Suggestions for added IP logging options

[ilthit]

Title:
Suggestions for added IP logging options

Area:
security, privacy

Summary:
For flexibility and visibility of IP tagging options I think it would be neat if it was possible to a) choose to be warned when the journal you're commenting on is going to log your IP, b) have an option to opt out of IP logging with your comment if the poster has chosen to give you that option, and c) be able to put default settings for these in your account settings and override them in the post.

Description:
Okay, this is probably going to sound overly complicated, but hear me out. The point is that I would like more options on whose IPs I log and who get to log my IP.

IP logging is great for identifying and getting rid of trolls and spammers, but on the other hand it reveals a hell of a lot of personal information about a random, non-trolly commenter. Some of us have good reasons for wanting to conceal our IPs. I'm not sure but I don't think I get a warning when I start to comment on a post that logs my IP - but I would appreciate it if I did. Or maybe there is one but I somehow miss it? I know people hate pop-ups, but I would actually want a little pop-up in this case to make sure I don't miss it.

So, ideally, when IP logging is set, there'd be a pop-up by default, which you can opt out of in your account settings (so you won't see it, ever).

Another feature I'd like is that I would be able to have "opt-in" IP logging. I'd be able to set my journal up so that the "your IP is about to be logged" pop-up would include a ticky box for "do not log my IP" that allows the commenter to comment without leaving their IP. This would not help with trolls, but should confuse and block spambots at least.

I'd also love it if the groups whose IP you log could be further specified - for instance, you could log IPs from registered users who you do not give access to, but not from the ones you do give access to.

Keep up the good work and good luck with the troll attack!

Best regards,
Hyel

Poll #2105 Suggestions for added IP logging options

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
1 (2.6%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (10.3%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
33 (84.6%)

(I have no opinion)
1 (2.6%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Yes to "optionally loudly warn me if my IP is going to be logged", no to the ability to disable someone else's IP logging.

I would, however, support a "Only log IPs of people not in my access list", if that doesn't already exist; I believe it's nobody/everybody/anonymous-only.

[piscinarii]

iawtc

[triadruid]

This, precisely.

[charmian]

I'm not sure but I don't think I get a warning when I start to comment on a post that logs my IP - but I would appreciate it if I did. Or maybe there is one but I somehow miss it? I know people hate pop-ups, but I would actually want a little pop-up in this case to make sure I don't miss it.

I see a notice though, that says it? "This account is set to log the IP addresses of everyone who comments.

However, I cannot agree with your suggestion because for me, there being that notice is enough, so I can't agree because I would NOT want to see a pop up every time I commented, and if it were the default option, as you suggest it should be, this would be very inconvenient. I also don't think this functions well as a way of deterring spammers, and anyway, the current system for getting rid of spam seems to be working...

I would support a "don't log IPs of people on access list," but I'm not sure how popular that would be.

[kyrielle]

There is a little notice - it will be present directly below the "Post Comment" button if logging is on.

If a pop-up was added, it should IMO be opt-in rather than out, as that would be pretty obtrusive. A lot of us don't much care if our IP is logged, I think. But if it was opt-in I'd be okay with that, I'm just not sure it's needed with the notice there.

How would the opt-out-of-logging option, if created, work if people had the popup turned off? That just seems messy. Maybe as a ticky-box on the form, but if someone really wants to spam DW, adding a check for that and using it surely wouldn't be hard? So I don't think it would really alter things much long-term, maybe a bit short-term.

I WOULD like to see the addition of "people not in your access list" to the ip logging option, though, now that I think about it.

[charmian]

I agree. I also just thought of something: if a pop up is implemented, here will be two ways for people to be notified that there is IP logging. People might be confused and thing that if there is no pop up, then automatically there is no IP logging, when in fact the owner of the journal has simply decided to turn off the pop up.

Also, I suspect that if someone is good enough to create a spam bot, then they are probably good enough to create a spam bot that can click the 'don't log my IP' option (assuming that spam bots are even deterred by the IP logging notice).

[mskala]

I'm against anything that encourages people to think their IP addresses can or should be secret. That's not how the Web works. If you have a reason to need to conceal an IP address - which is very rare - then you'd better be using Tor anyway; the vast majority of Web sites routinely log all IPs, and a "don't log my IP" feature on Dreamwidth only gives you a false sense of security.

[cheyinka]

Yes, this.

I don't have any problems with a "log IPs for everyone but access list" option, except that it'd be an additional option, and options are confusing; and Notice: This account is set to log the IP addresses of everyone who comments is sufficient warning that it happens - a popup would both be unnecessary drama for the people who think their IP addresses are secret, and unnecessary clutter for everybody else.

[kyrielle]

The "everyone but access list" option would appear in a drop-down with a fairly small number of options - and what made me pro-that-option is in part that it then becomes consistent with the option above it.

(Note, in this paragraph I'm not using the exact phrasing from the page, just referring to the types.) At http://www.dreamwidth.org/manage/settings/?cat=privacy the comment-screening choice is (none, anonymous, non-Access, all) and the CAPTCHA option is (nobody, anonymous, non-Access, all), but the IP logging is (none, anonymous, all). Those three are right in a row and sort of "fit" together, so to me it makes sense to add a non-Access option to IP logging for consistency. The phrasing for CAPTCHA and IP logging is identical, too, except for the one mis-matched option.

That said, I don't consider it critical, and I definitely don'tw ant the popup.

[cheyinka]

Hmm, that's true, the other two do have that option already. So it makes sense to have the other one have it also.

[ex_pseudonym472]

This, a billion times over.

[turlough]

+1

[azurelunatic]

And the IP address logging that's referred to is only user-visible: it says nothing about whether Dreamwidth is logging the IP address anyway internally visible only to people with the keys to the database or g-d knows what administrative tools.

[susanreads]

A "people not on my access list" option for logging would be good. As long as it tells you when your address is going to be logged (I'm not sure that works in all styles?), an extra layer of interaction is just clutter.

[azurelunatic]

And now I wonder if an intrusive warning about IP address logging couldn't be done browser-side, with Greasemonkey or something, given that it appears to be both somewhat in demand (I got this as a suggestion LJ-side at one point) and completely unwanted by many, many people. Given that there's already a warning, the Greasemonkey thing could use that as a starting point.

[ree]

There's this, which (IIRC) works on DW if you just add the "// @include http://*.dreamwidth.org/*" line.

[azurelunatic]

That's for anonymous, though, not IP-logging.