Increasing problems with geolocation/IPv4 access

Sat Jan 21 01:08:35 UTC 2023

> On Jan 20, 2023, at 8:02 PM, Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com> wrote:
> 
> I will repeat what I have been saying since the first discussions of the concept of ip geo-location some decades ago…
> 
> An IP address is not tied to any of the following:
> 	Location
> 	Person
> 
> An IP address may be transiently tied to a host. The definition of transient in this case can vary widely from a few seconds to multiple years.
> IP Addresses may be tied to an organization (though this is also usually some level of transient).
> 
> Trying to pretend otherwise in any useful way is fraught.

I think sadly the counterbalance item is that there is some insurance underwriter or similar that wants a checkbox saying “yes there is a firewall” or “you do X,Y,Z”.

Or: Sure, I agree with you, and when I’m in Europe or similar and can’t access my (home) government stuff because they just have off-continent blocked is also an issue.

Also: water wet.

What I’m actually looking for isn’t so much a soapbox but to find where the [bad] data is coming from so it can be updated as appropriate.  I’m also fine with telling the customer to phone the service/bank/whatnot (which is what I did in other cases and as much as I also personally dislike the centralization of the internet etc) - my customers do seem to really have good experience with a modern service like YoutubeTV (for example) - oh and it does IPv6 too.

If you see this and go back to the original post, I am interested if you have seen that prefix or any IP space within it, and if it comes from a feed or set of aggregated feeds etc, even the name of the company or source/resources there so I can try knocking on the door.

- Jared