ok, let me try and explain OP5...
IP adress is an adress assigned to a computer connected to the internet, every time you establish a connection, your computer receives an adress that uniquely identifies it from others, otherwise, how do you know where to send the packets. IP adress(es) can be bound to a Domain Names, hence you can acess
www.google.com via a URL not the IP of their web server, and there is no huge bank of IPs and URLs on your computer.
Ping is a utility that sends out packets to an IP and listens for "answer" packets coming back. Those packets contain size, time and IP Information about both the host and the receiver, so to anser TeleMads question, it is only a volnurability if someone decides to do a DOS attack on you, it is however a very helpful tool, and if the firewall on the server is configured right, Ping is not harmful at all. Websites like Google have it turned on simply because for exapmle you are trying to see whether or not you have a connection to the internet, because you are trying to configure your network connection, you can easily ping
www.google.com to check of you win, those packets are insignifficant to googles everyday traffic, but if you get stupid and try a DOS on google, it is very likely that 1, their IDS will detect the attack, and close ping for a while, 2 they will easily track the ping packets to the owners, and notify the ISP of the computer owners, 3 they will can easily call the police or even FBI to go and check out the attacking systems, and you better wish that you are a great hacker and did not leave any traces of your presence on the systems, or else you'd be "screwed to say the least". (and thats aside from the fact that even a few hundred systems connected to DSL could not bring googles dedicated lines down, and that shutting a single google server leave some 70-odd other ones, and that google has many very smart people working for them, that would be more than glad to find and release crackers IP out to the right IRC channels, and then you are really, really screwed...)
And as to what IP is to crackers, it is a destination, not an entry point to the system...
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