Technology: not quite as clever as it thinks.

[bunn]

I've been really dubious about the much talked up technology which pinpoints a user's location from an IP address for many years (it has got better, to be fair). I just don't see how it could work, without all sorts of information that isn't in the public domain being released by a load of independent private companies without the user's permission in a dubiously-legal kind of way.

So, I was pleased to see my suspicions confirmed by this : http://whatismyipaddress.com/

It thinks I'm between Cambridge and Ipswich. Now I am intrigued as to why. I'm not there, my ISP isn't there, and last time I spoke to them, the routing for my account was done from near Reading. So, what is it there in the East that it's picking up? I'd love to know.

It did get my country right, which is an improvement over my Claranet days when checkers of this kind always insisted that I must be in Germany.

Comments

[tena524.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I think I've just blown your US market theory. I'm at my Mom's house in New York, and it thinks I'm out on Long Island. That's at least a 2-hour drive from here, bridge traffic permitting. Can we blame it on gremlins?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh excellent! That means it almost certainly doesn't work properly *anywhere at all*.

This makes me very happy. I know that's a bit odd!