Dynamic and Static IP Address Differences

To access the Internet, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) assigns you an IP address. This allows you to talk to other computers on the Internet. Most people do not even think about their IP address they have been assigned, much less what type of IP address they have.

There are two kinds of IP addresses, static and dynamic.

Static addresses never change on you. Even after many months (or even years), the IP address you have been assigned stays the same. Dynamic addresses, on the other hand, usually change every few weeks (or months). Most people probably are assigned a dynamic address for a month or two at a time.

Pros of Static Addresses

  • Allows you to easily host web services (e.g., email, DNS, websites)
  • Helps prevent websites from mistaking you for being an abusive user. This is because when using a dynamic IP address, someone else had previously used that address, and may have been committing abusive behavior online. However, when using a static address, you (and whoever else has access) are the only ones using your address.
  • Allows for a more stable VPN connection, because a dynamic IP may change any moment, and this will break the VPN connection.

Cons of Static Addresses

  • ISPs usually require you to purchase a “business” Internet package to be able to obtain a static IP. This may cost more money per month than a typical residential Internet package.
  • Everywhere you go online can be easily tracked, since you use the same IP address everywhere you go online (a VPN can help with this problem).
  • If someone starts constantly abusing your IP address (e.g., DDoS attack), you likely will not be able to quickly request a new static IP address from the ISP.
  • If you have a unique host-name assigned to your static IP (necessary to host an email server), you will have less privacy than someone who has a typical residential, dynamic IP address without a custom host-name.

Pros of Dynamic Addresses

  • Usually can easily change your assigned IP address (helpful to stop someone who is abusing your computers; e.g. DDoS attack).
  • Since your IP address is “generic” (used by several other people), you are more anonymous than a static IP constantly browsing the web.

Cons of Dynamic Addresses

  • Hosting web services will not be very stable, since you are using a dynamic IP address that may change anytime on you (note: using a “dynamic IP” DNS service is more of a “jury-rig” than a proper solution).
  • Some web services may think you are a trouble-maker, since someone else may have had your IP address previously and used it to abuse web services.
  • ISPs may deny you the privilege of running any web services unless you have a “business”-grade Internet package (most people using a dynamic IP do not have a business account at their ISP).


Posted in Computers, Internet and Servers, Operating Systems, Security, VPN

What Does the Bible Say about Where We Came From?

Genesis 1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.


Posted in Biblical Accounts, Christian

Merry Christmas 2018!

Luke 2:8-20    New American Standard Bible (NASB)

8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”

15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.”16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.


Posted in Biblical Accounts, Christian, Holiday

Browser Fingerprinting: What Is It and What Should You Do About It?

A web browser fingerprint is the identification of someone’s web browser in an attempt to track you regardless of what IP address you are coming from.

Basically your web browser is probed to determine what add-ons you have installed, what fonts are installed on your computer, what video card your computer has (via WebGL), PNG hash, what operating system you are using, your web browser’s 2D canvas, etc. All of this information is combined to form a fingerprint of your web browser.

Now you may be asking, “How does this allow someone to track my online visits?”  Good question.  People can make use of this fingerprinting to track you even if you take measures to deter people from monitoring your online activity (e.g., using a VPN).

If you have ever visited a website (without using a VPN) and later on you visit the same website (this time, using a VPN), they can still have a pretty good guess that it is you just by looking at your browser fingerprint you left the last time you visited (without the VPN).

This is how websites like YouTube still show you relevant recommendations, even if you use another IP address to access their web service.

Is there any way to stop browser fingerprinting? Not really. You can help confuse trackers into thinking you are someone else by spoofing the fingerprint, but this is not guaranteed to always work.

A browser fingerprint spoofer basically “lies” to a website giving it false information about the web browser. This of course causes the fingerprint to be different than it normally would be. The result? A website thinks you are someone else regardless of the IP address you are connecting from.

(This does not take into account tracking cookies. Websites can also track you with cookies, regardless if they use web browser fingerprinting techniques.)

So what do I recommend to do to help stop browser fingerprinting? Well you can do the following (my opinions, of course):

That should help protect your real fingerprint from being found out. I should note that spoofing your fingerprint may end up breaking certain websites. You will just have to try it out.

Please keep in mind, a browser fingerprint spoofer can end up making your fingerprint unique to everyone else’s fingerprint. This can cause you to stand out like a sore thumb, and cause you to be even more easily tracked. 🙁

This is because most people are not using a fingerprint spoofer and it would become obvious that you (and maybe a couple of other people) are the only ones faking your browser fingerprints. In other words, you do not “blend into the crowd”.

Another trick is to turn on Mozilla Firefox’s “resist fingerprint” feature. This feature, among other things, causes your web browser’s fingerprint to match that of the TOR web browser. This makes you blend into the crowd of TOR users, since they all should be using the same fingerprint.

To turn this feature on:

  • at the about:config webpage (on Firefox), find the option privacy.resistFingerprinting and set it to true, then restart the web browser

However this feature (in my experience) causes some websites to break (animations are slowed down, current time of day will not be correct, etc.) This all helps to prevent websites from fingerprinting the browser.

Please remember that there is no way to be 100% anonymous on the Internet. Always someone out there who can track you. All you are doing is making it harder to be tracked.

I hope I have helped someone with this blog post. It took me a bit to write it, but it is worth it if it helps. 🙂


Posted in Computers, Security, Software, VPN

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