Is it possible to for one user to get another's IP?

[DannyITR]

I would like to know if this is possible. One of my users would like to take possible legal action against another for discrimination (he owns a store that the user continually bashes). I would like to give him the user's IP but I do not want to risk being sued. Is there any way for the store owner to obtain this IP another way? If it's at all possible, I'll just give him the IP of the user and he will say he got it elsewhere.

Your opinions on the subject are also welcome.

Thank you

[Joe Gronlund]

yes if the board logs IP's and that person is not on a proxy, especially a foreign proxy you can obtain the IP , however trust me the legal action will go absolutely nowhere...

[DannyITR]

It's not me who's taking the legal action.

How can you tell if the user isn't on an IP?

[WizyWyg]

Actually, if your forum is a free for all discussion site, the store owner has absolutely no case whatsoever.
And because of privacy issues, you cannot give out the ip for the person who posted "bashing" remarks about the store, and I would suggest that you tell the store owner to get a lawyer to issue you a supoena in order to hand over the ip

BUT if the person bashing is on a dial-up or a dynamic IP, it wont do you any good whatsoever (or if he is using an ANON server, it won't matter anyway)

[DannyITR]

I must say that I disagree with the argument that the store owner has no argument. Granted it is a public discussion forum but a person has the right to sue another for degradation of character.

This is an interesting topic but it's beside the point. I just need to kow if it's physically possible for the store owner to obtain the user's IP without my help.

[MattR]

If it is an unmoderated forum then you generally can't be held liable for libel/slander (can't remember which one is writing ). If you moderate even one post, generally you're site is now classified as 'moderated' and you have to moderate all of them, and you can be held liable if one post is illegal.

[WizyWyg]

Originally posted by DannyITR
I must say that I disagree with the argument that the store owner has no argument. Granted it is a public discussion forum but a person has the right to sue another for degradation of character.

This is an interesting topic but it's beside the point. I just need to kow if it's physically possible for the store owner to obtain the user's IP without my help.

No, the store owner can't. You have to give it them, but I suggest that you wait until he has a lawyer contact you about it. More than likely the lawyer will say its not worth it.

If you dont moderate, and allow your users to post opinions, then the store owner has no case.
You didn't state that if you moderate or not.
To me its not worth it, and you dont have to worry about it.

If you provide that user's information to the store owner without his/her permission, then you'll find yourself in another battle with invasion of privacy.

but then again, if the person who made the offending comments is behind a proxy server, anon server, the store owner can do nothing anyway.