Arch Linux

domx93

Member

Registered: 2020-11-30

Posts: 36

Hide the hostname

Hello, I asked to my university the access to the ethernet network, and they generated an ip for me to set in place of DHCP. The problem is that I discovered that when I use this connection the hostname of my computer, as visible from the websites I visit, includes my name and surname. Here an example (I oscurated the data):

I'm not an expert, but I guess that this is not the hostname under /ect/hostname, but just a sort of hostname of a server, that the university configured for me. There is a way to change it from my system? I don't like the idea that any site I visit knows my full name. Thanks!

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,739

Re: Hide the hostname

"obfuscated"

The service performs a reverse DNS lookup

dig -x 150.217.*.*

and the only thing you can do here is to tell your ISP (the university) to protect your privacy and not include your name in that DNS record.
This has nothing to do with your local host.
Eg. for me some address out of the pools.vodafuck-ip.de gets resolved and the WAN IP refers to the modem behind the LAN router, not my specific host.

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Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,565

Website

Re: Hide the hostname

Not sure about oscurating, but Tasha Yar osculated Data.

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seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,739

Re: Hide the hostname

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domx93

Member

Registered: 2020-11-30

Posts: 36

Re: Hide the hostname

"obfuscated"

The service performs a reverse DNS lookup

dig -x 150.217.*.*

and the only thing you can do here is to tell your ISP (the university) to protect your privacy and not include your name in that DNS record.
This has nothing to do with your local host.
Eg. for me some address out of the pools.vodafuck-ip.de gets resolved and the WAN IP refers to the modem behind the LAN router, not my specific host.

thank you! I will try asking to my university and I hope they will understand, but there is a thing that I don't get: why should my IP be connected to a name? I do not have a web page, a domain or something similar... sorry for my ignorance

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,739

Re: Hide the hostname

The data is probably taken from your subscription w/ the university and the domain probably to help tracking CGNAT trafficor just because they can.
The problem isn't the the PTR record, the problem is that it links your identity with your IP in a public database - I'm pretty sure that violates one or two EU regulations.

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schard

Forum Moderator

From: Hannover

Registered: 2016-05-06

Posts: 1,992

Website

Re: Hide the hostname

Good thing you obfuscated your name. It's not like one may know it from your profile's email address here or so...

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domx93

Member

Registered: 2020-11-30

Posts: 36

Re: Hide the hostname

The data is probably taken from your subscription w/ the university and the domain probably to help tracking CGNAT trafficor just because they can.
The problem isn't the the PTR record, the problem is that it links your identity with your IP in a public database - I'm pretty sure that violates one or two EU regulations.

thanks again, I will try to ask them to solve this issue.

cryptearth

Banned

Registered: 2024-02-03

Posts: 74

Re: Hide the hostname

The data is probably taken from your subscription w/ the university and the domain probably to help tracking CGNAT trafficor just because they can.
The problem isn't the the PTR record, the problem is that it links your identity with your IP in a public database - I'm pretty sure that violates one or two EU regulations.

thanks again, I will try to ask them to solve this issue.

I recommend you to not just "ask for a favor" - I would recommend you to DEMAND it as it DOES violate your privacy granted by the eu general data protection regulation. I would also recommend to ask some of the others studends if they have registered with the IT department and see if thier names are also public. If so I would increase my demand to a threat about privacy violation (in multiple cases) - and would file a complaint to the local data protection office responsible for the universities location.
What they did here is not just some "whoops - I misclicked" - they did that on purpose - and linking a public IP with your personal informations is an absolute NO-GO!

Last edited by cryptearth (2024-02-17 18:14:30)