"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." (Newton's third law).

There are services such as Anonymous Remailers that can hide the true sender of messages. Yes you can locate the IP of the remailer but never know where the messages originated.

Also, many spam messages and virus programs originate from computers that have been hijacked by the same self replicating virus or trojan software and operate unbeknownst to the owner of the computer. At least you can inform the owner of the sending computer that they have been hijacked but it would be difficult to trace it back to a source without more sophisticated methods, tools, and access (like those employed by government or law enforcement agencies).

GQ 

Hmmm...maybe I should try this anonymous approach...people usually ignore e-mails from me.  Including my parents...they keep moving and they never leave me their forwarding address...it's so frustrating...it's like they are trying to tell me something...I don't know.  Got any advice?  WWGD?

Can these traces find hard-wired connections, too?

Only sort of scary. It is not that specific in all cases. For my email address it shows the IP to be located the city in which the cable company (my ISP) is located.  That city is in a different state and approximately 45 miles from where I actually reside.

Our service is a dsl line from ATT; the connection is by ethernet cable - not wireless.  Are we still at risk?

Rbgorman,

I'm not sure what you refer to as risk. But the IP address of your machine is traceable regardless of the type of modem that you are using. You can be "less" traceable to yourself personally if you use a public computer such as that found at an internet cafe or the public library.

An IP Address is the address assigned to your cable, phone, or DSL modem connection by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). In your case your DSL modem is assigned an IP by ATT. The IP address may be dynamic (different each time you connect) or static (doesn't change with each connection). Each Internet Service Provider is assigned a group of these addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) so that the ISP can assign one to each of their customers.

For more information goto IP addresses .

GQ

Speaking of people who invade our privacy.  Gary, I thought you might get a kick out of this amazing video, that is, if you haven't already seen it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zSfZ9juF3M

Rebecca

I've read articles which say that software like BlueBug only works if a PDA or cell phone with Bluetooth capability is set to a certain mode.

Since I don't have any Bluetooth devices I did not have a reason to remember the mode but it's something like having the ability to Auto Connect or Discover nearby Bluetooth devices.

Here is something even more scary. Hardware hackers have built an amplified Bluetooth receiver with which they can be far away yet still "read" Bluetooth PDAs and cell phones. One article shows them sitting in the window of one office building and scanning nearby office buildings reading the contentst of unsecured Bluetooth devices.

Another guy used the receiver and sat in the lobby of an airport reading the contents of people's Bluetooth devices as their owners walked by.

The moral of this story: if you have a Bluetooth PDA or cell phone set to to the secure mode and only put it on Discover nearby devices when needed.

Terry Thomas
Atlanta, Georgia USA