IP Geolocation Is Twenty-Five Years Old

Oh, I agree with you. I don't really understand why sites don't use language headers which obviously specify the user's preference. I've never been on the implementation side for sites that were clients - I just explained the tech, showed how they could use it, and then they used it in those ways and many times more. Maybe it was just easy rather than having to use multiple variables? Maybe they don't know about this header (which would be shocking IMO)? But back in 1999/2000 time frame, no site was using the language header which may or may not have existed back then - I honestly don't know when that was introduced into browsers (I was a Netscape Navigator user back in those days).

I'll also say that even though I invented IP location technology, I am an avid user of privacy-shielding VPNs. Just because you invent something doesn't mean you don't regret some of the uses of said thing.

Whoa! That is awesome. I get chills whenever people tell me they've actually used something I've built. Hoping I get the chance to write more about the stories from my time building Digital Envoy. Congrats on your startup too - I hope it is/was wildly successful!

https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-181/

October 1994. which is 28 years ago. Contains the inetnum: object as follows

  The information in the old inetnum object
  inetnum: 192.87.45.0
  netname: RIPE-NCC
  descr: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
  descr: Amsterdam, Netherlands
  country: NL
  

So.. I hesitate to be snitty, what exactly about IP geolocation did you invent given that by 1994 we already had a formalism to represent IP economy in the records?

25 years old and still constantly misused by tech companies to assume my language preferences while traveling even though my browser explicitly communicates my language and locale preferences. Spotify and Google are particularly notorious offenders.

No, IP Geolocation is not Twenty-Five Years old, you did not invent it, and you do not have a patent for it.

Let's see what your patent is about:

A method, computer program product and electronic device are provided for providing hyper-local geo-targeting based on validated, user-supplied geographic information, wherein the user's anonymity may be maintained. In particular, user-supplied geographic information may be collected in association with a truncated IP address. Once collected, the user-supplied information may be validated using geographic data previously derived from one or more complete IP addresses corresponding to the received truncated IP address. The derived geographic data may have been derived using a system that maps the routing infrastructure of the Internet in order to determine where endpoints on the Internet are located. The validated, user-supplied geographic information, which may be more specific than the derived geographic data, may then be used to provide more granular and accurate geo-targeting, all the while maintaining the privacy of the individual users.

User-supplied geographic info. Aha.

First claim:

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer over a network, a truncated internet protocol (IP) address associated with a user device related to a specific user;

receiving, by the computer, user-supplied geographic information associated with the truncated IP address, the user-supplied geographic information not being linked to the specific user;

retrieving, by the computer from a database, geographic data derived from one or more complete IP addresses corresponding to the truncated IP address;

validating, by the computer, the user-supplied geographic information based at least in part on the geographic data, the validating comprising determining if the user-supplied geographic information is the same or equivalent to the derived geographic data associated with at least one of the one or more complete IP addresses corresponding to the truncated IP address, wherein in response to the user-supplied geographic information being validated, the user-supplied geographic information permits providing geo-targeted information.

I may not be perfect at reading patent legalize, but this "Invention" does not make any sense to me. So someone is providing his geo location, to then receive his geo location? Yay.

I've been using geo location for over 25 years now. And I have never heard about your company. And pretty much everybody uses Maxmind for 22 years now. Because they have an actual product, a website, pricing, and a free offering that's deployed on hundreds of thousands of servers.

Your company website on the other hand makes me want to puke. No way to actually see any IP Geolocation services. No products, no pricing. Just BLABLABLA WHY WE ARE SO GREAT.

So, guess what: No, nobody stole your idea. Nobody every heard about you or your idea, and nobody cared.

Maybe instead of posting this here actually invent something that is of use, and then come back here?

Yes, these have been rude words. But did you REALLY come here to get praise on this whiny narcissistic blog post of yours? Next time, please have this discussion in front of your bathroom mirror instead.