Is IP Spoofing Effective in Protecting Personal Information Online?

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WatermelonPig
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Right now I'm running the latest version of ESET which is suppossedly the best out there in terms of anti-virus although for some reason many people say that they have 5 or 6 of these so should I get a couple more and which ones? Also, I've heard of IP spoofers (PM me if you want links) which scramble your IP. I mean how useful are these and can anyone really get my IP if I email/interact with them without hacking the site's server? And I mean unless they contact my ISP then even if they know my IP can they know who I am? So tracing someone through their IP is only something the Feds can do?
 
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I've always heard that running more than one anti-virus program at a time is a TERRIBLE idea for two reasons. First, they are resource hogs so just ONE of them can slow your computer down appreciably ... you really don't want more than one of them running. Second, they tend to step on each other ... that is, each thinks the other is a virus.

Just get a good one and go with that. I use Norton and am satisfied with it.
 
Any computer your computer communicates with over the internet has the ability to obtain your IP. In fact, it having your IP is a requirement for it to communicate with you. Therefore, "IP scramblers" can't work, on a fundamental level. Instead, they just forward your communication through other computers that act as middle men concealing your identity.

To obtain the identity of the user of an IP, one must get it from the user's ISP. Most ISPs, if not all, require a subpoena to give out the identity of a user. For them to get a subpoena, the must have evidence that the user of the IP probably has done something illegal.
 
Ok so right now you and I could know each other's IPs, how would we know what those are?
 
WatermelonPig said:
Ok so right now you and I could know each other's IPs, how would we know what those are?
No, we can't. Our computers aren't communicating directly with each other; they're communicating with the server for this website.