Who does this IP Belong to?
A common question from LinkTrackers is: “How can I find out who an IP address belongs to?”
Presumably, the reason for this question is pretty simple – people want to know exactly who clicked their link. Was it Bob in accounting or Sven Patterson in Nova Scotia? Was Sven wearing that new parka I sent him?
Unfortunately, we can’t be that exact – yet. What we can do is called an IP lookup. I like to use http://ws.arin.net/whois/ for this. In most cases an IP lookup will return the name of the user’s internet service provider like AT&T or Verizon. Although not 100% accurate, you’ll often see contact information for the provider’s office that can help narrow down geographic location.
In a few cases (particularly with businesses) the IP address is dedicated to a particular group and lists their contact information instead of the service provider.
Keep in mind, however, that IP addresses can change on a regular basis for individual users; so don’t rely on them too heavily. This is particularly true for anyone using a dialup internet connection.
That’s it for now. Say hi to Sven for me.