Hi, Leo. I donât know if this is something you can answer or not, but I need
to know because Iâm in quite a sticky situation. Does email coming from the
same IP address imply that even if itâs not the same computer itâs definitely
in the same country? Itâs impossible for a friend of mine in one country to
have the same IP address as someone else in a completely different continent?
Right?
In this excerpt from
Answercast #14, I talk about how IP addresses identify the location of
computers and how it might not be exactly what you expect.
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Are country IP addresses always different?
No.
So, there are two different ways that this can happen.
- One, is a multi-country ISP.
There arenât that many, but itâs possible. An ISP could certainly reuse IP
addresses and reassign them to different users as they login. Thatâs what DHCP
does: the dynamic protocol that assigns an IP address to you when you connect
your computer.
Typically, yes, theyâre all in the same country. But I could certainly
envision an IP or ISP that services more than one country. Since we
donât know what country youâre talking about, I canât say for sure that this isnât
the case.
You did say, âDefinitely.â And I canât say definitely.
- Two, is Proxy Servers
The other scenario is one thatâs slightly more likely and that is proxy
servers.
If you send email through a proxy server of some sort (or if you use a web
mail service of some sort), then the IP address that is in the email could well
be that of the proxy service (or of the web mail service) and not the IP
address of the physical location of the computer from which the person is
sending email.
IP address location is not definite
So, there are scenarios there where the IP address associated with
the email:
- Not only isnât necessarily in the right country
- But itâs not even associated with that user in any way; in any direct
way.
So, in absolute terms, No. We cannot infer that âabsolutelyâ the same IP
address means the same country. Thereâs definitely a lot more information
thatâs needed before you can even come close to saying whatâs really going on
here.
In general, sure, itâs likely: itâs common. It is most often the case that
the IP address does infer a specific country.
But, in absolute terms, there are ways around that, and ways that you cannot
count on being used, or not being used, to obfuscate exactly where somebody
resides.
