Comment IP

[richmodis]

lj-releases.livejournal.com/67287.html

• Users who have enabled Comment IP logging will now also see the Country and City information of the commenter. This information is only visible to the journal owner, community owner/maintainers, or author of the entry if it is posted to a community with this feature enabled (only those who can currently see IP information). This feature is providing the publicly available geo-location associated with the IP address in the same way the "location" feature on our Update page currently functions.

Edit: Message received! We're in the process of removing this change right now.  I am positively surprised how quick LJ backtracked.

Edit 2: The change is now live on the site; country and city information is no longer being displayed with the IP logging feature.

Edit 3: New poll at http://lj-feedback.livejournal.com/16181.html regarding IP logging!

Comments

[jhumor]

They like to make it REALLY easy for stalkers, don't they? :( Sure, stalkers could get the info from the IP addresses before. But before, the stalkers had to WORK for it.

[richmodis]

Yes! It is ok to have an IP address from a commenter in case something bad happens, but you shouldn´t have vulnerable information, like you location, shown to strangers on a silver plate.

[jhumor]

Like I keep saying: I just need to leave there permanently. RPGs are really the only thing that hold me there. And now that OpenID is allowed in Comms, I can leave and still stay few communities that aren't RPG associated.

[elleth]

It's actually possible to join communities with OpenID? :D Fantastic!

[jhumor]

Also, click the above link; Supposedly they're removing the ID city/state logging...

As to joining comms see here: http://news.livejournal.com/137989.html

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, with your Dreamwidth OpenID account on LJ you can join a community, moderate a community, maintain a community, own a community, create a community, and post to a community. Literally the only difference between a regular account and an identity account now is that your identity account doesn't have a journal on LJ and you won't be able to switch to a Basic account.

[youngsoulrebel]

I don't get this train of thought.

[jhumor]

Anyone can get information about your location based on the IP address that can be logged.

However, in order to obtain specific location information, one would have to use an external site. LJ was putting city/state/country information as part of the display where the IP address shows. So, during that time, people didn't have to use an external site to learn where you lived.

[youngsoulrebel]

Not "anybody" can have that information via IP-logging — only the journal owners, community maintainers, and post creators. Even so, only City and country information is provided through IP look-up, not "where you live" — even if you live in a very small town, IPs are typically connected to where the ISP is located.

Hypothetically, if you commented on a post made by some-one hell of dedicated to stalking you, they'd still have plenty of major work ahead to learn "where you live".

[jhumor]

Then apparently you don't live in a small town, have never been stalked, or both. I have had both. City/state/country is more than enough information for people to figure out who I am.

[youngsoulrebel]

When you put other personal information up, I'm sure it is.

[abriel]

....

Yep, I'm glad I left when I did. And I thought the whole Facebook and Twitter linkup thing was bad...

[richmodis]

This seems to affect every comment you have ever written, even these years ago. So if you still have your LJ account...

[abriel]

Deleted long ago. So as long as it doesn't affect comments from dead LJ accounts I'm hoping to be good.

[havocthecat]

It does, or so I've heard. Check out this comment thread for additional info.

[abriel]

Well, fuck. LJ sucks. And I'll be one of those people sending them a very nasty email.

Considering they aren't getting anymore of my money it probably won't make a difference but it'll still be worth making my voice heard and letting them know shit like this is why I left.

[marahmarie]

Oh crap, really? Perfectly unreal. *imagines people with comments from me dating back to 2006-2010 looking at my location - Jesus Christ, I guess it's already too late, since people had a few days to peek before LJ File 13ed it?*

Holy crap. And again: holy crap. LJ sucks.

[tragedy_virus]

Seriously? D:<
Ugh.

[chaobell]

Gross.

[adnarel]

Aaand, this is why I left. It's one thing to have IP addresses logged to screen for trolls. It's another to hand people your location on a platter.

Lj was always about the communities. Don't they know they just severely undercut their own memberbase? Now people won't comment on communities with IP logging on.

HERP DERP, Lj.

[foxfirefey]

Looks like it's already been backpedaled upon.

[moem]

Oh good.

[foxfirefey]

Doesn't surprise me too much--my guess is this was a treat for bloggers in Russia. There's not much in it for LJ the business, unlike some of the other things that people have reacted badly to. It's possible it might end up on Cyrillic services split, where Cyrillic services gets to have it and people not on it don't.

[fiddlingfrog.livejournal.com]

That was my guess - Google Analytics can tell you where your readers are coming from, in aggregate, but this feature would let you know where the commenters, who are the more engaged audience, are located.

[marahmarie]

Probably how they should have done it in the first place, though I can't imagine why they'd want to do it at all.

[drunkenboxer]

hahaha. the locations will all be in russia lol

[adnarel]

Like.

[sharpiefan]

I left LJ over the Facebook crossposting thing. My paid LJ is due to run out in a matter of days, and this has decided me: I will not be returning to LJ, I will not be paying out good money for a site that doesn't care one iota for the privacy of its userbase... and I am considering deleting my LJ once and for all.

DW is smaller, but it's definitely the place to be, especially as I can't see LJ learning from its past mistakes. If it back-tracked on the Facebook thing, I might consider going back - I miss the comms I was part of - but it will take at least an action of that magnitude.

[dydan]

THIS!

[xoxomarina]

I'm failing to see the big deal... What is the difference between me tracking down someone's location from their IP address on my own, or their location being readily displayed for me without me having to do any digging? The IP logging info is still only available to the direct author or owner of the account, so how is this any different? I don't see a breach of privacy here, unless somehow they decide to show the IP address to EVERYONE who can view the comment.

[coldlikedeath]

That's cos Russia is Russia. They want to find dissenters pretty quick and perhaps kill 'em. Has this been rolled back or not? I am not telling everyone where I am, nor getting a new IP address.