In recent days, the news that recurrence users who consume content on the pirate platform has aroused a certain sensation Streaming Community (in which you can illegally find films, TV series and documentaries to be watched in streaming) can receive one 5000 euro fine. Some, driven by curiosity (and perhaps by the fear of the heavy penalties), have rightly wondered if it really is It is possible to frame those who visit illegal streaming platforms with the IP address (a unique number assigned to each device connected to the Internet) and how this happens. Well yes, the thing is technically feasible. Each device connected to the Internet uses an IP address – an univocal numerical sequence – which can be compared to a sort of “digital postal address”.
This data, assigned by the internet provider, serves to identify the access point to the network. When you access a website, even without your knowledge, your IP address is recorded. If the site in question hosts illegal content or if it ends up under investigation, the data that has collected on your account – including your IP – could be used to reconstruct the list of users who have benefited from it and, by challenging the providers, the authorities can actually be able to trace the identity of the users to whom the IP addresses have been assigned. Although an IP address alone does not allow you to go up directly To your identity, internet service providers can be legally obliged to connect it to a precise name. This means that visiting certain portals can lead to risks, even if only in terms of visibility in the eyes of the authorities.
What is an IP address and how it can be used by the authorities
Every time you connect to the Internet, your device receives a IP address (Internet Protocol), or a numerical code like 192.158.1.38assigned by yours ISP (Internet Service Provider). This address, generated according to international rules established by Icann (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), allows data traffic to reach your device and vice versa. Just like a letter needs a postal address to get to your destination, the network information must also know where to go. IP addresses serve precisely this.
Often these addresses are dynamicthat is, they change over time or when you move from one network to another. Just to give you an example, if you connect by a bar, your IP will be different from the one you use at home. However, it is possible to manually set up a Static IPuseful in technical contexts such as the Port Forwardingwhich allows you to direct specific data directly to a specific communication door.
Visiting a site, the server that hosts the contents must know your IP address to send you the contents. As a result, those who manage the platform can preserve it. If then that site is put under investigation for copyright violations (as in the case of the Pirate Streaming Community platform), even visitors’ data could end up under the lens of the authorities.
But the tracking of the IP address is not limited only to navigation on pirate sites. There are many other scenarios in which it can be collected: by clicking on a link, filling out an online form, participating in a forum, or interacting with advertisements. In fact, some ads can be designed specifically to collect personal data, including IP.
As already anticipated in the introduction, however, an IP address, alone, is not enough to identify a natural person. To be clear, The IP address does not reveal name, surname or other sensitive data of a person directly. Only the internet service provider can know who used a certain IP at a given moment, and only a competent authority can legally ask for this information (for example when anti-piracy investigations).
When the IP address is prey to cybercriminals
In some cases, the IP address can become a target of cybercriminal. Through techniques of social engineering – the art of manipulating people to obtain information – or through the Monitoring of online activities (Online Stalking), an attacker can get your IP and use it to go up approximately to your geographical position or to perform illegal actions. To prevent this from happening, you can resort to a VPN network, avoid unprotected public wi-fi networks and pay attention to the sites you visit.
