Hey friends!

Let’s say (hypothetically) that my friend got a (hypothetical) letter threatening legal action for (hypothetical) copyright violation of adult content, and they provided an IP address which is not quite, but almost the same as my friends own IP address.

If my friends current IP is in the form “12.345.XXX.XXX”, then the provided IP is of the form “12.345.YYY.YYY”, where the X and Y numbers differ, but the first 2 parts are the same (although I obviously changed it here). The provided IP links to the same city as the original, but it is different in the last 2 parts. The provided IP was supposedly recorded back in September. Also, according to whatsmyipaddress[dot]com, both addresses are “Likely Static”.

Could my friends IP have been the prodived one a few months ago, and then changed by my ISP? Can this be linked back to my friend?

I’m not asking for legal advice, simply to understand the IP protocol a bit better.

Also, sorry if this isn’t the correct community to post such a question.

Thanks!

  • thunderborgBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’d be checking if the internet service has a static IP. If it does, and another letter comes respond to the letter with “I believe this letter has been sent to me in error. My Static IP provided by my ISP while being similar to the one listed, is not the same. If it’s not check with the ISP if they have a record of all IP Addresses used for that service.

    I’d also ask for specifics when the infringement occurred and as much data on the machine like hostname or local IP used in question, there is a chance someone hacked the wifi.

  • MidgardDragonBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Note this is probably a scam and you should ignore the letter. Unless it was child porn then they’ll never do anything. And if it was child porn the cops would come not a letter.