How do you find someones ip address on gtalk?

Answer 1

Let's look at how this all works and why the IP address tells you pretty much nothing.

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To begin with, you didn't say which IM service is being used. There are of course many possibilities including MSN Instant Messenger, AIM, GTalk, and others. In addition, your dating site may well have implemented their own IM system - it's actually not that hard.

The single biggest problem with IP addresses and most instant messaging services it this: you're connecting to the service, not to the person you're IMing.

It looks more like this:



When you create an instant messaging conversation, you're not connecting to the person you're talking with at all. Instead, your instant messaging program connects to the servers that are used by the IM service. When you send an IM your message is sent to those servers, and then from those servers sent on to whomever it is you're IM'ing.

"When you create an instant messaging conversation, you're not connecting to the person you're talking with at all."


What can you tell from this IP address?

Pretty much nothing. Still.

They could be behind a router or proxy provided by their ISP. This means that any number of people could "appear" to use that same IP. There's no way to tell which user that is(*).
Similarly, they could be behind a router or proxy provided by their school or place of work. Once again any number of people could "appear" to use that same IP, and there's still no way to tell which user that is(*).
They could be behind their own router at home as I so often recommend. Any number of machines could be behind that router, and there's no way for you to tell which machine you're conversing with.
And finally, even with the IP address of a specific machine or location, there's no way for you to tell where that machine is located(*). The best you can do is identify the ISP that's providing the internet connection to the person you're conversing with.