GeoIP database issues and the real world consequences

Mon Apr 11 17:11:40 UTC 2016

On Mon 2016-Apr-11 13:02:14 -0400, Ken Chase <math at sizone.org> wrote:

>TL;DR: GeoIP put unknown IP location mappings to the 'center of the country'
>but then rounded off the lat long so it points at this farm.
>
>Cant believe law enforcement is using this kind of info to execute searches.
>Wouldnt that undermine the credibility of any evidence brought up in trials
>for any geoip locates?
>
>Seems to me locating unknowns somewhere in the middle of a big lake or park in
>the center of the country might be a better idea.

...how about actually marking an unknown as...oh, I dunno: "unknown"?  Is 
there no analogue in the GeoIP lookups for a 404?

>
>/kc

-- 
Hugo Slabbert       | email, xmpp/jabber: hugo at slabnet.com
pgp key: B178313E   | also on Signal

>
>On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 11:55:11AM -0500, Chris Boyd said:
>  >
>  >Interesting article.
>  >
>  >http://fusion.net/story/287592/internet-mapping-glitch-kansas-farm/
>  >
>  >An hour???s drive from Wichita, Kansas, in a little town called Potwin,
>  >there is a 360-acre piece of land with a very big problem.
>  >
>  >The plot has been owned by the Vogelman family for more than a hundred
>  >years, though the current owner, Joyce Taylor n??e Vogelman, 82, now
>  >rents it out. The acreage is quiet and remote: a farm, a pasture, an old
>  >orchard, two barns, some hog shacks and a two-story house. It???s the kind
>  >of place you move to if you want to get away from it all. The nearest
>  >neighbor is a mile away, and the closest big town has just 13,000
>  >people. It is real, rural America; in fact, it???s a two-hour drive from
>  >the exact geographical center of the United States.
>  >
>  >But instead of being a place of respite, the people who live on Joyce
>  >Taylor???s land find themselves in a technological horror story.
>  >
>  >
>  >For the last decade, Taylor and her renters have been visited by all
>  >kinds of mysterious trouble. They???ve been accused of being identity
>  >thieves, spammers, scammers and fraudsters. They???ve gotten visited by
>  >FBI agents, federal marshals, IRS collectors, ambulances searching for
>  >suicidal veterans, and police officers searching for runaway children.
>  >They???ve found people scrounging around in their barn. The renters have
>  >been doxxed, their names and addresses posted on the internet by
>  >vigilantes. Once, someone left a broken toilet in the driveway as a
>  >strange, indefinite threat.
>  >
>  >--Chris
>  >
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