Wikipedia:Temporary account IP viewer

Temporary account IP viewer is the user group that permits accounts to view certain IP information associated with a temporary account. Qualified non-admins may request the permission, while administrators can automatically see temporary account IP information once they have accepted the temporary account IP policy via Special:Preferences.

Access to temporary account IP address information is logged. This log is displayed only to CheckUsers.

There are currently 282 users with temporary account IP viewer rights, which together with Wikipedia administrators^[a] makes for a total of 1,111 users with this permission, not including global temporary account IP viewers who have been assigned the right across all Wikimedia projects.

To be eligible for the permission, an editor must:

1. Make a request for the permission (admins are not permitted to assign the right without a request)^{[b] [c]}
2. Have a registered account for six months^[b]
3. Have made at least 300 edits to English Wikipedia^[b]
4. Agree to use the IP addresses in accordance with Foundation policy, solely for the investigation or prevention of vandalism, abuse, or other violations of Wikimedia Foundation or community policies, and understand the risks and responsibilities associated with this privilege^{[b] [d]}
5. Have a demonstrated need for access. Some examples are experience with new pages patrol, counter-vandalism, or sockpuppet investigations. This requirement is subject to the discretion of the granting admin.

Admins are permitted to decline applicants who meet these criteria but are otherwise unsuitable for access to this tool. Stewards are authorized to make exceptions to the Foundation requirements (criteria 1–4) if someone needs access for a purpose that cannot be reasonably addressed by users who already have this access.

Once the permission is granted, editors must visit their preferences and enable Preferences → User profile → Tick Turn on the ability to display IP addresses of temporary accounts.

Requests for the permission may be made at Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Temporary account IP viewer.

Use of the temporary account IP viewer tool must follow the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy. Use of the tool is logged at Special:Log/checkuser-temporary-account.^[b] Editors must be extremely careful with how they publicly discuss conclusions drawn from the temporary account IP viewer tool.

• It is never a violation of the TAIV disclosure policy to make a statement that does not rely on use of the TAIV tool. In particular, this means that purely behavioral comparisons of TAs to old IPs or TAs to named accounts are not governed by that policy. (e.g. "The edits at Sun and Moon by ~2025-12345-67, 192.0.2.1, and User:Example appear to be by the same person.")
  • However, TAIVs should take care not to give the impression that they are inappropriately disclosing TAIV information. Especially in the case of TA-to-IP behavioral comparisons, it is recommended to explicitly state that TAIV was not used.
• Publicly linking a TA to another TA is allowed if "reasonably believed to be necessary". (e.g. "~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are on the same IP, so I am counting their reverts together toward 3RR ", but not "Hey ~2025-12345-68, you did some good editing as ~2025-12345-67".)
  • The same is generally true of metadata about an IP address, such as its ISP, whether it appears to be a proxy,^[e] or a general location, unless this information is precise enough that it could plausibly be used to identify the user to a greater degree than they have self-disclosed. Note that some ISPs are very small or even belong to a single person, and that some countries have very small populations or have very few English Wikipedia editors . Avoid disclosing more information than necessary; when feasible, favor relative terms like "~2025-12345-67 and ~2025-12345-68 are on the same ISP and geolocate to the same area".^[f]
• Publicizing an IP address gained through TAIV access is generally not allowed (e.g. "~2025-12345-67 previously edited as 192.0.2.1" or "~2025-12345-67's IP address is 192.0.2.1")
  • However, admins are allowed to make blocks that, by their timing, imply a connection between an account and an IP (e.g. indefblocking ~2025-12345-67 and -68 and then moments later blocking 192.0.2.1 for a week). The other restrictions discussed here still apply to the admin's block summary and any other public comments on the blocks. This may sometimes mean that administrators need to be vague in describing IP blocks; for instance, if a TAIV requests that the IP underlying several TAs be blocked, the blocking admin should respond with something like "Resolved" rather than "Blocked underlying IP".
  • And when "reasonably believed to be necessary", exceptions can be made at appropriate policy-enforcement venues. For any recent disruption, it will usually be enough to tell another TAIV or admin to look at an IP themself, so this exception rarely applies to short-term cases. But it may apply e.g. to long-term abuse pages or particularly complex sockpuppet investigations. However, the disclosure should be revision-deleted as soon as it ceases to be necessary.^[g]
• Saying that a TA is not using a specific IP or range (e.g. "~2025-12345-67's IP puts them far away from 192.0.2.1") does not explicitly violate the disclosure policy; but if a TAIV says this in one case, and does not say it in another, this can lead to editors assuming a connection in the latter case. Vaguer phrasing like "I do not see evidence that ~2025-12345-67 is evading a block" is preferable.
• CheckUsers will generally not publicly link named accounts to TAs, since this effectively discloses their IP address to any TAIV or admin.

Admins are permitted to remove the temporary account IP viewer permission for misuse of the right, including the disclosure of temporary account IP addresses in violation of the Access to Temporary Account IP Addresses Policy.

Additionally, the permission should be removed from editors who have been inactive for a year.^[b]

• How to enable IP Reveal
• How to use Special:IPContributions
• How automatic IP reveal works
• How to use IP Info
• How to use User Info