How ddi a website find out about my postcode?

simon2018

I post on a very small cycling forum. No adverts on the site and a small number of registered users and daily visitors.

To cut a long story short, I got into an argument with the owner, site moderator about a bicycle that he said cost xxx amount and I disagreed. He told me to @@@@ and @@@, so I told him the same.

Anyway, then he posted my postcode. No way he has my real name, location, never mind an address and I don't belong to any cycling clubs etc.

A friend told me there is software out there that locates postcodes. I thought that was illegal without a court summons.

Any ideas please?

FreeBear

Geolocation - https://www.iplocation.net/

You will have left a footprint in the forum logs of your IP address. From that, it is possible to get a rough idea of where you live. Not entirely reliable.

You could pen a note to the forum admin and ask them to stop processing and delete personal information under the new GDPR act - If they don't comply, lodge a complaint with the ICO,

Or skip the above, and make a complaint to the ICO anyway, as the site owner is abusing your personal data.

Armorica

Yes, if it's since 25 May, GDPR is a good option.

IP address almost never gives a post code - regional exchange and ISP is as good as it often gets.

Most likely is through your email address that you'd have used to sign up to the forum. Does that contain your name? Or any identifying features?

Buzby

The IP lookup may not give a postcode, but there are many firms offering value-added enhancements and that includes postcodes. Depending on how deep the search is, it will either show my main Virgin Feed as being Hook (in Hampshire), or Manchester (the Regional Control Centre. Dig deeper and up pops my ‘local’ area Hub as Renfrew (still 14 miles from me). A different site ignores all these and provides my local exchange (0.5m) then the street cabinet used - just 100 metres away - and the postcode for that.

When I found this, I registered with a VPN supplier, and all this data is lost to enquirers.

unforeseen

Buzby wrote: »

The IP lookup may not give a postcode, but there are many firms offering value-added enhancements and that includes postcodes. Depending on how deep the search is, it will either show my main Virgin Feed as being Hook (in Hampshire), or Manchester (the Regional Control Centre. Dig deeper and up pops my ‘local’ area Hub as Renfrew (still 14 miles from me). A different site ignores all these and provides my local exchange (0.5m) then the street cabinet used - just 100 metres away - and the postcode for that.

When I found this, I registered with a VPN supplier, and all this data is lost to enquirers.

That only works for VM due to the way their infrastructure is designed - sub-hubs and sub-sub-hubs.

With an ISP that uses BT lines then there is no identifiable point after the ISP.