How does my browser know where I live ?

RumRat

EdwardB wrote: »

The younger you are the more you do not care, you gladly trade your info in return for free use of a product or service.

I don't think it's a matter of don't care as much as wanting the service to work. Many 'older' people don't use the services available and can't see the necessity of them.
I'm sure there are people who haven't logged into their Google accounts and looked at their activity logs, who would be horrified by what's there (Or amazed).
We are where we are and it's not going to go away. Connected homes, cars, devices etc will only continue to develop at a pace that makes the developments of the last ten years seem pedestrian.
I don't think that anyone that is set against this will ever be convinced and I'd not presume to persuade them otherwise.
There are people in Government who are hell bent on destroying 'privacy', but, people keep voting them in...;)

wongataa

DoaM wrote: »

Apparently whilst sitting here at my desk in Scotland, I'm actually in New Jersey, USA.

(You might want to rethink your claim).

It is not always correct. If IP addresses get reassigned it may take a while for location info to update. If you use a VPN then the location could be wrong as it will detect where your VPN emerges which may well be a different country to where you are (this is why I am always located in Germany when at work in the UK as my companies internet is routed through Germany).

DoaM

wongataa wrote: »

It is not always correct.

Which is precisely the point I was making.

CardinalWolsey

If you are using a HTML5 compliant browser, sites will make a standard call to request location (Geolocation API). This call will (for the first time at least) prompt you as to whether you want to allow the site access to your location. If you do, then most browsers have implemented Google Location Services, which will attempt to establish your position from a number of factors, gradually "failing" back to a less accurate method as available. If allowed, and if available, it will ask for a GPS location. If that is not available, it will attempt to establish your location based upon WiFi triangulation. If that fails, it will cross-reference network characteristics to try and work out where you are. If that then fails, it will then perform a geolocation lookup of your IP address (should be accurate to country, could be accurate to city). This is also what a site may do if you do not grant it access to your location within the browser.

The fact that the location services can be so accurate, even if you have no other location characteristics being broadcast, is because other data, not necessarily originating from your machine, can be cross-referenced. So if you are using ethernet not wifi, but the person next to you has a mobile phone connected via wifi to the same network, Google can assume the real location of IP 1.2.3.4 is where the phone is, and not where the ISP has reported the block of IP's is based.

If a browser is standards based, you WILL be prompted whether you want to share location info. If you select no, the best a website can estimate is based upon your IP.

Gloomendoom

DoaM wrote: »

Which is precisely the point I was making.

Quick question:

Do browsers use IP addresses to estimate the location of a user?