[analog-help] Re: GeoIP Patch for Analog

[Hajj abujamal]

Salaam!

Russell Van Tassell wrote:

 > Paul Wade wrote:
 >> http://www.geoiptool.com/
 >> ... puts my city as Rugby, 187 km as the crow
 >> flies from where I am.

 > That's because that tool only uses the first level ARIN/RIPE and
 > similar allocations and isn't smart/ambitious enough to traverse
 > down in to any referral servers... or so it would appear.
 > Similarly, my IP is listed a good 30 or 40 miles (48 or 64KM) away.

    "fubar.loosenut.com" appears to be in the vicinity of Mountain 
View, California, although the carrier, MegaPath Networks, is sited in 
Costa Mesa, California; I'm guessing that neither is where you are, 
but either is close enough, I would imagine, for most Analog users. 
But yours is a diminishing case ... the rise of WiFi in rural 
communities is changing the reliability of geoIP-like tools.

    Check the headers on this eMail (I'm copying these examples from 
another eMail, so they might not match exactly) ~

Received: from [67.90.227.7] (helo=[10.7.8.61])

correctly identifies my IP address (it's here on my desk) and even my 
local machine, but 67.90.227.7 is registered in Herndon, Virginia ~ 
and I'm north of Spokane, Washington; and the IP-Network 
67.90.227.0/27 ~ registered to my ISP, Ecliptixnet Broadband ~ is not 
shown in whois records even as located in the Spokane region.

    But for Analog purposes, it's even worse ~ this 67.90.* block is 
behind Ecliptixnet's primary IP address, 66.239.236.122, is registered 
with XO Communications in San Jose, California, and in Herndon, 
Virginia.  geoIP applications place it in Virginia, and there is 
nothing in the public records showing that the NIC bearing that IP 
address is physically located in Spokane, Washington.

    Ecliptixnet serves several rural communities around Spokane 
through radio towers and radio receivers with IP addresses in the 
10.64.* range; subscribers using DHCP get 192.168.* addresses behind 
66.239.236.122.  In other words, hundreds of surfers visiting web 
pages leave the 66.* address in the logs, and there is no way to 
locate them on the west coast of the country, let alone near Spokane.

    I"m using PCHelp's Network Tracer, a DOS utility that presents its 
results in a text file at the end of its run.  It's very useful, and 
free:  http://www.pc-help.org/trace.htm ~ I wasn't able to use its 
TraceRoute facility (my machine timed out looking for itself), but I 
already know the route comes through 66.239.236.122, which is "in 
Virginia" to geoIP applications.

    I suspect that the capacity to locate a website visitor from his 
IP address is diminishing rather than increasing.

was-salaam,
abujamal
-- 
astaghfirullahal-ladhee laa ilaha illa
howal-hayyul-qayyoom wa 'atoobu 'ilaihi

Rejoice, muslims, in martyrdom without fighting,
a Mercy for us.  Be like the better son of Adam.