How does Google get my location?

Discussion in 'privacy general' started by elapsed, Sep 4, 2011.

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  1. jesusjesus

    jesusjesus Registered Member

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    NO! listen to what people are saying. They have geolcation network services turned off. That means google and others should not be using your wifi modem to locate you via mac address's of surrounding wifi transmitters.
     
  2. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    "Find Singles near you! Hot ladies looking around Manhattan, NYC looking for love ;)"

    The same way every ad does. IP and DNS.
     
  3. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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    jesusjesus, it really does not matter. Read this Wilders thread Google logging wireless network info and you'll see that their Street View program has already found all of us.
     
  4. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    That's all great and all but firstly I have geolocation disabled and secondly I'm not using Google maps, this is Google search :x

    Neither IP nor DNS can pinpoint you precisely to a location, you're probably thinking of flash ads, which has the ability to do that.
     
  5. dvk01

    dvk01 Global Moderator

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    If you don't want google to know where you are, then either set a false location on the settings page or don't use google

    I actually give google my correct location, not where it thinks I am ( MY ISP tracks all IP numbers back to its HQ in central London regardless where in UK they are)
    I find the local google services extremely helpful, when searching for anything physical rather than an online service

    I really don't know why so may peopel áre complaining about google knowing where they are, when there is a very simple solution DO NOT USE GOOGLE IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY WITH THEM KNOWING

    Google only use IP lookups to get your location for search purposes. It might well use other methods for other purposes

    Don't forget Google has a massive database of everything and it would be quite easy for it to cross reference an IP number with a posting or a purchase that has a physical address
     
  6. Keyboard_Commando

    Keyboard_Commando Registered Member

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    Maybe you're in an area where testing of this technique is happening.


    There are several irons in the fire.
     
  7. JRViejo

    JRViejo Super Moderator

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  8. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Thanks but the second link is the exact same as what I originally posted and the first concerns customization which I do not use.

    I don't think Google would use this without telling you on their "how we track you" page, I also don't see how I'd be the first person to notice if they were using it, I think some expert would have noticed by now, no?

    I live about ~45min away from the nearest City, my ISP does a similar thing where nearly all traces go to some HQ in a city 6 hours away. So how is Google pinpointing me?

    I'm not complaining about Google, sorry for not making myself clear. I don't use Google search at all, I use Scroogle.

    What I'm complaining about is that this functionality exists, by Google or whoever, to somehow trace me so accurately without my consent. I'd like to know how it's done by any website, so I can prevent it, that's really all I want. :/
     
  9. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    Leaving aside WiFi & other RF related connections being "able" to reveal Exact locations, as that's a given, AFAIC !

    More interesting to me, is how Anyone, apart from our ISP's, would/are able to get Very near and/or precise locations ? I don't mean just using IP lookups etc to locate our nearest ISP server etc !

    Be nice if this info could be foind & posted, if not today etc, but Anytime :thumb:
     
  10. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Just how precise is this location?

    I know I've had ads pinpoint me to Manhattan, NYC.
     
  11. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    Directly to my quiet town.
     
  12. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    But it's not like it's your street or something, right?
     
  13. elapsed

    elapsed Registered Member

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    It's a small town, without any ISP servers or anything nearby, nothing that could give the location away via IP anyway. I have no issues with it knowing my country, or even the nearest city, but directly here is just scary. If they can do it, what's to stop a malicious party doing it.
     
  14. Kernelwars

    Kernelwars Registered Member

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    oh wow..that is scary indeed man:eek:
     
  15. Kernelwars

    Kernelwars Registered Member

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  16. TonyW

    TonyW Registered Member

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    I've seen the location info elapsed alludes to, but it isn't accurate. My position is an hour and a half away from the area name given. There is a link to change this though, but haven't bothered to.
     
  17. jesusjesus

    jesusjesus Registered Member

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    It's very strange actually. based on my IP alone, geolocation sites and Ad servers eg "Girls in [your suburb] are here to chat" changes.

    Sometimes it is as it should be, and the gelocation of my IP is the centre of my city which is an hours drive away from me. Happy about that, nothing to complain about.
    Mostly though BOTH geolocation sites and ads know where I live down to my suburb. When checked on google maps location is about 400 yards away. Close and maybe an invasion of privacy even on that level. It means anyone in the world that knows my IP knows my actual suburb. This is the case now and prob has been for the last month.

    On another time I checked a geolocator the google maps image was of the house 50 yards away. WTF!, but it's now gone back to the location 400 yards away. Google's guess at where I live is 150 yards away. As I say location services turned off in browsers and android tablet.
    I think maybe but not sure the position google has me at living right now is the address that I input into the public transport timetable website as my own when I need to catch public transport.

    So it's just creepy that I don't know how google are getting my location and also don't know how the geolocation data for my home cable IP is created and how or why it changes. Who's changing it?
     
  18. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    From Oct 25, 2004, but hey, if it's info ;) Plus it proves these techniques have been used for at least 7 years !

    Geolocation by IP Address

    3 pages to digest, so i hope you find something in there which you can come back on :thumb:
     
  19. vasa1

    vasa1 Registered Member

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    For what it's worth, I don't like the title of this thread. It should be broadened and made more general.

    I find that there's a possibly unintentional attempt to disparage entities such as Google and Mozilla and to make posts that are favorable to others. To an extent it appears to me that the forum is being manipulated since people are well aware that thread titles will be picked up by search engines.

    The OP mentions Google and then mentions Scroogle. The OP repeatedly talks about pinpointing without specifying what is meant by the term.

    Others feel that only close friends and relatives know where they stay. That is totally ridiculous if one uses any public utility at the residence or pays taxes or is on the dole or whatever it's called now or even has a bank account.
     
  20. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    Which DNS are you using?
     
  21. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Google does not get a monthly payment from me, therefore it has no reason to know where I live. I'm not sure what's hard to understand about "pinpointing", the OP means they should not be able to determine his location as closely as they do (if we leave out the wireless access points that JR talked about, which was actually a very good thing to bring up). You're right, no one needs to disparage Google, they do a great job of making their own selves look bad a good portion of the time. As far as thread titles, it's hardly as inflammatory as some titles I see here. And really, who cares if it's picked up by search engines? If you're looking for something about Google you don't like, there are thousands of search results to pick from without checking this thread out.

    Anyway, my guess is that Bing can do it too, they just don't make it a point to be obvious about it. It seems to be just the times we're living in.
     
  22. Hungry Man

    Hungry Man Registered Member

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    It has reason to live since it provides you with a service that uses your location as a way of providing that service in a better way.

    I guess they should let you opt out... but then they couldn't provide nearly the same service.
     
  23. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Nobody said Google didn't have a reason to live. It uses our location to better serve us ads, let's get realistic here. I don't need you to read off their F.A.Q section to me, I've read it plenty (not getting on you personally, Hungry). I don't use Google Maps, I don't search for things in my area (I have a phonebook and a car, and I can do my own online searching since I know exactly where I live), I don't use their email, so they don't need to keep my location in case I do anything bad, I don't even use their browser. So no, they aren't providing me a better service.

    Regardless, as was pointed out a few posts ago, they likely have had everything since Street View came along, and since wireless access has sprouted up everywhere. So, it's likely a fight that is already lost anyway.
     
  24. Page42

    Page42 Registered Member

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    Chrome Under the Hood Content Settings...

    chrome track not.jpg
     
  25. dw426

    dw426 Registered Member

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    Page, sadly that doesn't affect this particular situation. I've used that option in Chrome before.
     
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