AboutVena McGrath Expertise As the author of a novel about my life online in chat rooms specifically, and a few adventures into online dating, I can answer almost any question anyone could ask about chatting online. The excitement, the adrenalin rush, the manipulation of the mind, the corruption of morals, the danger of stalking and harrassment online and offline, the lies, the secrets. The reality of this `fantasy` is frightening. My book tells a story that hopefully will make anyone who reads it more wary and chatwise than I was when I stumbled upon chat in late 1999 as a naive woman who didn`t have a clue what a chat room on the internet was. I have spent many hours online counselling men and women with broken hearts, wounded pride, and yes, very real fear. My passion is to try to help eradicate the not so good factors out of chat rooms and make them once again fun places where people feel safe.
Experience My experience commenced in June 1999 in international chat rooms and then a move in late September 1999 to chat rooms in Australia. I am still online, have my own chat room, and my first novel titled 'Secrets, Lies & Chat' was published by American-Book Publishing in 2005 and is now available from my website www.secretslieschat.net.au for a very competitive price. I have also released on my website an eBook which is a revised version of Secrets, Lies & Chat and only costs $4.95 5o download in either word or pdf format.
Organizations I belong to many writing organisations online and I belong to the chat room community of BigPond.
Publications Communique - a monthly newspaper produced by the NSW Government Department of Commerce
SMH ICON liftout 'The Net Effect' April 2004
Numerous articles in PoynterOnline
Numerous letters to the editor, SMH
My profile and short stories and articles are all online at AuthorsDen.com and some are posted on my website.
Education/Credentials High School Educated
TAFE Secretarial
Numerous OH&S certificates
Numerous Computer related courses
Expert: Vena McGrath Date: 3/14/2008 Subject: IP ADDRESS
Question Hi Vena,
I've got this guy from Africa trying to scam me. He uses religion as a front but then asks for money. He says he's from Uganda but when I do an IP Address search his email address is coming from Nigeria, the scam capital of the world.
2 Questions:
1. Are those IP Address tracking sites reliable ?
2. And exactly how is the location of an IP Address determined, What physically gives it a location ?
Thanks so much,
AL
Answer Hi AL
I've never used and IP address tracking site so I can't comment. All I can recommend is that you do a search on IP tracking sites and read through the reams of information there. Like most things to do with the Internet, we are often left to make up our minds as to the authenticity or lack of regarding most sites.
Personally I would have nothing to do with someone like the person you refer to. There is a lot of unwelcome stuff coming out of Nigeria and there would be probably none of it that is legal or real. Unfortunately these people can buy email addresses even though your ISP would no doubt deny that they sell their email addresses to anyone. Your addy can also be picked up from many websites that are legitimate due to hackers. I always tell anyone interested enough to ask to make sure they never give out their primary email address when surfing the net. Always use a secondary mail address like hotmail etc. This will save your primary addy from spam and the possibility of an attack by a virus.
People that contact you without your invitation are not to be trusted as they are always trying to sell you something or emotionally target you with sob stories. A good idea is, if you are slightly interested in an email, do a hoax search and often there you will find your email and you know then that it's a con. When in doubt ... don't!
With regard to your second question, I don't have an answer off the top of my head. I just imagined that there would be specified numbers, like car rego plates, and they are dealt out one by one with the addition at the end of specifics that relate probably to our ISP. If you like to go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address you may be able to fathom the information there on how IP addresses are allocated etc. It's all a bit much for my brain!
