nanog mailing list archives

Re: GeoIP database issues and the real world consequences


From: Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2016 15:02:07 -0700


On Apr 11, 2016, at 12:01 , Baldur Norddahl <baldur.norddahl () gmail com> wrote:

On 11 April 2016 at 20:15, John Levine <johnl () iecc com> wrote:

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.


They should stop giving out coordinates on houses period. Move the
coordinate to the nearest street intersection if you need to be that
precise (I would prefer nearest town square). Anything more than that
should be illegal.

Regards,

Baldur

The thing I find particularly amusing having just looked up my own IP addresses is the following:

1.      My addresses are tied to my actual address in whois.
2.      That is not the address linked to in any of the GeoIP databases I know how to check.
3.      The address is only a few blocks away, but where an ambiguity is provided, it is sufficient to cover
        most of the city of San Jose, including my house of course.

Needless to say, it’s not confidence inspiring. I might look to see whose house it does send me to later
if I feel inclined, just for amusement.

Owen


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