Have you ever wondered, “How does my phone know my location?”, or maybe you’ve been locked out of a website and can’t figure out how it knows it was your device? There is a simple answer to those and many more similar questions:
Your device’s “IP address”.
What is an IP address?
The letters I and P in IP address stand for Internet and Protocol. Let’s dive into the dictionary to properly define those words:
internet, an electronic communications network that connects computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world (merriam-webster.com)
So the internet is a big interconnected net of computers.
protocol, a set of conventions [rules] governing the treatment and especially the formatting of data in an electronic communications system (merriam-webster.com)
So protocol is the rules for how data moves through the big interconnected net of computers.
Therefore, an IP address (internet protocol address) is the way we identify different devices across the internet.
Part Two: What Are They Used For?
Your IP address is, very simply, the address of your device. Let’s say you want to send Grandma a letter.
What would you need to put on the envelope? An address, of course! So what if Grandma didn’t have an address? Well, you would have to travel to her yourself and hand deliver that letter.
The previous concept is the same with computers.
Say, if I want to send a file from my phone to my computer, my phone would need to know where the computer is. It would need to know the address of the computer. If it didn’t know the address, I would have to hand deliver the file to the computer by some tangible medium, i.e., USB cord, CD, external drive, et cetera.
Any database or website on the internet can locate and find information about your device because IP addresses are public. For example Google Search Help states:
Google uses IP addresses in almost everything that we do, from building data centers and enabling our engineers to make products like Search or Maps, to getting YouTube videos to your phone.
Your IP address lets Google give you the content you search for. IP addresses are also used in other ways, like to give you relevant results for where you are and to help keep your account secure.
Part Three: Geolocation
So, Google uses IPs to personalize the internet user’s experience. Geolocation is one major factor in that personalization. Just think, how does Google know where “Pizza Near Me” actually is? According to digitalelement.com:
IP address geolocation (…) uses IP-to-location databases to determine which IP range (…) the provided IP falls within. Then you can determine in which geographic location that IP range is used, thus determining the approximate location of the user.
An IP address is typically provided by an internet service provider (ISP), i.e., AT&T, T-Mobile, Spectrum. As stated above, through the IP range (also provided by the ISP) you can determine the location where the range is being used, and thus approximate the user location.
It’s kind of like an area code. If I get a call from 605-###-####, I can pretty much be sure that it is from South Dakota, right? Every set of numbers narrows down to the origin of the device.
The concept is the same with IP addresses.
Part Four: Zion’s Conclusion?
In summary, an IP address is your device’s very detailed fingerprint on the web. It has many practical uses that internet users benefit from every day.
Can I hide my IP address?
A common question is if you can hide your IP address. One popular solution is to use a virtual private network (VPN). Other security measures include disabling settings like geolocation and camera access.
References
“Internet Definition & Meaning.” 2023. Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Internet.
“IP Geolocation – How Does IP Address Geolocation Work?” n.d. Digital Element. https://www.digitalelement.com/geolocation/how-does-ip-address-geolocation-work/.
Jane, Ryon. 2022. “✍️.” YouTube. https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/1696588.
Stamper, Joshua. n.d. “Protocol Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/protocol.
“What is an IP Address: Definition, Types & Usage.” n.d. What Is My IP Address. https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-address.
“What Is an IP Address & What does it mean?” n.d. Kaspersky. https://usa.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-an-ip-address.
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