Tracking ip addresses..........

[Steve Walker]

There is nothing random, pseudo or otherwise about a MAC address. Ther first three octets represent something called the Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI). These are assigned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to manufacturers of networking devices. The second set of three octets can be used by the manufactureres as they see fit, but bearing in mind uniqueness.

 

Hence why I said pseudo-random. I knew that parts of it were meaningful, though I didn't know which.

 

It is true that the 48 bit number could be represented in many different ways, but that does not change the fact that it is a number. You might not be doing any math on it but the firmware in any bridge or router that your NIC is connected to will be doing mathematical and logical operations on it.

 

It's not a scalar quantity though, is it? You would certainly perform bitwise operations on it, but why would you want to know the sum or mean of your MAC addresses? What is the square root of a MAC address? If anything it's more like a vector, in that the first and last three octets mean different things.

[corydoras]

Hence why I said pseudo-random. I knew that parts of it were meaningful, though I didn't know which.

It's not a scalar quantity though, is it? You would certainly perform bitwise operations on it, but why would you want to know the sum or mean of your MAC addresses? What is the square root of a MAC address? If anything it's more like a vector, in that the first and last three octets mean different things.

'Tis still a number. -1 does not really have a square root, but we pretend that it does and we call that number i. The number in your address would not make much sense if it were summed or squared, but that too is still a number (and its a scalar too)

[Steve Walker]

'Tis still a number. -1 does not really have a square root, but we pretend that it does and we call that number i.

 

In your imagination

 

The number in your address would not make much sense if it were summed or squared, but that too is still a number (and its a scalar too)

 

Aye, the number in my address is a scalar. It's a meaningful number, not just an identifier. You might want to know how many houses are between No 4 and No 12, or what proportion of the way up the street number 57 is. My whole address is not a number, even though you could (inefficiently) express (house number + postcode) as a 72 bit 'number' (16 bit integer and 7 8 bit chars).

 

Ain't pedantry fun?

[corydoras]

Ain't pedantry fun?

It may be, but we are getting just a wee bitty now.

 

The main point is that both IP addresses and MAC addresses can easily be spoofed, and it is not rocket science to do it.

[DoZZa]

Was very funny to read both of your comments about MAC addresses. Very funny. Octets indeed. Well thanks for brightening up my day lads.

 

Cheers

[corydoras]

Was very funny to read both of your comments about MAC addresses. Very funny. Octets indeed. Well thanks for brightening up my day lads.

 

Cheers

I'm lost me, whats funny 'bout an octet?

[Newt]

Nothing at all about an octet by itself is funny.

 

Some of the posts are if you are the sort of geeky person who thinks this joke is funny:

 

"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't."

 

Note lest I offend anyone - I be a somewhat geeky person.

[Slashley]

Nothing at all about an octet by itself is funny.

 

Some of the posts are if you are the sort of geeky person who thinks this joke is funny:

 

"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't."

 

Note lest I offend anyone - I be a somewhat geeky person.

 

Sorry Newt, I don't get it.

[Steve Walker]

I'm lost me, whats funny 'bout an octet?

 

Dunno, peace love and understanding is a triplet, surely?

 

"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't."

 

There are 11111110 types of people if we include those who are negative and un-complementary about binary...

[Jim Roper]

"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't."

 

Newt has finally mastered sarcasm!

 

I like that one!