Re: No serial number at all in ALL Pentium 4's (also older 1.4Ghz)?! Is it REALLY true?!

From: Matt Coe, CCNA (webmaster@jargonccna.cjb.net)
Date: 02/03/02 

From: "Matt Coe, CCNA" <webmaster@jargonccna.cjb.net>
Date: Sun, 03 Feb 2002 01:17:55 -0500

ericvolness wrote:
> The serial number on your CPU is the least of your worries.
>
> The underpinning of the TCP/IP systems that make up the correctly
> functioning Internet require a unique MAC address for each network
entity.
> DNS maps www.cnn.com to an IP address. arp maps the IP address to
the MAC
> address of your NIC card.
>
> There are NIC cards which allow you to manually change the MAC
address you
> are sending out, but this is a VERY bad idea if you want to avoid
potential
> network crashes.
>
> In short -- don't worry about the serial number on the cpu -- if they
want
> to track your movements there is much more to work with.

The thing is, though, that your MAC address isn't known past your
nearest router. MACs can't be traced across the internet unless you can
tell the computer to send it through an IP packet.

Matt Coe, CCNA

Relevant Pages