McDonalds has surveillance cameras in all of their stores. A few years ago, anyone could submit an image from a camera to Google and find out who that person is. I am pretty McDonalds could do that without a warrant (since you are on their property), and any law enforcement agency could do it with a warrant. So, if you go into a McDonalds and do something illegal with your computer, they can probably find out it is you.
No need to sit in their store! WiFi goes through walls and normally is connectable at least 100-200 feet away. So yes, there is a reason they are called "unsecured public networks". They are not secure and they are not traceable and it is simple to avoid the cameras.
I would be interested to know of such a program that could identify anyone from a submitted image. I do not think that exists in the form you seem to indicate. For instance, submitting a photo of you from one of the LENR conferences that has been posted here, would not identify you. Perhaps submitting some photo of a movie star or other well known, well publicized person is is done, but submitting some "John Doe" photo will not return who that person is at present. Facial recognition is just now being implemented with some success, such as the attempted rapist in NYC. However, note that he was only identified as he had a previous record and they had taken facial photos of him. Not just some general photo.
https://www.washingtonexaminer…-platform?ocid=uxbndlbing
It is true that computer program capability is increasing almost exponentially, mainly due to the exponential increase in computer processing power. Some things such as AI is also greatly changing the field. That is why a cashless society is such a dangerous thing in the wrong hands in my opinion. It is not just taxes or tracking, it is watching your every step in life to a great extent. It is not there yet. Indeed... my mother still does not have a credit card!.... I personally know a few people who do not have bank accounts. (Lots of tattos though! Go figure!) One can live off the grid still to a great extent... however it would pose many disadvantages. I am not saying I want to... but that it is just possible and that I do not want to give the government any more control than they already have.
All IP access adresses (layer 1) are stored and are associated with the people that buy the computer.
Perhaps this is just a language misunderstanding. Local IP address are not sold by a computer or tied to a computer. Your PC gets a different IP address for every network it connects to. Many networks, using DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) assigns a new IP addresses on a regular basis, all configurable by the network manager. WAN (Wide Area Network) or global IP's are assigned by host providers and are normally dynamic as well. You have to usually pay a bit extra to get a static one!
The only address that is actually tied to a computer is the MAC address.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address
These addresses are often hard coded into the computers network interface by the computers manufacturer and are static and "Traceable". However, these can be spoofed or even easier.. simply purchase a plugin ethernet card which has it's own MAC address and then throw it away when done.
As long as you can pay CASH for the network card... you can be completely untraceable via MAC address. However if you have to pay for that network card via cashless credit card transaction, then it COULD be traced to you if the seller keeps track of serial numbers to purchase receipts!
( I need to stop on this thread... I am giving away my secret "criminal hacker" identity! )
Seriously though, I am not a hacker but have worked with IT departments in my past corporate life and handle all the IT needs for my current small business. Security becomes more complex every day it seems!
My number one defense... I do not store ANY sensitive customer information that can be used by criminal hackers on my business computers. No SSN, no bank numbers, no Credit Card numbers...nothing. If it is not stored on my computers, hackers cannot steal it! No sensitive customer information is keyed on my business computers, so key logging virus' cannot steal it. Credit card transactions are done on third party terminals not connected to my system. I simply get and record an approval number. In cases, it is a bit of extra work, but the security is worth it.