GeoIP database issues and the real world consequences
Ken Chase
math at sizone.org
Mon Apr 11 17:22:43 UTC 2016
Well they DO know the IP location is within the USA - many apps use the GeoIP
API and require a lat/long returned, and some need one that lands within a
country border (thus my suggestion of middle of a remote wilderness park - let
the cops search some desolate remote desert in nevada amirite?)
MaxMind might not want the quality hit for a 0,0 answer (as funny as that would be).
(my 'middle of a lake in the middle of the country' retains some of that mischievous
win however.)
/kc
On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 01:14:37PM -0400, Josh Luthman said:
>Or 0,0, send the FBI to Africa on a boating trip. that would probably be
>easier than "unknown" or "null".
>
>
>Josh Luthman
>Office: 937-552-2340
>Direct: 937-552-2343
>1100 Wayne St
>Suite 1337
>Troy, OH 45373
>
>On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Hugo Slabbert <hugo at slabnet.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> 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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