Expert: Scottgem - 10/27/2006

Question
Well it's my old friend Scott - still answering questions.  Good to see ya again Scott.  

What I am wanting to know is how is a computer's IP address used and is there a way to find out anything from an IP address, if I have one that I want to determine to whom it belongs?

Appreciate you help - Norm


Answer
Each computer on a network is assigned a unique IP address. This address is used to determine who sent data packets and what machine returning packets are intended for.

The Internet is just one huge network. So when you connect to an ISP, it assigns you a public IP address. Local netowrks can use private IPs that only have to be unique within the LAN.

The most you can find out, knowing a machine's IP is the ISP that issued it. Anything more than that would require a court order served on the ISP.

HTH
Scott<>