The internet is teeming with various terms. Despite their wide usage, many people might struggle to grasp their meaning entirely. However, staying updated on the latest internet lingo is imperative toget a drift of things happening in the cyberworld.

For instance, an omnipresent element of our online experience is an IP address, but few know what it’s all about. A cause for concern is that many can’t tell what information an IP address can reveal about them.

What’s an IP Address All About?

An IP address is a unique code created for the online identification of each device on the World Wide Web. The IP address is the name assigned to each machine, and it's through this naming system itself, computers are connected for sharing data.

In a standard IP address, using the IPv4 protocol, four unique numbers are separated by a decimal. Every device has its specific IP address, but the world outside can access it rarely. However, IPv4 has a flaw: we might soon run out of them. Thus, more and more systems are adapting to the IPv6 version of the Internet Protocol.

When you connect to the internet through your router, it’s the router connecting your computer to the internet using a distinct IP address of its own. It, therefore, acts as the bridge connecting your network to the world network outside, i.e., the internet.

Let's suppose you send an email or visit a particular website. In both cases, it’s the IP address of the local router of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and not your computer’s address that’s shared. Anyway, irrespective of anyone getting to know the IP address of your individual computer or that of your network, the IP address shared tells quite a bit about the kind of person you are and your surfing habits.

Type of Information Shared Through IP Address

Your geolocation is the most personal kind of information that can be shared through your IP address. Don’t let this scare you.You’re connected to a network whose IP address is the one being shared without revealing your exact location.

Suppose you send an email from your home. People will get to know which city it has been sent from, but they won’t know your exact location. Yes, they’ll get to see your ISP’s information which may reveal geolocation data about what general area your router is in, but they share no street address.

Wait, there’s more to it

The IP address alone can't share much information about you apart from your generalized location, which says where you are. However, there’s trouble cooking. That’s because entitiescan gain access to details of all the online activity a particular IP address shows. After all, everything you do gets associated with your IP address. Thus, combining information about the people behind an IP address is possible.

The Privacy Commissioner’s Office in Canada (OCP) decided to check what kind of information it could gather from the IP address of its network. The researchers used a search engine to know more details about the people who had accessed the internet through that network.

In another experiment, the OPC checked the IP address who had made changes to a Wikipedia entry. Then, the researchers checked that IP address on a search engine. They got a lot of information about the person who had edited Wikipedia, even that the person had checked out an online message board catering to sexual preferences.

The report explained how using the tactics we have mentioned above, authorities can paint a certain kind of portrait of an individual with noprior judicial authorization needed. Therefore, it’s clear that anyone can get to know a lot about you when you use the internet at work.

What can your ISP see?

It also implies that, in theory, an ISP can gather a lot of information about the online activities of its subscribers. It is possible, but countries approach this differently. In some regions, ISPs are instructed to retain information about their clients. In other cases, they can monetize the harvested insights. For instance, they could share these details with data brokers or other entities interested in users.

Thus, your IP address can reveal a lot about you, which is enough cause for concern.Luckily, there are ways to conceal IP address from ISPs and other entities alike. The quickest way is to use a Virtual Private Network tool. It is an application allowing you to reroute your traffic through remote servers in various locations. As a result, it masks your actual IP address with the one belonging to the server you have connected. Thus, none of your activities will be associated with your real IP address.

Conclusion

You might not have been aware of the significance of your IP address, but we have now told you how it can be used to reveal a lot about you. It shows much more than your geolocation, giving all the details of your surfing behavior. While the law enforcement agencies might use this to tackle crime, it's still a violation of individual privacy. Criminals may also use it for nefarious purposes. Use a VPN to stay protected and play safe.