[Repub4bush]

No they don't give them out, but they are very easy to obtain for someone who knows the in's of the Internet. Most forum mods have access to them, as well as some chat servers such as mirc.
I realize this didn't happen in this case, but I know it can be done effortlessly by Internet techies.

[GoLightly]

You're talking about getting the IP, but unless someone was posting from work & there aren't many people to select from there or you had access to the IPS customer DB, how would you get to someone's name? I know that when you are a host, you're registered & they can get your info through ARIN, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a basic net surfer who buys access via say, AOL?