On 7/26/19 1:27 PM, King Beowulf wrote:
On 7/26/19 12:26 PM, Dick Steffens wrote:
On 7/26/19 12:13 PM, King Beowulf wrote:
On 7/25/19 10:21 PM, Dick Steffens wrote:
Is there a good place to read up on IP tracking by Google? Folks I know
want to use Google Calendar. They are totally unsophisticated with
regards to how Google tracks a user's IP address. I want to find some
information I can cite to explain it to them.
Dick,
Literally EVERYBODY tracks your IP address. If they didn't, there would
be no way to access information on the internet. An IP address is how
internet information finds its destination and is exactly analogous to
your house address for receiving paper mail: EVERYBODY knows your house
address. It's a public record.
I understand this part.
The question is not "Do they track my IP access" but "Do they track what
internet sites and information I access from my IP address". You can
block a lot of this, use a VPN or proxy to hide your real IP, but then
you can't use "free" services like google calendar, etc.
Right. That's the part I want to read up on. How does Google track IP
addresses and the sites those IP addresses connect to.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_log
Its all in the server logs, router logs, for whatever server a site uses
(web, ftp, mail etc). These can be customized to track all sorts of
information which can then be parsed and analyzed with all sorts of
standard (open source) utilities, or custom code. To name a few:
nmap
nslookup
dig
whois
and https://awstats.sourceforge.io/
The same tools used in cybersecurity, penetration testing, etc, can be
used to gather information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration_test
I am befuddled by your question. As I said above EVERYBODY tracks
server access, not just google, and this tracking is BUILT INTO the
server software. All they have to do is look at their server logs. Once
parsed and stored in a relational database, this information can be
analyzed for trends, location, browser, operating system etc. That is
simply all there is to "how".
Perhaps Google is blocking you search terms. Try duckduckgo:
https://www.howtogeek.com/115483/htg-explains-learn-how-websites-are-tracking-you-online/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_and_network_surveillance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/03/29/what-to-expect-now-that-internet-providers-can-collect-and-sell-your-web-browser-history/
and 100s more.
Thanks, Ed. That's what I was asking about. I know all that stuff is
there, and I know a little bit about using it to know more about your
site's visitors. It's what is done with that information that I have
heard that Google is known for. As Kieth has often said, "If you're not
the client, you're the product." I want these folks to understand that
before they start using the tool.
--
Regards,
Dick Steffens
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