Spoofed IP Addresses and Private Proxy Servers

[Skiprr]

Just by virtue of my network router, my true IP address is hidden.

The only IP address displayed is that of Earthlink in League City, while I live some distance away.

Would this be prohibited?

Nope; you're good, too.

On the other hand, if you registered from an IP in California, and your first two posts--within a few minutes of each other--show as having originated in Islamabad, Pakistan and Guangzhou, China... Well, that's probably an account that will be summarily deleted.

I don't want to speak further for Charles until he makes a decision, but my immediate recommendation to those who validly use proxy servers when traveling or to get through a company firewall is this: use a reputable public proxy provider (there are many) that allows you to specify the proxy server's city, and then choose a city in Texas, if possible. No flags raised.

Proxy servers are in valid use all the time. You probably have Internet traffic routed through one or more proxies every time you go online and don't even know it. Mobile device users, for example may go from a Starbuck's to their homes and, in the space of an hour, look as if they're coming in from Pennsylvania and then San Antonio. That's fine.

But there is a subset of public proxy servers called "anonymizers"--particularly "elite" or "high anonymity" proxies--that sprung up around the "black hat" or hacker community. These are designed to completely mask the user, often by rapidly (sometimes even randomly) changing what appears to be the originating IP address. Users wanting that degree of anonymity are very likely to be up to no good.

That's what we're trying to prevent.

Edited to add: Man, I just type way too slowly... Sorry, Keith and katmandu.

[Vol Texan]

Both techniques are used to hide where you are actually located. For someone like Charles, they're trivial to spot, and as he says, often an indicator of bad things to come.

You're right, I'm trying to hide where I'm located at times. I spend a lot of time in Venezuela, Singapore, China, Thailand, Nigeria, etc. When I'm overseas, it is best to 'tunnel' out of the country and appear to everyone that I'm actually sitting in Dallas when looking at TexasCHLForum, my bank, or other places. It's not about skirting the laws of the local government over there, nor is it a matter of obscuring my identity from the sites that I visit. It's just a matter of being prudent when you're in a place that's not protected by the US Constitution.

Hopping servers, however, is not always a symptom of wrong doing: For example, sometimes the local Witopia server in Dallas dies, so I switch to Miami, Los Angeles, or somewhere else. Or, if I'm in a situation where I want to get a better international perspective on some things, I'll often switch to another country's server to see how the results from Google, etc. differ from the US-based results. You'd be amazed what shows up if you 'appear' to Google as if you're not in the US!

Thanks to Charles, Keith, and the other moderators for posing this question to us before making a summary decision on any one given user. The work you do to keep this forum civil is well appreciated!

[PBR]

glad gmail is accepted -- some places dont like ar15.com and it sucks -- i grew tired of using email through provider cause if / when you change providers then no more access to that email or when they change like when road runner went to comcast -- end up forgetting password or whatever then stuck making another account or whatever

[AEA]

Whew,.......and I was filling out the Dem Party Joining Form!

Thanks guys for the clarification! I get to keep my guns!