Privacy/Security: How to change my IP address daily or weekly on DSL

Hi Dana, I can definately say I have posted from public wireless hot spots which do NOT require any registration process whatsoever.

Many hotels, for example, have free public wireless access in their lobbies.

Of course, some hotspots do have a registration process ... the clincher being their need to obtain money from you (generally by credit card) ... which we all know identifies you to your social security number which basically provides your whole life history to almost anyone who can use a telephone to ask.

So, I think we've definitively established the following:

a. Does changing the MAC address leave a tell-tale change bit? Yes. But that in and of itself is not subtractive to privacy.

b. Is changing a MAC at a public hotspot additive to privacy? Probably. Especially if the public hot spot requires no other registration.

c. Is removal of the NNTP Posting Host additive to privacy? Maybe. I certainly believe so; but others are not so sure (however, they are certainly hung up on the ISP knowing who we are which was never the question so their answers are suspect once you consider they are answering a different question than that which was posed).

Given that I think we have determined the above to as great a degree as we can (bearing in mind the hugely emotional aspect of some people's postings), I think I'm left with determining the following.

1. How can I remove the NNTP Posting Host from my posts? (I'm installing OE and Agent as we speak to test one hypothesis.)
2. How can I force the router to dial into the PPPoE on demand? (I'm testing one helpful sugestion as we speak.)
3. If you change the MAC address & change it back ... is the tattletale bit still set? (???)

A MAC is a uniuqe ID that's given to a piece of equipment, such a router, modem, NIC, etc, that communicates on a netwrk. You can tell by the MAC as to what manufacturer made the equipment. The MAC is an identifier. There is no bit that I know about thatcan tell you if a MAC has been changed. There is software that will allow you to change the MAC, like on a NIC.

The MAC means nothing in this situation for some kind of security, that I know about..

Some say yes and some say no. I say no. If someone is coming at your IP that the router is blocking, then call the ISP and tell them you want a new IP.

Like I said before, you are no potatoes, they are after the big fish, like a company.

It's past my bedtime here in the US. I got to hit the sack and get some sleep.

Duane :)

Hi Duane, Thanks for the helpful response. I'm only responding in _this_ post to the one un-helpful part of your response because I think this kind of confusion is the reason this thread has taken so long to get to the very good results it has achieved for all of us.

This post is not about security! It is MY FAULT for using that word in the initial post and in the subject line! I apologize.

I don't care (for the purpose of this post) if a zillion zombies attack my NNTP posting host (which is, in reality, my modem's IP address). I don't care if a hundred viruses and worms and malware malfeasants attack me directly (again, for the purpose of this post).

What I care about is making is harder for someone (my kids perhaps, or my spouse, or my employer, or you, or some kook, etc.) to connect all my various posts together.

I have a professional life to maintain and I maintain it on the Internet. I have a personal life to maintain and I partly maintain it on the Internet. And, I have technical needs and folks like you on the Internet help me.

All I am asking is for help in keeping those Internet "lives" separate with the simplese, cheapest, easiest methods possible (and simply changing the IP address of my modem on demand seems to be a viable method to me).

I'll answer your other (more helpful and to the point) responses separately.

Hi Duane, We have all learned a lot in this thread. I, for one, have probably learned more than all of you combined (since you knew so much more than I to start with).

I agree with you.

In fact, if I had known what I know now, I _would_ have asked the specific technical questions:

1. How can I mask my NNTP posting IP in my nntp headers?
2. What is the easiest way to change my modem's IP address?
3. If I reset my MAC to the original address, is the change bit also reset?

:)

On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:38:13 GMT, Duane Arnold wrote

Hi Duane,

Again, I don't mean to pick on you, but, I guess I need to repeat that what you state above it wholly irrevelant to the conversation. Yes, I know I used the word "security" in my subject line ... and for that I am constantly punished by people saying I won't get security (as you have said time and time again).

I will repeat that I am not at all worried about my ISP knowing who I am nor am I (in this thread anyway) worried about someone "attacking" me because they now know my modem's IP address.

I am not worried (in this thread) about malware. I am not asking (in this thread) about compromised machines. I am not speaking (in this thread) about someone with happy fingers leading to a compromise.

Can we please stay on topic (where we have done quite well when we have)?

Someone else mentioned that a bit is set if the mac was changed. I think that person meant the global/local bit it the layer two header.

yesterday I was at my bank, and while the cust rep goes to get some printouts, I check out their desk:

internal phone numbers (IT,Reception,employees) and email addresses. then there is your paperwork, because you were at this bank right bevor me. so your address, phone, account# anything interesting about you.

all I need is a good memory or a pda, pretending to work my calendar.

i go over to check out your house, go through your trash, find a couple magazines and snail-spam (ISP, AAA, Home and Gardening, whatever)

i learn about your interests, your kids and wife's name. I call various people pretending to be either you, your bank, or your ISP.

I'll impersonate the ISP guy, ring your door when the paranoid guy is not home, tell your kids there is a problem with your cable connection, this is your account, isn't it?

i check out your house, remember some more details if I am luck, I get to install a keylogger or rogue access-point in your LAN.

yeah, now I know enough to do you real harm I don't need to know your IP address.

sleep well - and don't forget to close your shutters....

Hi Duane, I do appreciate your help ... but your constant sticking to this errant theme is a bit frustrating to me as it wastes all our bandwidth unnecessarily ... (sorry for having to be blunt) ...

I shall repeat (again):

- The questions are NOT about anyone coming at the IP.

- I KNOW full well that I can be attacked (that's why I have a firewall).

- I am NOT asking about hiding behind a firewall (which I am).

All I was asking was for an easier way to change my modem's IP address. I'm testing one suggestion as we speak. - Aim the browser at the router's IP address - Log in as the administrator of the router - Go to "Setup" "Basic Setup" - Switch the default from "Keep Alive: Redial Period = 30 sec" - Switch the default to "Connect on Demand: Max Idle Time = 1 min"

I'm not sure the implications of this setting so that's why I'm testing it out.

If you know ... that would be wonderful if you'd expound on that.

Yes, but, do you know the technical answer to the question, or not?

Hi kingthorin,

Oh my. Yes. Finally. You are someone who helps answer the question.

Instead of a cheap off-topic editorial on paranoia, you bared your brains and bothered to come up with a possible answer to what amounts to a very simple on-topic technical question. Thank you so very much. It's people like you that make the Internet so helpful to everyone!

I found all the settings you spoke of in my router. - I aimed the browser at the router's IP address - I logged in as the administrator of the router - I went to "Setup" "Basic Setup" and switched the default from - "Keep Alive: Redial Period = 30 sec" - to the new setting of: - "Connect on Demand: Max Idle Time = 1 min"

Hopefully, a positive result of this technical test of your hypothesis will answer the question of how to force the router to dial into the PPPoE account when I power the modem back on after an evening's shutdown.

I'm not quite sure if I fully understand this setting though. Is this a correct explaination of the "Connect on Demand" setting?

- Assume the DSL modem is shut down for, say, overnight.

- Assume the router was left powered on; as was the computer.

- The goal is to power the modem and attempt a web connection on the computer and the hope is that this will cause the router to re-initiate the PPPoE connection to the ISP.

I'm confused about the "max idle time" though. Does that mean that it could be as long as one minute (given a max idle time setting of "1 min") before the router initiates the PPPoE connection?

...

measure of privacy.

Hi Stuart Miller,

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being a voice of technical reason here. I agree, we are not talking about security (that was my fault for equating sescurity to privacy in the original subject line) as you fully understand.

We are only talking about a simple additive action to privacy.

I think (by now), we have definately established (especially in the case of the tattletale NNTP posting host) that changing the IP address is additive to privacy.

Thank you for understanding the request and for posting thoughts that others can comment upon (as I am doing now).

I think we've established (not without argument): a) The MAC address tattletale bit isn't subtractive to privacy. b) Changing the MAC address is sometimes additive to privacy. c) Changing the IP address is sometimes additive to privacy. d) Changing the MAC address is trivial (takes five seconds). e) Changing the IP address could be trivial (we're testing now).

I wonder how many of us knew this before this post? I certainly did not so I thank all of you for edifying all of us. More facts need to be ascertained; but this is a great start!

Well, after a few posts using Outlook Express, Agent, & Xnews, I've come to the conclusion it's the ISP who is adding the modem's IP address to the NNTP Posting Host. Sigh.

Please prove me wrong because I'd so very much like it to not be so.

Oh gawd, talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

this is one of the longest threads here and enough people have answered your question already.

However all experts in this area seams to thibk that you are wrong in that assumtion. Changeing the IP-address doesn't help your privacy. As ip-addresses in dial-up networks change all the time there are other methods of tracking you down anyhow.

/ Balp

More like paranoia

You can't override that header. It's put there by your isp (or your news service). You can subsrcibe to a private news service. Look at my NNTP-posting-host; you won't get my real IP without a court order or some serious social engineering. Pretending to be a lawyer won't work.

Turn the damned thing off at night -- don't you ever sleep? Then you'll get a new IP every morning with your coffee and diazepam. Turn it off when you go out to walk the dog, turn it off when you're doing the laundry.

My OS has thing that disconnects if it's been idle for a certain time (with PPPoE), but the router doesn't do this, for fairly obvious reasons. Throw away your external router and connect directly from your OS.

Look, that header is used by news providers to help prevent abuse. Astraweb file my originating IP address away in a database in case anyone complains about me, or they get a court order to give up my ide or like that. Then they just put the database reference in the header. I pay Astraweb for that little bit of privacy. Astraweb is _real_ cheap too, if you don't download binaries ever.