unique visitor counter
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I'm making a part of a website, and i need a method in which i can uniquely identify people visiting. now this is unlike most counters, i need to be able to specify/characterize a user a well as possible. most counters just use IP address, which is very inefficient (users with dynamically assigned IP count numerous times) or others use cookies, again not good since many don't use/support/enable cookies. (and/or can remove them) PHP sessions, but they are geared for a time-online-basis i want to uniquely identify a host connecting to a specific site, and i am currently using a combination of cookies and ip address and other characteristics i can get from the host (like browser). can anyone suggest what would be the best method in uniquely identifying a host?
Ericos Georgiades
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I'm making a part of a website, and i need a method in which i can uniquely identify people visiting. now this is unlike most counters, i need to be able to specify/characterize a user a well as possible. most counters just use IP address, which is very inefficient (users with dynamically assigned IP count numerous times) or others use cookies, again not good since many don't use/support/enable cookies. (and/or can remove them) PHP sessions, but they are geared for a time-online-basis i want to uniquely identify a host connecting to a specific site, and i am currently using a combination of cookies and ip address and other characteristics i can get from the host (like browser). can anyone suggest what would be the best method in uniquely identifying a host?
Ericos Georgiades
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credit card numbers?
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
it's more like a visit once kinda site. and i dont want to have user interaction .. but hey, if you're willing to give your credit card number as an id, then i'm gonna need that id :p
Ericos Georgiades
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it's more like a visit once kinda site. and i dont want to have user interaction .. but hey, if you're willing to give your credit card number as an id, then i'm gonna need that id :p
Ericos Georgiades
:-D But in all serious-ness the web is far too diverse to have a bullet proof system of identifying users. Maybe if there was an international online tagging system this could be introduced, but other then that you can't ever be sure of the user's identity. (although all that being said, some of the old Pentium 3's had a unique tag in them that you could use to identify a user, it was discontinued, but atleast you would be able to make sure no old people trick you)
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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:-D But in all serious-ness the web is far too diverse to have a bullet proof system of identifying users. Maybe if there was an international online tagging system this could be introduced, but other then that you can't ever be sure of the user's identity. (although all that being said, some of the old Pentium 3's had a unique tag in them that you could use to identify a user, it was discontinued, but atleast you would be able to make sure no old people trick you)
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
yeah i was pretty sure i would get a responce in the manners of "it's impossible" :P yet what would you think is the "best" method? i.e. one that can identify the highest % of users (assuming they dont change much on their system?) i.e. dial-up users can change ip, yet certain other characteristics stay the same i.e. nat users shouldn't counted as 1 ip (how do i get past nat users?) i.e. aliens don't use IPv4, IPv6, CLNS or even IPX.. (did i miss one?)
Ericos Georgiades
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yeah i was pretty sure i would get a responce in the manners of "it's impossible" :P yet what would you think is the "best" method? i.e. one that can identify the highest % of users (assuming they dont change much on their system?) i.e. dial-up users can change ip, yet certain other characteristics stay the same i.e. nat users shouldn't counted as 1 ip (how do i get past nat users?) i.e. aliens don't use IPv4, IPv6, CLNS or even IPX.. (did i miss one?)
Ericos Georgiades
The only real characteristics you can count on is the IP. everything else is changeable (although cookies will take care of the vast majority of dial up customers). Nat users are always going to be a problem, I am afraid that there is no full proof way around this, and finally if you have made contact with aliens, and they are using your site, then why do you care how many of them there are?
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
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The only real characteristics you can count on is the IP. everything else is changeable (although cookies will take care of the vast majority of dial up customers). Nat users are always going to be a problem, I am afraid that there is no full proof way around this, and finally if you have made contact with aliens, and they are using your site, then why do you care how many of them there are?
Brad Australian - Christian Graus on "Best books for VBscript" A big thick one, so you can whack yourself on the head with it.
so i'm better off with just ip hunting and cookies when available then.. thanx for you time Brad
Ericos Georgiades
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so i'm better off with just ip hunting and cookies when available then.. thanx for you time Brad
Ericos Georgiades
any other data than IP would be a security lick... you could for example send the CPU id... but would it be ethical to recover it from you client? I don't think so...
Contact me! Please feel free to visit my site
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any other data than IP would be a security lick... you could for example send the CPU id... but would it be ethical to recover it from you client? I don't think so...
Contact me! Please feel free to visit my site
i mean an automated method, like retrieving the host IP address unless i'm missing something and common browsers also send computer id
Ericos Georgiades
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i mean an automated method, like retrieving the host IP address unless i'm missing something and common browsers also send computer id
Ericos Georgiades
Regarding to the law of many country, personal data is protected and cannot be transmited via automated procedures without the consent of the owners. The fact that you transmit private data through the internet by any automated mean should take the law in consideration prior to the definition of the solution to adopt. Tecnically, you can do it, legally it is forbidden in many countries.
Contact me! Please feel free to visit my site