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How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

ipapi.is

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Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#141
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know how accurate Cloudflare geolocation is (for workers requests)?

I work for IPinfo and we do ping based geolocation. The best thing you can do to verify geolocation accuracy is the following: - Download a few free IP databases - Generate a random list of IP addresses - Do the IP address lookups across all those databases - Identify the IP address that can be pinged - Visit a site that can ping an IP address from multiple server - Sort the results by lowest avg ping time Then check…

On one hand, I love that there’s some good alternatives in the geolocation space, but misleading geolocation precision can lead to very undesirable side effects[0].

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/09/maxmind-m...

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#142
post #4

Question: What’s the motivation to put coordinates in one’s own WHOIS record? (geoloc/geofeed)

Many service providers actually want their clients to be able to locate them.

I’m duplicating my comment elsewhere in this thread, so each serves as a direct reply to the different geolocation providers in this thread, in the hope that it will be recognized as a problem with data that implies that it’s more precise than it really is:

> On one hand, I love that there’s some good alternatives in the geolocation space, but misleading geolocation precision can lead to very undesirable side effects[0].

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/09/maxmind-m...

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#143

First, I am big fan of your articles even before I joined IPinfo, where we provide IP geolocation data service. Our geolocation methodology expands on the methodology you described. We utilize some of the publicly available datasets that you are using. However, the core geolocation data comes from our ping-based operation. We ping an IP address from multiple servers across the world and identify the location of the I…

Are there any historical sources for geo ip info?

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

of course it doesnt work but they gotta try clutching pearls and applying whatever pressure they can think of on these fronts

Why is this getting downvoted? It seems to me that a lot of the media-focused anti-piracy tooling is essentially a performance of toughness to make rightsholder execs comfortable. Everybody accepts you can't stop piracy entirely, and nobody's willing to say, "Fuck it, we'll compete on convenience and strong consumer relationships," so we all put up with this weird middle ground of performative DRM and the like. With…

I love that HLS+AES "encryption" is still in use, thanks to Apple.

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#146
post #135

As someone that lives in a country where the national language is not my first language, I hate websites that use IP location to make assumptions about my choice of language and it being forced on me based on a lazy assumption, when my browser is sending language headers quite clearly, and they are ignored.

I live in the US, and IP geolocation points to the incorrect regions (plural) on all my devices.

Few technologies manage to make my day-to-day internet experience than these sorts of databases.

I wish they would just go away.

Websites could just ask me my zipcode on first load instead of guessing it wrong every single time and then burying the flow to fix it behind multiple links and page loads.

Also: There is no way to fix the database to produce the “correct” or “better” answer. I rarely want a website to use my current location.

Instead, I check inventory for stores in places where I will be. This whole space is trying to solve an ill-posed problem.

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#147

First, I am big fan of your articles even before I joined IPinfo, where we provide IP geolocation data service. Our geolocation methodology expands on the methodology you described. We utilize some of the publicly available datasets that you are using. However, the core geolocation data comes from our ping-based operation. We ping an IP address from multiple servers across the world and identify the location of the I…

Hi, cool idea with the geolocation via latency.

But I encountered 2 things using ipinfo: Hetzner Server that are in Germany in a fixed location that never moved are sometimes located in another country, for me it was once s Server placed into Moscow and once in South America.

How does this happen?

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#148
a long time ago i build a project like that but instead of relying on whois. i did a traceroute to every ipv4 address avaliable. several router hops, have a reverse dns that uses some names that include city codes, (like airport codes ). most providers have a single hop for a city. so its easy to correlate the latest router hop to a city.

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#149
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you're literally advertising this project as being helpful for targeted ads. So it's pretty clear from the get go that what you consider creepy isn't what I consider creepy. And having done enough reidentification work to scare myself, "thousands of people" might as well be a couple dozen or less. I get why you're defensive and why you think it's not creepy, but calling it a "meme" is insultingingly dismissive. J…

For sure. When people work in any industry long enough, it's easy to stop thinking about the basics. E.g., a retail butcher thinks of his work very differently than a cow or a vegan does. When people work in advertising, they mostly forget that the core of their business is for-profit manipulation of people with little or no regard for truth or the people concerned. But I personally think that's kinda creepy, and onl…

That is a good point. I will try to add some additional points to your statement.

In the context of a butcher and a vegan we are not either of them, we would be someone who sell salt. Salt as an ingredient is used by vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters.

Salt is useful, and it is a complimentary item that makes the food taste better. But it is not a main feature of any dish. Salt plays an important and somewhat universally required item in any dish, but this is not the main feature of the dish you eat.

We are a data company. This IP metadata we sell is important to run a service that is connected to the internet. We are focused on serving cybersecurity as we are focused on other industries which includes adtech and sales intelligence.

IP metadata is used in threat intelligence, building firewalls, and attack surface management. On the other hand, when you are running a business at scale, you need to invest into understanding your target demographics. That is where largely adtech companies use our data. They need data and context to understand who their users are.

IP metadata helps to prevent cyberattacks to happen at a very early stage through firewall blocking. IP metadata, used through threat intelligence, can further strengthen firewalls to prevent future attacks. And IP metadata, can also be used in website personalization, adtech and sales intelligence etc.

We believe that every internet connected services for profit and non-profit alike, should have access to some security resilience, that is why we offer so many good quality free data.

Re: How to build a IP geolocation database from scratch?

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For sure. When people work in any industry long enough, it's easy to stop thinking about the basics. E.g., a retail butcher thinks of his work very differently than a cow or a vegan does. When people work in advertising, they mostly forget that the core of their business is for-profit manipulation of people with little or no regard for truth or the people concerned. But I personally think that's kinda creepy, and onl…

That is a good point. I will try to add some additional points to your statement. In the context of a butcher and a vegan we are not either of them, we would be someone who sell salt. Salt as an ingredient is used by vegans, vegetarians, and meat eaters. Salt is useful, and it is a complimentary item that makes the food taste better. But it is not a main feature of any dish. Salt plays an important and somewhat unive…

Huh. Ignoring the somewhat strained metaphor, you seem to be suggesting that you don't have moral responsibility for aiding the creepiness of professional manipulators because you also enable other things. I don't think that's true. But even if it were, it would only be so if it were a minimal, possibly negligible part of your business. What percentage of revenue would you say comes from adtech?
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