In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

In reply to a post by seb:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Your IP address usually locates you fairly closely.

Not in the UK it doesn't. The blocks are registered in such a way that you can't really pin-point which part of the country someone is in.. Virgin Media are a good exception to that but even then it's generalities.

seb

Indeed i remember when i was with Pipex my ip didnt resolve to anywhere near me. Think it was the same with wannado (though thats going back too far to remember clearly).

You cant pinpoint a persons exact position just from their ip address.

Unless im wrong it normally resolves to where your ISPs backbone/servers or whatever the right term is located.

Exactly.

I'm based in Lincolnshire, my IP adress says I'm Cheshire and I'm using a central in Sheffield!

Exactly.

I'm based in Lincolnshire, my IP adress says I'm Cheshire and I'm using a central in Sheffield!

Location West Wales, Connected via ISPC in Birmingham, IP usually identified by sites as being Telford (enta)

The secretive nature of this is worrying. Even more worrying is the lack of concern and curiosity about what they're doing. By early on positioning themselves as the champion of freedom in oppostion to Microsoft Google seemed to have obtained themselves a free pass to do things like this. If Microsoft were doing it I doubt the response would be so quiet.

In reply to a post by infra_red:

The secretive nature of this is worrying. Even more worrying is the lack of concern and curiosity about what they're doing. By early on positioning themselves as the champion of freedom in oppostion to Microsoft Google seemed to have obtained themselves a free pass to do things like this. If Microsoft were doing it I doubt the response would be so quiet.

I dont blame google, its not just their browser with the function built in as we have seen, all google did is build a front end app.

Blaming google and only google is like blaming a singular mobile phone company for every modern model having gps built in.

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

I dont blame google, its not just their browser with the function built in as we have seen, all google did is build a front end app.

But isn't it only Google that have created the wifi AP MAC / physical location database???


EDIT: For example here's how Mozilla say it works in FireFox:

"How does it work?

When you visit a location-aware website, Firefox will ask you if you want to share your location.
If you consent, Firefox gathers information about nearby wireless access points and your computer�s IP address. Then Firefox sends this information to the default geolocation service provider, Google Location Services, to get an estimate of your location. That location estimate is then shared with the requesting website.
If you say that you do not consent, Firefox will not do anything."

Edited by b4dger (Fri 03-Sep-10 11:14:20)

Not wishing to defend Google at all, but no they're not the only ones with a WiFi->location database, they weren't even the first. Go read about e.g. SkyHook Wireless, which predates Google's own database and is what Google used before their cars went sniffing around.

Looks like they use a combination of GPS/mobile/wifi APs. They also say they've only scanned 'metro' areas - so I guess Google have taken the wifi APs another stage forward.

NB. I'm also not blaming/defending anyone I think it's all interesting and just like to see how it works.

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

In reply to a post by infra_red:

The secretive nature of this is worrying. Even more worrying is the lack of concern and curiosity about what they're doing. By early on positioning themselves as the champion of freedom in oppostion to Microsoft Google seemed to have obtained themselves a free pass to do things like this. If Microsoft were doing it I doubt the response would be so quiet.

I dont blame google, its not just their browser with the function built in as we have seen, all google did is build a front end app.

Blaming google and only google is like blaming a singular mobile phone company for every modern model having gps built in.

Mobile phone companies didn't drive past people's houses collecting private information about people's routers without permission and using it to form a database. They also don't keep it quiet that when you use their browser (or Firefox for that matter) they will use your wireless adaptor to scan for networks and send this information back to HQ.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Sep-10 12:31:53)

In reply to a post by infra_red:

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

In reply to a post by infra_red:

The secretive nature of this is worrying. Even more worrying is the lack of concern and curiosity about what they're doing. By early on positioning themselves as the champion of freedom in oppostion to Microsoft Google seemed to have obtained themselves a free pass to do things like this. If Microsoft were doing it I doubt the response would be so quiet.

I dont blame google, its not just their browser with the function built in as we have seen, all google did is build a front end app.

Blaming google and only google is like blaming a singular mobile phone company for every modern model having gps built in.

Mobile phone companies didn't drive past people's houses collecting private information about people's routers without permission and using it to form a database. They also don't keep it quiet that when you use their browser (or Firefox for that matter) they will use your wireless adaptor to scan for networks and send it back to HQ.

A poor example, google are not the only ones to do location mapping of hotspots, you dont even need to "drive" pass anyones home to do it. All it needs is one hotspot in a database to see your wireless signal and then your signal is recorded....... In theory anyone could do it, you could record all the wireless spots in your area, Its nothing new.

I get location aware ads on certain websites all the time (even though they get my location wrong).

Nobody is keeping anything quiet, google are clear what their app does (IE finds your location) Mozilla are clear that firefox has location awareness built in.

If you dont want to be assimilated into a location database dont use apps that do it and say no when it asks, on any web site, hardly rocket science.

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

In reply to a post by infra_red:

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

... nested quotes trimmed ...

I dont blame google, its not just their browser with the function built in as we have seen, all google did is build a front end app.

Blaming google and only google is like blaming a singular mobile phone company for every modern model having gps built in.

Mobile phone companies didn't drive past people's houses collecting private information about people's routers without permission and using it to form a database. They also don't keep it quiet that when you use their browser (or Firefox for that matter) they will use your wireless adaptor to scan for networks and send it back to HQ.

A poor example, google are not the only ones to do location mapping of hotspots, you dont even need to "drive" pass anyones home to do it. All it needs is one hotspot in a database to see your wireless signal and then your signal is recorded....... In theory anyone could do it, you could record all the wireless spots in your area, Its nothing new.

I get location aware ads on certain websites all the time (even though they get my location wrong).

Nobody is keeping anything quiet, google are clear what their app does (IE finds your location) Mozilla are clear that firefox has location awareness built in.

Google won't say how they formed their database - but the fact is they drove round the country recording router information without obtaining permission then used it for their own purposes

If you dont want to be assimilated into a location database dont use apps that do it and say no when it asks, on any web site, hardly rocket science.

Noone asked my next door neighbour if they could record the details of his router and use it to locate the people living near him. But that's exactly what Google did.