This is where that debate on here lies. I have been reading a lot of the posts going back several years on this and there's all kinds of information and misinformation flying around.
Coming, as I do, from the tech side of the discussion more than the stealth side, I can say as a general rule the following (I am greatly simplifying all of this, I know there are more details, just trying to headoff a flood of responses):
If the NIC (Network Interface Card) in your computer, which has a MAC (Media Access Control) number - connects you to a router, your IP is probably a Class "C" IP - (see below), you cannot be seen by the rest of the world outside your local area network(LAN). It's one of the reasons you HAVE a LAN. It allows a lot of people at one location to basically share a "real", trackable IP. EVERYONE on your LAN would have the same "real" IP to the outside world. This is most of you with cable and DSL internet.
10.0.0.0 to 10.255.255.255 -- Class A address. (you probably wont be seeing this)
172.16.0.0 to 172.31.255.255 -- Class B address. (your router probably has one like this)
192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255 -- Class C address. (on a LAN, you will probably have one of these).
If your computer connects DIRECTLY to the internet (you'll NOT see a 192.168.xxx.xxx type of address) then you CAN be seen.
If you have a router, (which also has a MAC address and a "real" IP) that CAN be seen.
Now, there are ways to find out the MAC address from someone connecting toy our website. Mostly, using JAVA. Maybe only by using JAVA, except that every time I say that some 12 year old finds a way to exploit some weakness in Windows, lol.
I would pretty much doubt they are seeing your NICs MAC address if you are behind a router.
Sorry this is rambling, just had 3 hours of sleep last night. I'll try and clean it up tomorrow!
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