On Apr 11, 2011, at 4:25 PM, Scott Morris wrote: > Aren't they already confused enough when any time I use my EVDO or 3G > Tether that someone believes I've been magically transported to New > Jersey or wherever the handoff is? ;) > Understand the logic behind it, but you probably statistically have > just as much chance of being correct as you do incorrect.
Just like the old days with AOL & their proxies. There are not as many 3G or proxy / VPN users are there are standard users. Therefore, it works - mostly. (Or can work, I have no idea if the particular company / tool under discussion is actually useful.) Data is data. It can be misinterpreted, but it is still data. -- TTFN, patrick > On 4/11/11 4:10 PM, Jeroen van Aart wrote: > > [1]http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20336-internet-probe-can-tr > ack-you-down-to-within-690-metres.html > "The new method zooms in through three stages to locate a target > computer. The first stage measures the time it takes to send a data > packet to the target and converts it into a distance - a common > geolocation technique that narrows the target's possible location to > a radius of around 200 kilometres. > (..) > Finally, they repeat the landmark search at this more fine-grained > level: comparing delay times once more, they establish which > landmark server is closest to the target. The result can never be > entirely accurate, but it's much better than trying to determine a > location by converting the initial delay into a distance or the next > best IP-based method. On average their method gets to within 690 > metres of the target and can be as close as 100 metres - good enough > to identify the target computer's location to within a few streets." > It seems to me to be a rather flaky way of finding out your > estimated location. But I guess it could be helpful when the > objective is just to create some global database of demographics for > marketing and privacy invasion purposes, where specifics of an > individual's exact location don't really matter. > Besides the latter can always be subpoenaed. ;-) > One more reason to use VPN and other such techniques to hide your > location. > Greetings, > Jeroen > > References > > 1. > http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20336-internet-probe-can-track-you-down-to-within-690-metres.html >