IP address location

englishpremier

englishpremier

englishpremier

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Joined
15 Feb 2003
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10,178
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Europe
Just a general wondering.

who one day decided to make a note of the world's IP addresses and then find the location co-ordinates of each one? And why would anyone bother?
 
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IP address geolocation already exists.

For home users to get an IP address you typically need to disclose your name and address to an ISP.

For a service provider or large corporation to get a block of IP addresses, they need to disclose their location to a regional internet registry such as RIPE.

Although the addresses of home users are treated confidentially by the providers, they are there to obtain if required by the courts.

If you tried to build an independent database it would already be outdated and incorrect before you got to 3% completion.
 
How do you expect these random people around the world use these addresses as it's not just the case of giving it to their PC/router and then going immediately online. Unless the address is correct for the subnet with the gateway provided by their upstream connection then they're not going to be routing?

So the problem is pretty moot ... you can give them the addresses but they can't use them anyway ...?
 
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This thread is silly.

You cannot geographically trace an IP address to it's client end point. The IP belongs to a block assigned to an ISP. The ISP is registered, as such it's geographical location is known.

Programs exist that will look at each hops IP address on a route, match it to a geographical location based on the ISP that is running it and then display it on a map. The end point is not the client (IE - Someones house). It's an ISP resource.
 
To answer the original question .... advertising! Knowing where you are surfing from allows much more precision.

Sin is correct in that you can't (publicly) trace an IP address down to a home, but you can get a rough idea of where they are based on what the ISP publishes. When law enforcement want a precise address they go to the ISP with an IP address and a date & time and the ISP has to look up in logs as to which customer's device had that IP at that time. Google "data retention directive" for the relevant EU legislation.

It has some consumer benefits - for example I usually login to my gmail at home, but if I suddenly do it from somewhere else (such as recently from the US) it detected that and forced me into the two-factor authentication i.e. making sure someone wasn't trying to hack my account.
 
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peterwalkley said:
Sin is correct in that you can't (publicly) trace an IP address down to a home
Click to expand...

That depends completely on the ISP and how the RIPE allocations are dealt with. The WHOIS on my IP ranges used to show my home address until I asked my ISP to change them. They still show my name, but the remark is "End user wished to remain anonymous - contact details are for ISP"
 
PistolPete said:
That depends completely on the ISP and how the RIPE allocations are dealt with. The WHOIS on my IP ranges used to show my home address until I asked my ISP to change them. They still show my name, but the remark is "End user wished to remain anonymous - contact details are for ISP"
Click to expand...

Are you talking about a static IP block here ? i.e you've purchased a range for your sole use ?

I was referring to a typical dynamic IP for a residential service - although completely failed to make that clear. Sorry.
 
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