From this issue of the "Press F1" digital culture show, you'll find out what an IP address is, how to find it, and what information it carries.
What is an IP address?
Every device that connects to the Internet needs an IP address. Fortunately, the average user does not have to think about it, as Internet companies manage it themselves. Every time you return to the Internet, your IP is automatically generated.
There are two types of IP addresses - dynamic and static. It is very likely that you come up with a dynamic IP address, as nowadays static IP addresses are used for special occasions, very often by businesses. The difference between the two types - static and dynamic, is that as you can guess from the words themselves, the dynamic ones change. The static address remains the same.
What does an IP address actually look like?
It is a combination of numbers, something like your phone number, and just like it needs to be unique because when you dial someone on the phone, for example, you know that this number leads to one person. In the same way, the Internet knows that an IP address leads to your computer, to your device that is connected and uses the Internet.
An Internet site can track your IP, and here again, there is a difference between static and dynamic IPs. Static IPs provide slightly more accurate information, especially about our location. An IP does not contain our data, as it does not need it, but perhaps the most dangerous and at the same time useful thing is that our location can be found at the IP address. Dynamic IPs could be quite inaccurate, although they would still show more or less on the map in which area we are.
Angel Miladinov
Co-founder of a web agency
