GeoIP database issues and the real world consequences

Tue Apr 12 06:42:32 UTC 2016

On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 06:15:08PM -0000, John Levine wrote:
> 
> >The problem with MaxMind (and other geoip databases I've seen that do Lat/Long as well as Country / State / Town) is that the
> >data doesn't include uncertainty, so it returns "38.0/-97.0" rather than "somewhere in a 3000 mile radius circle centered on
> >38.0/-97.0".
> >
> >Someone should show them RFC 1876 as an example of better practice.
> 
> Oh, heck, you know better than that.  You can put in all the flags and
> warnings you want, but if it returns an address, nitwits will show up
> at the address with guns.
> 
> Bodies of water probably are the least bad alternative.  I wonder if
> they're going to hydrolocate all of the unknown addresses, or only the
> ones where they get publically shamed.

I personal favor setting the generic location as a certain set of
roundish holes in the ground up in the northern plains. Let the
government raid itself for once.

---
Wayne Bouchard
web at typo.org
Network Dude
http://www.typo.org/~web/