ImageShack uploader IP addresses visible

ImageShack uploader IP addresses visible(mikescoding.com)

45 points by eurodance 13 years ago | 19 comments

Does anyone still use imageshack for anything serious any more? I'm surprised to hear they're still around.

Here's what their compete chart looks like, for what little it's worth (login required, so screenshot instead): http://cl.ly/image/3z1v152G3r1l

riffic 13 years ago | |

I've stopped using them ever since they were first known to violate their own privacy policies:

http://floydfe.wordpress.com/2007/10/11/imageshack-founder-v...

landr0id 13 years ago | |

I think that ImageShack still imposes bandwidth limits and other restraints. I can't see why anyone would use it over another service like imgur.

tripzilch 13 years ago | | |

Depends on what you use them for. Services like ImageShack and Photobucket keep your images around, while (last time I checked, which is admittedly about a year ago) Imgur's FAQ says something about deleting old images that haven't seen any traffic for a certain timespan (at least 3 months, IIRC).

rplnt 13 years ago | | |

Imgur has some restrictions as well. It's their (Imageshack's) "view image" pages that are horrible.

0x0 13 years ago |

Glancing at the source code http://mikescoding.com/imageshack/index.phps for 30 seconds, it seems the way this works is that the uploader IP address is retrieved from some XML file on the imageshack servers. It seems every image on imageshack has a corresponding metadata XML file stored at a secret location, but the algorithm to calculate this URL was exposed during the earlier pastebin leak?

landr0id 13 years ago | |

The XML URL is calculated by taking the image's filename (minus the extension), calculating the MD5 hash of that + a static salt (which is visible in the source), then replacing the image extension with the first 10 chars of the hash + ".xml". Example [1]. What type of third party would they be giving this API to?

[1] http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/3432/as8132329zz9.d907da5...

0x0 13 years ago | | |

That link is 404'ing for me. Did they close this already?

jimktrains2 13 years ago | |

That's what I'm guessing, but I wish the linked blog post was a bit more descriptive.

tsheeeep 13 years ago |

The API for videos is described here: http://code.google.com/p/imageshackapi/wiki/YFROGxmlInfo

For images it should be hidden.

thejosh 13 years ago |

Oh boy. Everyone who has uploaded images of screenshots of illegal movies onto forums are gonna be majorly shafted now.

apawloski 13 years ago | |

I could be wrong, but isn't the precedent that IPs aren't adequate evidence of a person's identity? I don't think that a dynamic IP address that was used 18 months ago is going to be of any use now.

kmfrk 13 years ago | | |

It may not indict you directly, but it certainly helps finding the person behind it.

kcbanner 13 years ago | |

How does a screenshot of a movie you own look any different from one you don't?

bmelton 13 years ago | | |

Possibly by it being linked from a torrent description saying "Here is this movie that I pirated and am offering to you illegally for free - <username>" and then having that same username attached to the ImageShack screenshot that also provides your IP address?

eurodance 13 years ago |

patched