There was a recent thread on RC about Aquaworld closing. Then Brian Ward (who was previously banned) came in to make some comments. A mod then "moved on" Brian's new account. A question arose on why did he get banned and how the banning worked. Some people thought he got banned by IP address, and others thought he got banned by email address. A while back, I saw a discussion on Zoos R Us discussing that they possibly ban MAC address. Anyway - I posted the method that I thought RC used to ban people, but that thread got deleted. So I thought I would share it on this forum. Mods - if you feel this thread should be censored, please move me on and delete this thread. (I dare you Matt... I double dog dare you... :twisted: It's so nice to taunt a mod and have no fear. :lol
Banning based on email address:
I don't know if RC bans users based on email address. However, if they prevent you from signing up and new account based on your email address, all you would have to do is open up a new yahoo or hotmail email account. Easy to bypass.
Banning users based on MAC address:
MAC stands for Media Access Control. Basically - each network interface has a unique serial number associated with it. When computers in the SAME network communicate with each other, they use MAC address and not IP address. MAC address are not transferred from one network segments tot he next segements. When you go through the internet, chances are you are going through several network segments. So MAC address filtering is useless unless the two computers are in the same network segment. So RC cannot block someone based on MAC address. MAC address consists of six hex number. If you're on a Windows XP machine, open up a command prompt, and type in "IPCONFIG /ALL". You will see line that says Physical Address with something like 00-90-4b-25-43-A1 . That is your MAC address.
Banning based on IP address:
This is the most likely way that RC is banning users. This technic is very effective becase the typcial user doesn't understand how IP address works. Just some basic background for those of you who do not know what an IP address is. Every computer on the Internet that are not in the same network communicate with each other through TCP/IP. Each computer will have a unique address that has the format of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where xxx is the number between 0 and 255. Think of an IP address as your home address. When someone wants to send you something they use your home address to send it to you.
Computer behind a DSL router firewall will often use a process called NATing (Network Address Translation). Think of NATing like this: At my work, all department shares the same US Postal address of One Shields Ave. When a letter comes to that address, our campus post office then translate Minh N. - One Shields Ave to Minh N. 1212 Social Science Building.
In Windows XP/2000, you can view you IP addres by opening up a command prompt. Then type in IPCONFIG. You will see a line that says IP Address. That is your IP address.
When you get an Internet connection, you will get an IP address from your service provider. Some people get a static IP address. A static IP address means that you get one address and you keep it until you end your contract with the Internet Service Provider (ISP). However, if everyone gets a static IP address, the ISP would run out of IP address pretty fast. What most ISP gives you is a dynamic IP address. The dynamic IP address for broadband has two variations that I will discuss below. It pretty much boils down to whether you use cable modem or DSL.
Cable Modem Users - Comcast
Comcast uses what's called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Basically, when you computer is first turned on (and assuming it doesn't already have an IP address) - it will shout out to all computers in your network stating "I need an IP address." All the DHCP server (servers that gives out IP address) will respond back "Here's an IP address you can use and here is how long you can use it." The period of how long you can keep that IP address is called a ease Your computer will take the first lease offer and send back a message to that DHCP server the address "Thanks, I use it." The DHCP server then responds "Ok - it's yours." So now you have an IP address for a leased period of time (let's say 2 days in our case - but I really don't know how long Comcast leases are.). So for two days, your computer will have that IP address. When your lease is 50% up (1 Day) - your computer will send a message back to the DHCP server asking "Hey, can I renew my lease and keep the same IP address?" In most cases, the computer will respond - "Sure. Your lease has been renewed for another 2 days." If for some reason, the DHCP server was unreachable, your computer will keep on trying again until 87.5% of the lease is up. At that time, you computer won't try to renew a lease, but will try to get a new lease (thus a new IP address). In most cases, the renewal process works. In essence, what this means is that your computer will most likely have the same IP address for a VERY long time.
So how do you get a new IP address if you have cable modem? One thing to do is leave your computer off for at least 87.5% of the lease and then your computer will get a new IP address. Unfortunately, that's not a realistic thing for me to do.
Taking a step back, I discuss how your cable modem and your computer interact. When you first got your cable modem service, you were sent a cable modem. You hooked the cable modem up to the cable line. Then you hooked up your computer to the cable modem. When you did that - you basically paired up the modem and the computer network card MAC address. (If you have ever tried to hook up a differnt computer to that cable modem, chances are it won't work and you won't have internet connection.) Assuming you do not have a DSL router (such as a Linksys or Netgear) - the following procedure should work for Windows XP/2000. If some tries it out, and it doesn't work, let me know and I will figure out another way to make it work.
1. Disconnect your cable modem from your the cable television line).
2. Open up a command prompt
3. In it, type in IPCONFIG /RENEW
4. The renewal process should fail.
5. Reconnect your cable modem to your the cable television line.
6. In the command prompt, type in IPCONFIG /Renew
If you have DSL Router connected between the cable modem and your computer, you can try the following:
1. Log into your DSL router. This varies from router to router.
2. Search through your DSL router and find something called a MAC address settting. Write down this MAC address - DON'T lose this MAC address.
3. Now change the MAC address to something different. Like - change the last number to 01 (if it's not already) 01.
4. In your DSL router, there shoudl be an option to disconnect the network connection. Disconnect it and then reconnect it. The reconnection should fail because the DSL modem doesn't recognize the new MAC address.
5. Change the MAC address of the modem back to the orginal MAC address.
6. Repeast step 4 - but the connection will be successful.
Congratulation - you have a new IP address.
-----------------------------
DSL Users
Contrary to popular belief, DSL does not use DHCP. DSL uses a technology called PPPOE. PPPOE uses a different method of getting a dynamic IP address. I don't have a good understanding of how it works, but getting a new IP address is very easy.
If you don't have a DSL router - follow these procedures:
1. When you installed DSL (SBC) - chances are there's a "dial up" icon than you use to connect. Once you are done with your internet conenction, you do a disconnect.
2. Disconnect from DSL.
3. Reconnect to DSL. Now you should have a new IP address.
If you have a DSL Router:
1. Turn off your DSL Router.
2. Wait about a minute
3. Turn on your DSL router and wait about 2 minutes. You should now have a new IP address.
If you have a static IP address - you're screwd. Ok - maybe not. You can always try calling your Internet Service Provider to see if they will give you a different IP address. Good luck!
Now that you have a new IP address, it doesn't mean that you will be able to log on with your screen name. Chances are they probably blocked your screen name. If RC was smart - they would automatic detect that you tried to log on with a banned account, and then instant add that IP address to the banned list. So I woudn't even bother try logging on. What you would need to do is create a new RC account. I would use a new email address for your new account. You can get a new email address from any free email service provider (YahooMail, Hotmail, Gmail). Now don't let the mods find out that you created a new account because you will "move on" just like Brian.
Like I said - I am not 100% positive how the RC banning works. This is just my best edjumacated guess.
If you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this post.
- Minh
Banning based on email address:
I don't know if RC bans users based on email address. However, if they prevent you from signing up and new account based on your email address, all you would have to do is open up a new yahoo or hotmail email account. Easy to bypass.
Banning users based on MAC address:
MAC stands for Media Access Control. Basically - each network interface has a unique serial number associated with it. When computers in the SAME network communicate with each other, they use MAC address and not IP address. MAC address are not transferred from one network segments tot he next segements. When you go through the internet, chances are you are going through several network segments. So MAC address filtering is useless unless the two computers are in the same network segment. So RC cannot block someone based on MAC address. MAC address consists of six hex number. If you're on a Windows XP machine, open up a command prompt, and type in "IPCONFIG /ALL". You will see line that says Physical Address with something like 00-90-4b-25-43-A1 . That is your MAC address.
Banning based on IP address:
This is the most likely way that RC is banning users. This technic is very effective becase the typcial user doesn't understand how IP address works. Just some basic background for those of you who do not know what an IP address is. Every computer on the Internet that are not in the same network communicate with each other through TCP/IP. Each computer will have a unique address that has the format of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where xxx is the number between 0 and 255. Think of an IP address as your home address. When someone wants to send you something they use your home address to send it to you.
Computer behind a DSL router firewall will often use a process called NATing (Network Address Translation). Think of NATing like this: At my work, all department shares the same US Postal address of One Shields Ave. When a letter comes to that address, our campus post office then translate Minh N. - One Shields Ave to Minh N. 1212 Social Science Building.
In Windows XP/2000, you can view you IP addres by opening up a command prompt. Then type in IPCONFIG. You will see a line that says IP Address. That is your IP address.
When you get an Internet connection, you will get an IP address from your service provider. Some people get a static IP address. A static IP address means that you get one address and you keep it until you end your contract with the Internet Service Provider (ISP). However, if everyone gets a static IP address, the ISP would run out of IP address pretty fast. What most ISP gives you is a dynamic IP address. The dynamic IP address for broadband has two variations that I will discuss below. It pretty much boils down to whether you use cable modem or DSL.
Cable Modem Users - Comcast
Comcast uses what's called DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol). Basically, when you computer is first turned on (and assuming it doesn't already have an IP address) - it will shout out to all computers in your network stating "I need an IP address." All the DHCP server (servers that gives out IP address) will respond back "Here's an IP address you can use and here is how long you can use it." The period of how long you can keep that IP address is called a ease Your computer will take the first lease offer and send back a message to that DHCP server the address "Thanks, I use it." The DHCP server then responds "Ok - it's yours." So now you have an IP address for a leased period of time (let's say 2 days in our case - but I really don't know how long Comcast leases are.). So for two days, your computer will have that IP address. When your lease is 50% up (1 Day) - your computer will send a message back to the DHCP server asking "Hey, can I renew my lease and keep the same IP address?" In most cases, the computer will respond - "Sure. Your lease has been renewed for another 2 days." If for some reason, the DHCP server was unreachable, your computer will keep on trying again until 87.5% of the lease is up. At that time, you computer won't try to renew a lease, but will try to get a new lease (thus a new IP address). In most cases, the renewal process works. In essence, what this means is that your computer will most likely have the same IP address for a VERY long time.
So how do you get a new IP address if you have cable modem? One thing to do is leave your computer off for at least 87.5% of the lease and then your computer will get a new IP address. Unfortunately, that's not a realistic thing for me to do.
Taking a step back, I discuss how your cable modem and your computer interact. When you first got your cable modem service, you were sent a cable modem. You hooked the cable modem up to the cable line. Then you hooked up your computer to the cable modem. When you did that - you basically paired up the modem and the computer network card MAC address. (If you have ever tried to hook up a differnt computer to that cable modem, chances are it won't work and you won't have internet connection.) Assuming you do not have a DSL router (such as a Linksys or Netgear) - the following procedure should work for Windows XP/2000. If some tries it out, and it doesn't work, let me know and I will figure out another way to make it work.
1. Disconnect your cable modem from your the cable television line).
2. Open up a command prompt
3. In it, type in IPCONFIG /RENEW
4. The renewal process should fail.
5. Reconnect your cable modem to your the cable television line.
6. In the command prompt, type in IPCONFIG /Renew
If you have DSL Router connected between the cable modem and your computer, you can try the following:
1. Log into your DSL router. This varies from router to router.
2. Search through your DSL router and find something called a MAC address settting. Write down this MAC address - DON'T lose this MAC address.
3. Now change the MAC address to something different. Like - change the last number to 01 (if it's not already) 01.
4. In your DSL router, there shoudl be an option to disconnect the network connection. Disconnect it and then reconnect it. The reconnection should fail because the DSL modem doesn't recognize the new MAC address.
5. Change the MAC address of the modem back to the orginal MAC address.
6. Repeast step 4 - but the connection will be successful.
Congratulation - you have a new IP address.
-----------------------------
DSL Users
Contrary to popular belief, DSL does not use DHCP. DSL uses a technology called PPPOE. PPPOE uses a different method of getting a dynamic IP address. I don't have a good understanding of how it works, but getting a new IP address is very easy.
If you don't have a DSL router - follow these procedures:
1. When you installed DSL (SBC) - chances are there's a "dial up" icon than you use to connect. Once you are done with your internet conenction, you do a disconnect.
2. Disconnect from DSL.
3. Reconnect to DSL. Now you should have a new IP address.
If you have a DSL Router:
1. Turn off your DSL Router.
2. Wait about a minute
3. Turn on your DSL router and wait about 2 minutes. You should now have a new IP address.
If you have a static IP address - you're screwd. Ok - maybe not. You can always try calling your Internet Service Provider to see if they will give you a different IP address. Good luck!
Now that you have a new IP address, it doesn't mean that you will be able to log on with your screen name. Chances are they probably blocked your screen name. If RC was smart - they would automatic detect that you tried to log on with a banned account, and then instant add that IP address to the banned list. So I woudn't even bother try logging on. What you would need to do is create a new RC account. I would use a new email address for your new account. You can get a new email address from any free email service provider (YahooMail, Hotmail, Gmail). Now don't let the mods find out that you created a new account because you will "move on" just like Brian.
Like I said - I am not 100% positive how the RC banning works. This is just my best edjumacated guess.
If you have any questions, please feel free to respond to this post.
- Minh