Newsgroup ISP tracing

[MARKBLACK]

Hi, all just wondering how one could trace a person on a newsgroup, I know the ISP but this person is using a nickname.
MB

[HackinCowboy]

I'm assuming you mean IP when you say ISP. If you know their IP you can run a WHOIS to see who the IP belongs to. If you wanted to go any further you'd probably need some kind of legal backing to get personal information about the actual owner. I'll leave it at that since I don't want to encourage any sort of malicious activity.

[MARKBLACK]

Hi, basically I had said something on a newsgroup which I probably shouldn't have (it was said in anger to guy winding me up) now he has said he is to report me, to my ISP-I tried to smooth things over but maybe I made it worse, he just wouldn't give in so I carried on and on plus others got involved, it started with a daft question(you have probably seen them)
You said run a WHOIS were from.

[Great_One]

you can do a whois lookup from this page

http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl

that will give you the owner of the netblock for that ip
but wont give you the actual user. you will probably have to contact the isp to see if they will give you any info on the person using that particular ip at the time in question

[Statica]

Originally posted by MARKBLACK Hi, basically I had said something on a newsgroup which I probably shouldn't have (it was said in anger to guy winding me up) now he has said he is to report me, to my ISP-I tried to smooth things over but maybe I made it worse, he just wouldn't give in so I carried on and on plus others got involved, it started with a daft question(you have probably seen them) You said run a WHOIS were from.

The short answer to your question, and you probably might not like it, is that your identity is entirely traceable. There are extensive logs as to who you are and where you typed out your messages from.

That is the nature of the net. There has to be some accountability to practices. Yes there are ways to mask the identity or to choose newsgroups providers who claim anonymity; but guess what they also log you. Any person who goes to extensive efforts to mask identities is either doing something that shouldnt be done or is extremely paranoid, and chances are that it is the former. It is not that the ISP or the newsgroups provider is trying to invade your privacy, its just that they need a way out of sticky situations as well.

Far too often, there are too many people who say the most inappropriate things, thinking that this veil of anonymity or the convenience of using a cleverly thought nickname will hide who they are.
You might take solace from the fact that, your ISP, especially if it is a large one, probably gets these complaints a few times every hour, and probably is not interested in trying to sort out petty flame wars... but you are the best judge of what you said and how serious it could be.

[Statica]

A good usenet browser will allow you to see all header fields (like seeing the mail headers on Outlook or Eudora).
I will use this post on comp.unix.bsd as an example-

This posting was made -

mynewsgroupsprovider.com!!ps01-sjc1!news.webusenet.com!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!151.189.0.75!newsfeed.arcor-online.net!news-x2.hisISP.usenetserver!his.newsgroups.server.com!not-for-mail From: nickname removed Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd,nl.comp.os.uni x.bsd,comp.protocols.smb,linux.samba Subject: error compiling kernel with netsmb Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 08:44:00 +0000 (UTC) Lines: 116 Message-ID: importantinfo@62.*.*.*>The IP address NNTP-Posting-Host: hisISP.newsgroups.server.com X-Trace: host.isp.net 102629*** 21*** 19*.**.**.* (10 Jul 2002 08:44:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@domain.* NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 08:44:00 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: Xnews/5.04.25 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:66 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:24210 comp.unix.bsd.misc:1172 comp.unix.bsd:28 nl.comp.os.unix.bsd:577 comp.protocols.smb:3788 linux.samba:5524 X-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 04:44:03 EDT Hi all, . . .

As you can see well enough, the IP address of the poster, the ISP, the ISP's usenet server, Identification #s for the post, the user's newsgroups program, time it was posted etc are clearly marked out. Most good ISP's/newsgroups providers also provide a useful abuse email address as well.

HTH

_{IP addresses & host info have been removed to protect identities}

[HackinCowboy]

I once helped a friend who was receiving threatening and degrading e-mails in her hotmail account. So I merely did what Statica suggested, look at the header files and get the IP and ISP information. We just took that down to the police station and the guy was charged with defamation of character and harassment. So word to the wise, beware of what you do on the net. As many people are watching.

[MARKBLACK]

HackinCowboY, Thanks for your reply I'm not sure if the police will be involved as it was a daft argument, but the guy said he has reported me for something or another, to my ISP. I will just have to ride it out, the guy just wouldn't give in I tried to smooth things over, I even tried to contact him by email but he wouldn't listen. He has tried to say I harassed him. I was trying to smooth things out.

[Dave22]

Unless you were threatening this person with some sort of violence or other illegal activity, just forget it. There's nothing the respective ISPs are going to do about it.

If you're gonna play on USENET, get a thick skin and watch what you say.

FWIW

[MARKBLACK]

Dave22
I think what was happening the guy was trying to say I was threatening him, I asked him to send me his name and address so we could sort this out, but he took it as a threat,
.
I have had all kinds thrown at me on ng I just laugh it off. I think the guys old and confused, but hes still content with reporting me.

[Dave22]

Gotcha.

Well, unless he has hard evidence of threats, the ISPs will just laugh at him. You run into all kinds out here...

[MARKBLACK]

Dave22, I will bare that in mind. Thanks for your feedback
MB

[MARKBLACK]

Hi. Apparently my hotmail account has now been cancelled without any explanation, I did try and reason with this guy I sent him 3 emails, to see if we could sort this problem out, nothing was said wrong so I don’t know whats going on, I now need to contact Hotmail to find out whats going on, surely they would have contacted me. I am wondering if anybody knows their address. MB