Geolocation Goes Terribly Wrong
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 08/12/2016 06:54 AM
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What happens when IP mapping goes wrong? Ask a Kansas family who for ten years have been the target and been accused of being identity thieves, spammers, and scammers, have found on their doorstep FBI agents, federal marshals, IRS collectors, ambulances searching for suicidal veterans, and police officers searching for runaway children, and have been wrongfully punished by irate people who’ve published their names and addresses or left a broken toilet in their driveway.
James and Theresa Arnold filed a lawsuit against MaxMind because the company should have said they don't have a clue as to the location instead of giving authorities the pinpoint location of the farm house they rent.
The lawsuit complains that:
The plaintiffs were repeatedly awakened from their sleep or disturbed from their daily activities by local, state or federal officials looking for a runaway child or a missing person, or evidence of a computer fraud, or call of an attempted suicide. Law enforcement officials came to the residence all hours of the day or night.
Hill wrote an investigate piece titled “How an Internet Mapping Glitch Turned a Random Kansas Farm into a Digital Hell,” which informed the Arnolds who was at fault:MaxMind.
Thomas Mather, a co-founder of MaxMind, told Hill that MaxMind would be changing the default locations for the US and Ashburn, Virginia, placing them in the middle of bodies of water, rather than people’s homes.
The Arnolds are seeking compensation totaling $75,000.
Source: Naked Security
James and Theresa Arnold filed a lawsuit against MaxMind because the company should have said they don't have a clue as to the location instead of giving authorities the pinpoint location of the farm house they rent.
The lawsuit complains that:
The plaintiffs were repeatedly awakened from their sleep or disturbed from their daily activities by local, state or federal officials looking for a runaway child or a missing person, or evidence of a computer fraud, or call of an attempted suicide. Law enforcement officials came to the residence all hours of the day or night.
Hill wrote an investigate piece titled “How an Internet Mapping Glitch Turned a Random Kansas Farm into a Digital Hell,” which informed the Arnolds who was at fault:MaxMind.
Thomas Mather, a co-founder of MaxMind, told Hill that MaxMind would be changing the default locations for the US and Ashburn, Virginia, placing them in the middle of bodies of water, rather than people’s homes.
The Arnolds are seeking compensation totaling $75,000.
Source: Naked Security
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