Less than 20 yuan per month can change the social platform IP territory, lawyer: there is a risk of leakage of privacy

Only a few yuan to a dozen yuan, IP territories can be easily modified - recently, the black and gray industry chain related to "IP agents" has quietly become popular on the network.

On April 28, Sina Weibo released an announcement on the upgrade of IP territorial functions, announcing that it will open up the display and comment IP territorial functions, and launch the "personal homepage level page display IP territoriality" function. On April 29, WeChat also announced that it will display IP territory on the public platform and temporarily cannot actively close related displays.

Earlier, many online platforms such as Zhihu, Douyin, Kuaishou, Today's Toutiao, Baijia, and Xiaohongshu have announced that they will "open account IP territory".

The small IP territory has made many Internet celebrity bloggers and big V frequently "overturn the car", and it has also become the business experience of many people.

Recently, the surging news reporter searched for keywords such as "IP agent" and "IP address" on a number of e-commerce platforms and found that illegally modifying IP territory through agents has become the way for many merchants to make money, of which the lowest price is only 4 yuan / day, and the highest sales volume has exceeded 100,000 copies.

Screenshot of the sales page about "IP Agent" on the e-commerce platform

The monthly subscription only costs more than a dozen yuan, and the buyer said that the service is not stable enough

On how to modify the IP address, the surging news reporter consulted an e-commerce customer service, who sent a detailed price list, listing the approximate service types required for different connected devices such as Apple, Android mobile phones, PC computer ports, etc., and recommended a "fast and static" product to the reporter, and asked the reporter to download the software.

The reporter opened the software and found that the IP territory can be changed arbitrarily according to personal needs, and the addresses that can be changed cover almost all major provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China. Customer service said that it can provide half an hour of free testing, and if you think it is easy to use, then pay.

In terms of price, most of these IP modification software are monthly, quarterly or annual fees, and the prices range from low to high, and there are also charges per day, and the minimum one day only needs 4 yuan to modify the IP address at will in WeChat, Weibo and other clients. The monthly price is generally around ten yuan, the quarterly price is between 40-50 yuan, and the annual price of the package is generally more than 100 yuan.

Among them, it is also divided into two types of software, "static" and "dynamic", according to the introduction provided by the seller, static software has only one fixed IP per line, and dynamic products have hundreds of thousands of IP in each line, and each time it is disconnected and reconnected, it will change the IP, so the price is more expensive than static, about 4-5 times that of static software.

The IP proxy reference price provided by the merchant

It is worth noting that recently, there are rumors that some platform technology upgrades have led to the inability to use the agent, and multiple sellers replied to reporters that whether they can be used in the end need to test themselves to determine that each platform should be able to use at present. However, "the IP rules have been changing again and again, and there is no guarantee that they will always be available." "Dynamic products can be refunded, a few days of money will be deducted in a few days, static products cannot be returned and exchanged, and can be accepted to buy again." A seller in the top three sales of an e-commerce platform said.

The seller gives a "change IP" instruction

The reporter flipped through the comment area of the buyer's comments found that most of these services are not "stable", many buyers who have purchased such services said that there are routines and scams: for example, when purchasing, promises to maintain it for life, but after a few weeks of use, it will be disconnected, and the seller will use this as an excuse to add a "security deposit" and say that "it can be used and then returned to you".

Screenshot of buyer feedback in the comment area of the e-commerce platform

In addition, there are also many buyers encounter after-sales rights protection difficulties, once the purchased software can not be used, merchants often find a variety of excuses to shirk, or ask for additional money. A buyer who gave a bad review said that the software purchased would be automatically interrupted once connected, and the seller suggested "going to Baidu yourself if you have a problem."

It is worth noting that the reporter found on the idle fish platform that keywords such as "IP agent" and "IP address" can no longer retrieve the corresponding products, but searching with words such as "map labeling" and "map of the whole network" can still find a large number of sellers who provide products.

Lawyer: It is illegal to build a VPN without permission, and users use it at risk of leaking privacy

Through the software, you can modify the IP territory with your fingers, what is the principle behind it? Xia Hailong, a lawyer at Shanghai Shenlun Law Firm, told the surging news reporter that the IP territory cannot be artificially changed, and can only be achieved indirectly by changing the networking equipment used by users and accessing the network, and the use of VPN (virtual private network) and other agents to connect to the network and entrust off-site agents to log in are one of the ways to achieve this.

At present, the "modification of IP territorial proxy software" sold on the network is mostly achieved by building a VPN.

Is there a legal risk involved in using a VPN or other means to modify the IP territory without authorization? Ji Yufeng, a partner at Shanghai Huiye Law Firm, told the surging news reporter that it should be an act of dishonesty against individuals, which is definitely illegal. However, there are currently no provisions for administrative penalties. Considering that administrative and criminal means should be modest, it is currently difficult to impose administrative and criminal penalties on users. "However, if an illegal or criminal act is committed by means of modifying the IP, then punishment can be imposed according to the specific illegal or criminal act committed."

"For the production or sale of such software, it is definitely suspected of violating the law or even committing a crime, which is an act of data hijacking and falsification, from a functional point of view, separately or jointly have illegal control, illegal destruction of data, destruction of computer information systems, etc., the corresponding crime may be to provide tools specifically for intruding into computer information systems and other crimes." Depends on the specific implementation function. Ji Yufeng said.

Xia Hailong said that if users connect to the Internet through VPNs and other means without authorization, it is easy to be guided to violate relevant laws, while building and operating VPN services without permission is illegal, and may even violate the crime of illegal business operation.

He also mentioned that various "operations" taken to change the territory of IP are likely to bring risks to personal accounts and affect the security of personal information, for example, publishing content on behalf of a remote agent, there is a great risk of leaking accounts, passwords and personal privacy, and it is also possible to bear legal responsibility for agents publishing illegal content without authorization. At the same time, there are already some scripts circulating on the network, and it is possible to find the real IP of the user behind the use of the proxy.