Zhongxin Finance, May 7 (Zuo Yuqing) As platforms such as Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, and Zhihu gradually launched the IP territorial function, a group of "big Vs" who are "overseas", Internet celebrities have shown their true forms one after another, exposing their domestic IP territories.
For a time, some people were laughing at the overturned Internet celebrities, some people were worried about whether their privacy was leaked because of this, and some people were quietly modifying their IP territories.
IP territorial function promotes IP proxy service
On the 5th, some media reported that with the launch of the IP attribution function of major platforms, the business of paid IP agents became prosperous.
But in fact, as early as March when Weibo began to try to display IP territories in some areas, someone was already modifying the Weibo IP address.
On March 17, the "Weibo Administrator" issued a statement saying, "Recently, hot events such as the situation in Russia and Ukraine and the domestic epidemic have occurred frequently, causing netizens to pay close attention to discussions. While strengthening the investigation and disposal of illegal information, the site found that there are still Some netizens who pretend to be local netizens publish and spread false information. In order to better maintain the order of communication, the website will launch the function of 'user profile page showing the location of recent posts' on the basis of previous functions in the next week."
"At the beginning, it was found that there were many Weibo accounts that spread false information with IP attribution problems, but these accounts soon changed their IP attribution." Some netizens expressed this about the function of Weibo's launch.
How are these IPs modified?
Merchant promotional content on a second-hand platform.
Zhongxin Finance noticed that on social platforms, many netizens asked how to modify their IP addresses.
On some e-commerce platforms, IP proxy modification services have been quietly launched.
The server is only ten yuan a month
"If you want to find such a business, you must first search for the right keywords." Although many e-commerce platforms currently block the keyword search of "IP proxy", Zhongxin Finance tried to search for several related words, but still found a number of offers. "IP proxy" merchants.
Zhongxin Finance and Economics observed that the prices of services provided by these merchants vary, often ranging from 4-10 yuan a day, and the average monthly price is more favorable.
Some merchants that provide overseas servers are significantly more expensive, and some merchants indicate that they only provide domestic IP proxy services, and remind that they are prohibited from being used for violations of laws and regulations.
Business promotion from an e-commerce platform.
On some product pages, consumers leave a message asking whether it can be used to modify the IP address.
After Zhongxin Finance asked how to modify the IP attribution, some merchants directly provided an operation tutorial.
"Domestic IP proxy is mainly realized through domestic proxy server." An industry insider explained the principle of IP proxy to Zhongxin Finance: "Every time the user sends a network packet, it will first go to the proxy server to unpack and pack, and then It is forwarded to the Weibo server. When the Weibo server reads the network packet, it obtains the IP of the proxy server, and it is judged as the IP of the proxy server. After the Weibo server sends the packet back to the proxy server, the proxy transfers it back to the user.”
"For professionals, it's not too difficult to operate." Industry insiders told Zhongxin Finance, "The cheapest thing to rent a server is only ten yuan a month."
Beware of personal information leakage
Regarding the online IP territorial function, many platforms stated that the original intention was to reduce bad behaviors such as impersonating the parties to hot events, malicious rumors, and swindling traffic.
However, some netizens expressed concern about this: "Opening the IP territory, I feel that my life privacy has been exposed, and it is easy to provoke geographical discrimination." For various reasons, many netizens also seek to modify the IP address.
A netizen is testing IP modification software.
Screenshot from Weibo
However, is changing your IP address really protecting your privacy?
In fact, there is still a risk of personal information leakage when using a proxy server.
Zhongxin Finance noticed that some proxy server logins require a real-name system.
"It is equivalent to logging in to the social platform account and password when you are at someone else's home, and others can watch it if they want." Industry insiders described this, "There are some special scripts that can also find the user IP behind the agent." (End)