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The company claims that about half the time, it is accurate to within 50 Km.
https://www.maxmind.com/en/geo...

... in the modern era. What about GEO IP location, or identifying people by their IP address + browsing history (everytime you visit a website, multiple websites are tracking you).

Buzzwords like: Ad Serving, Traffic Analytics, Content Customization, are just euphamisms for identifying end users, their interests, spending habits, etc.

The below company has blizzard entertainment and others as a clients, you can bet they are using it to identify where their users live, what their income levels are, etc. It's trivial to identify people once you have enough information. Especially isnce IP addresses often give away a persons physical location.

http://www.maxmind.com/app/ip-location

No one has the resources to deal with it, it's like piracy you can't stop it even if you'd want to and big business has an interest in furthering its criminality and criminalizing anything that gets in its way.

According to MaxMind Geolocator on the IP, it's in a place called Batavia, OH. Postal code is 45103, Area Code is 513, Exchange 515. It's in Clermont County, and not a lot of people live there according to the Wiki page. Less than 2000. It's near a University of Cincinnati satellite campus, so possibly a kid that goes there was visiting a friend at your school and decided to engage in some additional commerce while he was there.

How does Hulu know your nationality?

GeoIP.

Eh what? There's several GeoIP databases that you can install locally. In fact it seems like Quova is the only database you have to query remotely, which is somewhat crazy if you ask me. Or buy a server from them.

MaxMind is the best known one. Installing it on Linux server using yum merely takes "yum install GeoIP*"

While I'm pretty sure you're just joking here, it's quite easy to do a GeoIP lookup, which is pretty reliable on the country level.

IP address != physical address. That's the problem. Also, you can find the ip address someone is using to access their myspace page? Really?

IP Geolocation can be so efficient that it's scary. This one gives my physical location to within 20 meters along with some other (correct) information. Also, Myspace can of course find the IP of one of their users. If the cops want to find me, they could get my IP from Myspace and then go to my service provider to get my real name and address.

Very simple... Grab a free MaxMind GeoIP database from http://www.maxmind.com/ and integrate it into your sign-up process. Done!

Turning an address into a physical location isn't as easy (and by that, I really mean "accurate") as people think. If you really want to, try out a free database.

The problem is that you will eventually block local users. Maybe they're traveling and like all 'net addicts they just have to "check the board" when they have 30 minutes to kill at the hotel, or maybe they're just using a circuitous route that fools your lookup.

It's not so bad if my geo-targeted ads are occasionally (3%? So they tell me) directed to the wrong people. An error rate that high for user access, though, is intolerable.

Why are non-locals visiting your site? What's the attraction?

Or perl,or python, or java, or ... there is even an apache module.

http://www.maxmind.com/app/api

I'd suggest you to look into some geolocation/ipaddress database such as http://www.maxmind.com/app/city to deny access to the signup form for "foreigners".

They have two editions of their database, a commercial one and a free one which is inferior to the commercial product (in terms of accuracy). They also offer code to read from the database file or a webservice (which is not free as far I remember).

At work we're using the commercial product and we're quite satisfied, despite not being US residents and thus not having the luxury of zip codes.

"Bittorrent clients apparently don't prioritize other users on the same ISP or at least in the same country. Why is that? Is it difficult to manage?"
The reason BitTorrent doesn't prioritize other users on the same ISP or the same country is that it doesn't know which ones are part of the same ISP or the same country. For ISPs, since the introduction of CIDR addresses, ISPs can have multiple blocks of IPs. Can you honestly tell me what all of, say, Comcast's IP blocks are with any degree of certainty?

For countries, you either need to know which IP blocks IANA has allocated to which IP registry or use a geolocation library.

MaxMind's GeoIP seems to be the de facto geolocation library, but they charge money for the "good" version. There is a free version now, but it has some annoying requirements, such as having to include "This product includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://maxmind.com/" in all advertising materials and documentation. It also only has a 99.5% accuracy as claimed by its creators, which means the the accuracy is probably considerably lower than they claim. Even if it were 99.5%, that means it's wrong for 1 out of every 200 people.

"Bittorrent clients apparently don't prioritize other users on the same ISP or at least in the same country. Why is that? Is it difficult to manage?"
The reason BitTorrent doesn't prioritize other users on the same ISP or the same country is that it doesn't know which ones are part of the same ISP or the same country. For ISPs, since the introduction of CIDR addresses, ISPs can have multiple blocks of IPs. Can you honestly tell me what all of, say, Comcast's IP blocks are with any degree of certainty?

For countries, you either need to know which IP blocks IANA has allocated to which IP registry or use a geolocation library.

MaxMind's GeoIP seems to be the de facto geolocation library, but they charge money for the "good" version. There is a free version now, but it has some annoying requirements, such as having to include "This product includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://maxmind.com/" in all advertising materials and documentation. It also only has a 99.5% accuracy as claimed by its creators, which means the the accuracy is probably considerably lower than they claim. Even if it were 99.5%, that means it's wrong for 1 out of every 200 people.

"Bittorrent clients apparently don't prioritize other users on the same ISP or at least in the same country. Why is that? Is it difficult to manage?"
The reason BitTorrent doesn't prioritize other users on the same ISP or the same country is that it doesn't know which ones are part of the same ISP or the same country. For ISPs, since the introduction of CIDR addresses, ISPs can have multiple blocks of IPs. Can you honestly tell me what all of, say, Comcast's IP blocks are with any degree of certainty?

For countries, you either need to know which IP blocks IANA has allocated to which IP registry or use a geolocation library.

MaxMind's GeoIP seems to be the de facto geolocation library, but they charge money for the "good" version. There is a free version now, but it has some annoying requirements, such as having to include "This product includes GeoLite data created by MaxMind, available from http://maxmind.com/" in all advertising materials and documentation. It also only has a 99.5% accuracy as claimed by its creators, which means the the accuracy is probably considerably lower than they claim. Even if it were 99.5%, that means it's wrong for 1 out of every 200 people.

• IP number proximity
• Measure latency when communicating with peer
• Use GeoIP library to estimate location

There are other ways to approximate your location when you aren't using wi-fi. As an example, http://www.geobytes.com/ipLocator.htm will give you a location derived from your ISP's. Also, a way to set a location in your Firefox profile would be useful for desktop PCs that rarely move. And I should note that Ubiquity is currently using the MaxMind geo-api (http://www.maxmind.com/app/api) for very similar purposes.

For those who want to try it, here's a link to the demo page http://www.maxmind.com/app/lookup_city. (And note the link to check your own IP in the bottom right :)

http://www.maxmind.com/app/contact

To confirm that their database is incorrect, here is a simple frontend to MaxMind's data:

http://mapthisip.com/

I've spoken to some of the devs there before; if it's wrong I don't think you'll have any problems getting it changed.

MaxMind are the main GeoIP provider, afaik. You might want to try getting in contact with them.

There are two widely used geolocation services which should be your starting point:
MaxMinds and IP2Location.

I would contact them and get them to update their records, especially MaxMind, as they are probably the most widely used geolocation service on the Internet.

MaxMind are pretty big on Geo-location. Try their tool to see if it's them: MaxMind Geo-location

I agree with this. I've implemented GeoIP on a bunch of sites. Basically, they give you a database linking class A / B / C blocks to certain areas. I don't know where they get this data, but it's what most sites use to determine where you're from. I suggest contacting MaxMind, the maintainers of GeoIP, to correct your information (it's not immediately obvious from their FAQ who you should talk to, but I would start at their contact page). Unfortunately, getting them to make the change may not immediately come into effect on clients' sites... most sites use a static version of the database and update it fairly infrequently (since GeoIP charges for a subscription).

As a side note, I once made an antifraud system on a major unlocked cell phone seller that relied mostly on flagging orders coming from certain countries (using GeoIP) as possible fraud, as well as people who had used the same CC number on more than one account, people who had more than one account in general (using various stats like email address), etc. Seemed to work pretty well for them.

AOL makes it difficult to distinguish between their US and non-US network blocks. Workarounds for AOL's lameness aren't free:
http://www.maxmind.com/app/geoip_country

yeah, magic.

must be that conspiracy everyone is talking about

the technical issue of getting a physical address from an IP address without the customer providing that information is nontrivial.

You have got to be kidding me. Half the time geolocation systems think I am in Kansas City because Earthlink Cable seems to route things through KC even though I am in Milwaukee. Even when the more accurate systems pick up my address (Thank you Friend Finder, who seems to have their geotargeted ads on even non-p0rn sites) it still can't figure out the exact address.

The company that provides a lot of these services is Maxmind and even they don't provide anything more specific than approximate Lat/Long, and even that is off most of the time (but, surprisingly, in the correct market.)

Your provider should know where you are if you are on broadband, but most of the time the only address they have on fine for you is the billing address. The moral of the story here is simple: If you get 10 emails, a few phone calls, and a bunch of mail with big bold red letters saying Your Phone's 911 Service May Not Work When You Need It, Please Sign Form or Service will be Canceled then you are officially an idiot.

I like to use froogle to find the prices.. BUT:

(and I hope some online vendors take note of this)

If I can't get the shipping price BEFORE I put in my Name and Credit card - I take my business elsewhere...

Geoip?
The sourceforge project, so anyone can use it

1. The retailer doesn't have access to the banking network's records, so there is no way for the retailer to perform his own checks. The banking network must be trusted without question. Try this: Pay for something on a web site, giving your legitimate credit card details but a made-up name and address. The charge will probably be accepted. Why? Because the name/address comparison is done loosely to allow for people typing stuff differently from how it is recorded, ie: "14a Halifax Street" is typed as "14 A HALIFAX ST". Bear in mind that credit card companies PROFIT from fraud, you can imagine how loose this comparison is. Some people would allege that there is no comparison done at all.

A merchant is able to cancel a suspicious charge (and, as a slap in the face for running his business ethically, be fined for doing so) but that's all it is, a cancellation,

Believe me, if other retailers are anything like me, they are ultra-paranoid in trying to prevent fraud. But ultimately we don't have access to the data we need, our on-the-ground feedback isn't wanted, and when the banking network lets us down we lose money on the sale and we are automatically fined with no appeals process and no way of knowing who fined us.

No you aren't all rotten, but there is a lot more fraud with international orders.

The best way I have found to deal with this is either stop shipping international or use extra measures to make sure someone isn't trying to screw you.

1) Start using an extra service to get data on your orders. I use maxmind's service, they tell me many things that will set off a red flag. Did they come in through an anonymous proxy, are they using one of the many free email services, how far is their mapped IP from their billing address. Nothing personal just enough data to be relatively sure that they are who they claim to be. If the order was placed 8000 kilometers from the billing address, it's probably a stolen card.

2) If you are even remotely concerned about the validity of the order have them sign a form with a photo copy of their card, yes it's a pain, but too many charge backs and you start paying crappy rates or get dropped. If they are legit, they should have no problem doing that.

yeah but your db is shit full of bogus results (never trust the user especially in web application programming) not to say redundant

Umm. A site can't find out where you are just from your IP.

The closest it could get with an ok level of accuracy would be country.

"Product Summary: GeoIP City Premium Edition includes country, region, city, postal code, latitude, and longitude information."

I'm sure it is not 100% accurate. But how accurate are the data in Yahoo's database? I'd love to know how many registered users they have in Antarctica.

if somebody spent the time to map networks to geographic locations

I've found geoip to be quite accurate.

I live in Denmark, my list was filled with people from Barcelona, Texas, London, Israel and one from Sweden (not that far away though ;).

Who's up for writing an improved version for my favorite IM - Miranda IM? Use MaxMind's GeoIP database, or DirectI's IP-to-country database! Couple that with what users put in as location, then associate some words and then mix with water ;)

There is a free database with open source APIs to identify the country based on the IP Address:

GeoIP

This could be used to block access from certain countries by using the Apache mod_geoip module.