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Is my MAC address public when browsing the Internet?




Possible Duplicate:
Is your MAC address revealed when you hit up a website?



Can anybody see my MAC address when I'm on the Internet?


Also, where can I check my MAC address?



Answer



The MAC-address is part of the Link-Layer in the OSI Network Model. I wont go too deep in here, bottom line is, it's only used for communication in your local network, be it cabled or wireless.
The point at which your computers MAC definitely gets lost is when it passes your router, the router only transmits the IP packet to "the Internet". When connecting to the internet your router will not use your computers, but its own MAC address to forward the packet.
This switcheroo happens on all routing points, so your ISP will take your packet, get the IP packet out and put it into another MAC packet and so on.


However, if you are using IPv6 it might be possible that your IP Address can be generated using parts of your computers MAC address.


The tools to check your MAC (and IP) addresses are different from system to system, note they only show your computers local addresses, not what can be seen on the Internet.
Not sure about Windows, I think it's ipconfig /all
For Linux (and OSX) it's ifconfig


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