Not a computer guy, what is the process/programming that tells your computer your location

[Smurkster]

While reading an article written in the US, I noticed at the bottom of it was an advertisement for a one year Thai visa. Now I am pretty sure that if I was reading that same article back in the states, I would not see the ad for a Thai Visa....do these ads pop up based on the "IP address" or whatever it is called that tells your location? Sorry, if its a stupid question but there must be someone out there that can shed some light on how this process works..

[speedtripler]

its googles targeted advertising

[CryWolf]

Read more about it here: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2453995?hl=en

Sent from my HTC One using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[CharlieH]

Yes, your IP shows exactly where you are geographically, unless you cloak it or hide it.

[zeichen]

Using a VPN allows your computer to fool the system where your IP is.

[healthbkkbkk]

I was researching VPNs on my desktop. I had a problem so I had to reinstall Windows and I reformatted my hard-drive during the install.

Having absolutely no cookies on my system the first time I went on the internet I received ads for VPNs.

The only way to explain this is that my IP addresse was logged and saved.

[A1Str8]

Yes the ads you see are IP based.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[kaydee412]

The ads you see are typically based on context, e.g. what site you're visiting, what Internet address you currently have, plus whatever profile the ad provider has of "you" (rather, the browser or computer you're using). So-called tracking cookies are frequently used to create a profile of what sites/ads your browser has been used to view in the past. You can easily bypass the profiling by using private or incognito mode in your browser or by clearing your cookies. As others have mentioned, using a VPN or a proxy will make it seems like you're coming from another IP address, e.g. in a different country. The process of connecting an IP address with a geographical location is called IP geolocation. It's an approximation and not entirely accurate, but will usually get the town/city right.

[NeverSure]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is. The block of IP addresses that your ISP has is registered publicly and if you have one of them, then you are going onto the internet through that ISP;

For someone to trace from your ISP's DHCP server to you, he'd have to have physical and administrative access to that server, or know someone who does. He'd also have to have some other information about your client account, such as who has the modem with this certain MAC address.

So relax. They can target ads to a certain geographical area and give you ThaiVisa ads in Thailand, and they can install tracking cookies to build a profile on your habits, but they don't know exactly who or where you are.

Edited May 4, 2014 by NeverSure

[AyG]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

[KhunBENQ]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

This site surprises me.

If I I use it in new browser window and allow it access to my location, it indeed shows my location quite precise.

BUT: if I use it in an "incognito" window of Chrome e.g. it will show (as usual) the ToT office where my IP is managed (or a place close by).

And that is 90 km from my house.

So this site seems to use additional data from the browser (as I use Google map frequently).

Quite uncertain what is behind?

Edited May 4, 2014 by KhunBENQ

[MJCM]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

And do you know why ????

[NeverSure]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

But you have to elect to send them information from your computer. This is almost like social hacking. They ask if you want to share your location and if you don't click OK you get a blank I got a blank because I learned to not do such things a long time ago.

[NeverSure]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

And do you know why ????

abcd.jpg

Oops - beat me to it.

[happynthailand]

http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html

thats wrong it shows I'm in Khon Kaen. (NOT)

over 300k away

[NeverSure]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps clicking OK allows it to install a tiny gps proggy that gives them your coordinates. Notice you have to do two things. You have to click OK, and then there are coordinates that you have to paste into a window and only then can it give your location.

I don't think it necessarily has anything at all to do with your IP address.

The one thing we all know is that you can send things from your computer that someone can't get from outside it.

[KhunBENQ]

I don't think it necessarily has anything at all to do with your IP address.

Never seen such a thing as a location down to some meters by IP adress alone.

A different story:

if you use smartphone apps that are allowed to read your GPS data, then they have your device location very precisely.

I don't know whether and how this information would find its way to the mentioned "flux" website.

I don't say it is impossible.

[higgy88]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps clicking OK allows it to install a tiny gps proggy that gives them your coordinates. Notice you have to do two things. You have to click OK, and then there are coordinates that you have to paste into a window and only then can it give your location.

I don't think it necessarily has anything at all to do with your IP address.

The one thing we all know is that you can send things from your computer that someone can't get from outside it.

This was copied from the Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com) Shields Up! Test, but I replaced my own IP address with xxx

The text below might uniquely

identify you on the Internet

Your Internet connection's IP address is uniquely associated with the following "machine name":

cm-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.revip11.asianet.co.th

The string of text above is known as your Internet connection's "reverse DNS." The end of the string is probably a domain name related to your ISP. This will be common to all customers of this ISP. But the beginning of the string uniquely identifies your Internet connection. The question is: Is the beginning of the string an "account ID" that is uniquely and permanently tied to you, or is it merely related to your current public IP address and thus subject to change?

The concern is that any web site can easily retrieve this unique "machine name" (just as we have) whenever you visit. It may be used to uniquely identify you on the Internet. In that way it's like a "supercookie" over which you have no control. You can not disable, delete, or change it. Due to the rapid erosion of online privacy, and the diminishing respect for the sanctity of the user, we wanted to make you aware of this possibility. Note also that reverse DNS may disclose your geographic location.

If the machine name shown above is only a version of the IP address, then there is less cause for concern because the name will change as, when, and if your Internet IP changes. But if the machine name is a fixed account ID assigned by your ISP, as is often the case, then it will follow you and not change when your IP address does change. It can be used to persistently identify you as long as you use this ISP.

There is no standard governing the format of these machine names, so this is not something we can automatically determine for you. If several of the numbers from your current IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) appear in the machine name, then it is likely that the name is only related to the IP address and not to you. But you may wish to make a note of the machine name shown above and check back from time to time to see whether the name follows any changes to your IP address, or whether it, instead, follows you.

Just something to keep in mind as you wander the Internet.

I can say that while I supposedly have a dynamic IP address that is supposed to change, this machine name has not changed since I signed up with this ISP and started using this Shields Up test, so I am pretty confident that it uniquely identifies my machine.

[AyG]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps clicking OK allows it to install a tiny gps proggy that gives them your coordinates. Notice you have to do two things. You have to click OK, and then there are coordinates that you have to paste into a window and only then can it give your location.

Not quite. (And I was wrong in my previous posting.) Nothing is downloaded to your computer. You simply give permission for your browser to supply information about any wireless networks your computer can see, local mobile 'phone towers, and their associated signal strengths. Based upon a combination of that information and your ip address it can make a best guess as to your location.

If there are no mobile networks or mobile 'phone towers within range it has to rely upon your ip address, which will give the location of your ISP.

More information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W3C_Geolocation_API

[davejones23]

The ads are usually based on your surfing history. Every time I search Agoda for a specific town, I see Google ads for that town for the next few weeks. They start within minutes. Same with other sites I visit. If I check hostgator hosting, then Google shows me Hostgator ads. Might be IP based sometimes, bt I think it's mostly targeted at you personally.

[NeverSure]

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps clicking OK allows it to install a tiny gps proggy that gives them your coordinates. Notice you have to do two things. You have to click OK, and then there are coordinates that you have to paste into a window and only then can it give your location.

I don't think it necessarily has anything at all to do with your IP address.

The one thing we all know is that you can send things from your computer that someone can't get from outside it.

This was copied from the Gibson Research Corporation (www.grc.com) Shields Up! Test, but I replaced my own IP address with xxx

The text below might uniquely

identify you on the Internet

Your Internet connection's IP address is uniquely associated with the following "machine name":

cm-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.revip11.asianet.co.th

The string of text above is known as your Internet connection's "reverse DNS." The end of the string is probably a domain name related to your ISP. This will be common to all customers of this ISP. But the beginning of the string uniquely identifies your Internet connection. The question is: Is the beginning of the string an "account ID" that is uniquely and permanently tied to you, or is it merely related to your current public IP address and thus subject to change?

The concern is that any web site can easily retrieve this unique "machine name" (just as we have) whenever you visit. It may be used to uniquely identify you on the Internet. In that way it's like a "supercookie" over which you have no control. You can not disable, delete, or change it. Due to the rapid erosion of online privacy, and the diminishing respect for the sanctity of the user, we wanted to make you aware of this possibility. Note also that reverse DNS may disclose your geographic location.

If the machine name shown above is only a version of the IP address, then there is less cause for concern because the name will change as, when, and if your Internet IP changes. But if the machine name is a fixed account ID assigned by your ISP, as is often the case, then it will follow you and not change when your IP address does change. It can be used to persistently identify you as long as you use this ISP.

There is no standard governing the format of these machine names, so this is not something we can automatically determine for you. If several of the numbers from your current IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) appear in the machine name, then it is likely that the name is only related to the IP address and not to you. But you may wish to make a note of the machine name shown above and check back from time to time to see whether the name follows any changes to your IP address, or whether it, instead, follows you.

Just something to keep in mind as you wander the Internet.

I can say that while I supposedly have a dynamic IP address that is supposed to change, this machine name has not changed since I signed up with this ISP and started using this Shields Up test, so I am pretty confident that it uniquely identifies my machine. o

It identifies your machine. So does Microsoft every time you boot to make sure your Windows is valid on that machine. It reads the SSID. But they don't know where you are.

There is no way in hell that your person or your exact location can be identified by your IP address.

If they know, they have access to your ISP's DHCP server AND the user accounts, or your machine is sending them information. Your machine won't do that unless you allow it. Allowing it may mean getting suckered into clicking on something or visiting a webpage that gives you a virus that can send info, or opening an email attachment or something else.

But willfully or not, you give them the info if they know right where you are..

Edited May 5, 2014 by NeverSure

[Peterphuket]

I always use a proxy server from "Netshade" you can change to different countrys, so it is more difficult to trace me.

However it is still possible to know I'm using a Mac because I always get a very, very iritating commercial "Is your Mac slow?

[JimMagee]

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is. The block of IP addresses that your ISP has is registered publicly and if you have one of them, then you are going onto the internet through that ISP;

For someone to trace from your ISP's DHCP server to you, he'd have to have physical and administrative access to that server, or know someone who does. He'd also have to have some other information about your client account, such as who has the modem with this certain MAC address.

So relax. They can target ads to a certain geographical area and give you ThaiVisa ads in Thailand, and they can install tracking cookies to build a profile on your habits, but they don't know exactly who or where you are.

Your browser will also locate you based on GPS services. You can turn the browser locater off in most browsers in the browser settings.

Edited May 5, 2014 by JimMagee

[jjablonsky]

There are several ways that the "internet" keeps track of you, cookies, google anyalitics, IP addressing (geo location) etc...etc... All in the name of targeted advertising.

A good browser to use to keep things private is Epic Privacy Browser you can read PC Magazines review here

Visit our website for more tips and tricks J & S Computers

[DrTuner]

Maxmind's GeoIP is quite popular. First get your IP from here: http://www.whatismyip.com and paste it here: http://www.maxmind.com/en/geoip_demo . My 3BB connection locates me in Bangkok, which is wrong, but the country is correct.

[loumaripol]

The When you connect to the internet you are assigned an identifying string of numbers in this format: 000:000::000:00. The first three numbers are assigned to the country your are in. With mobile phones and tablets there are gps based services that id pretty close to your physical position. These functions can be disabled on Android phones, not too sure about IOS (Iphone) but guess it can too. If you care about privacy your can hide your IP address using the TOR network (google it for the web page - all will be explained.) It is also possible to turn off location services on your mobile if you do not need them.

Hope that helps,

Lou

[Rorri]

Your IP address dobs you in....IP addresses are like a mail address it tells the world what country you are in, what domain (ie service provider) then filters down through their routers and finally the last set of digits are your computer.

[Rorri]

AyG, on 04 May 2014 - 10:01, said:

NeverSure, on 04 May 2014 - 09:26, said:

Your IP address doesn't show where you are. It shows where your ISP is.

Really? Just based upon ip address services such as http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html can pin down your location to within a few metres.

It can not pin you down to a "few metres" unless your ISP has given then access to their database and your account.

[phiber]

Apart from geo-location targeting there is also something called remarketing. Basically it works like this. Lets say thaivisa advertises across all websites that use google's advertising platform (adwords+adsense). Thaivisa would have a special piece of code which would store information about your visit to on your computer. Next time you visit a website that uses google's adsense chances are you're going to get a thaivisa ad.

Edited May 5, 2014 by phiber

[slipperylobster]

Here ya go...

use one of these.....http://www.publicproxyservers.com/proxy/list1.html

then look at Whatismyip

............................................

But I gotta tell ya, your isp still knows who you are.

can do this to..........download safeip.exe

........................

If you have firefox...get this addon..........Hola Unblocker

.......................

Can legally download piratefox from piratebay as well...........

remember...your machine/router has a MAC address.....