From: Dossy (dossy@panoptic.com)
Date: Sun Jul 06 2003 - 18:21:03 MDT
Morris,
Let me clear up a bit of misinformation ...
On 2003.07.06, Extropian Agroforestry Ventures Inc. <megao@sasktel.net> wrote:
> Along the way I have captured a list of visitors to my site that
> includes the IP address and hostname. Can these be translated into a
> link to email the original sender?
On 2003.07.06, Ziana Astralos <ziana@extrotech.net> wrote:
>
> Unfortunately, it's an easy question with an answer of 'no'.
>
> A user's email address is not in any way linked with their IP address
> and/or the hostname that IP resolves to.
Actually, the answer is "yes, but it's not easy and it's not cheap."
(Remember, there are very few things that are truly impossible --
improbable, sure ... but not impossible.)
There are information clearinghouses out there who sell access to large
databases containing all sorts of goodies. Things that tie people's
vital stats (name, birthdate, etc.) to their credit reports and debts,
marketing demographics, etc.
Someone got smart along the way and said, "Hey, we could tag people's
browsers with cookies and other tracking nonsense and then wait for them
to self-identify (at an e-commerce site, for example) then correlate
them back to the rest of their data ..."
This information is golden and powerful and isn't easy to get and
expensive. But, imagine if you were a marketing droid, what you
wouldn't give to get at this kind of data ...
Of course, some feel this might be an invasion of privacy and ought to
be illegal (and in some cases, it actually is) ... and some folks think
people who USE this data are even more scummy. Unlike spam which
affects you directly and consciously ... people knowing who you are and
what websites you're visiting and what email addresses you use are a lot
more subtle, so fewer people know about it happening.
I can't really say much more than this, but I'm showing you the door.
Which pill you take is entirely up to you.
-- Dossy
-- Dossy Shiobara mail: dossy@panoptic.com Panoptic Computer Network web: http://www.panoptic.com/ "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
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