Quote:
Originally Posted by Dephormation
This assertion by Phorm that IP addresses are some how personal, and Phorms UID is some how not... That bit always makes my teeth grind.
The 'number' cookie is called 'UID' by name (Phorms choice of name).
A User ID.
An identifier for a user. A unique identifier for a specific user.
An ip address is more anonymous. A third party couldn't know who it was associated with.
On the other hand, if I can get your UID (and currently it looks trivial to do so using either Javascript or leaks on non standard/https requests)... I have identified you regardless of your IP address.
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An IP address is just a number, and its meaning depends on where it is used, for example in the header of an IP packet.
Interestingly, the Phorm UID is just a 16 byte number. (the size was mentioned in Dr Richard Clayton's paper).
The current IPv4 addresses are just 4 byte numbers, that are usually written for humans in a dot quad notation, and have a particular meaning when used in the headers of IP packets. To allow the expansion of the internet, the IPv6 addresses were engineered to accomodate the IPv4 addresses.
The IPv6 addresses are 16 byte numbers, it must just be a coincidence that the Phorm UID numbers are stored in the same number of bytes.