their shower stall in the public shower; I do.
That makes my situation different than most of theirs. I know you
understand that. But they (seemingly) fail to understand that; yet, in
their willingness to help (which I do appreciate) they try to put me in
their shower slippers instead of the other way around.
> So, if you want to change your MAC address and post from a hot-spot
> thinking you will be more anonymous, go ahead.
It will. For the five seconds it takes to change the MAC address, the
security is additive and provides good ROI.
> If you give me reason to track you down, it won't even slow me down.
Please realize I never said it would. All you'd need to do is tempest
monitoring or security cameras or food receipts or interviewing the hotel
employees, etc. I KNOW that. That was NEVER the issue. Why people can't get
that in their minds (yes, I know you understand), is beyond me. All I was
asking on the MAC address question was about the tattletale bit.
Some people, sounding very knowledgeable, say there is "no such thing";
while others, sounding just as knowledgeable sare "there is such a thing".
From what I read (and posted the references), there is such a thing but I
asked the jury to help me here as we already determined changing the MAC
address prior to initating a public hotspot connection IS additive.
> If you are posting on the internet, presumably you want to be read.
> If you want to be read, then you do things that make you easy to find.
> Trying to be anonymous and public at the same time is an oxymoron.
I disagree with this whole set of statements (including the first line).
You don't just want to be read ... you want the answers (what good is being
read without getting the answer????).
If you want the answer to the question, then you ask good questions and you
respond promptly, accurately, and courteously to all questions that try to
flesh out the problem ... and then you diligently try the viable suggested
solutions.
Can anyone say I am not?
In summary ... I asked many times how to force the router to dial into the
PPPoE account on demand ... and I am in the middle of tests from the one or
two answers which provided how to do that ... I hope these tests work ...
I'll know tomorrow morning after the router and modem have been down for a
few hours.
My IP adddress is current: NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.110.16.49
Tomorrow, if it's different ... then we will have succeeded and I will
thank you all for your kind help!
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