Microsoft Exposes Locations of PCs and Phones

[DamianTV]

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/07/29/1658230/Microsoft-Exposes-Locations-of-PCs-and-Phones


"Microsoft has collected the locations of millions of laptops, cell phones, and other Wi-Fi devices around the world and makes them available on the Web without taking the privacy precautions that competitors have, CNET has learned. The vast database available through Live.com publishes the precise geographical location, which can point to a street address and sometimes even a corner of a building, of Android phones, Apple devices, and other Wi-Fi enabled gadgets. Unlike Google and Skyhook Wireless, which have compiled similar lists of these unique Wi-Fi addresses, Microsoft has not taken any measures to curb access to its database."

I'd say this is kind of a big deal, except it kind of isnt at the same time. Microsoft collecting this kind of data without knowledge or permission (and 300 page EULA's Im sorry, dont cut it) is apphauling. However, there are other giveaways just based on IP Address.

Get your IP here: http://www.ipchicken.com
Where is that IP: http://www.maxmind.com

Try it for yourself.

What is apphauling is every corporate and government douchebags complete and total disregard for the Privacy of anyone. ISP's logging data, Warrantless Wiretaps, and shit like this. And this is only the Tip of the Privacy Iceberg.

[pcosmar]

I have never liked their business practices nor the EULA. This shit is exactly what I expect.

As far as the look-up.. close but no cigar.

Well over 50 miles away. :)

They did get the UP right.


Michigan Grand Marais 49839
That's close enough though. I won't correct.

[Kylie]

Fuckers are dead on mine.

:mad:

Why can't I just get the service I paid for? Why do you feel it's your right to track my every....thing?

[torchbearer]

BTGuard.

[sevin]

Mine was about 10 or 20 miles off. I'm sure it will be 100% accurate soon, though.

[smartguy911]

where can i see the data they have gathered about wi-fi network and IP?

[specsaregood]

//

[acptulsa]

Microsoft convinced me when they tried to established a monopoly. Do not want.

Bill Gates can go hang.

[Aldanga]

Doesn't bother me at all. IP addresses are not exactly untraceable as it stands. Once IPv6 is totally implemented and IPv4 is antiquated, every device will have its own unique address and will be linked to all of its activities online, and that needs to happen to maintain the Internet—unless another standard is created and implemented instead of IPv6.

Plus I've got a dynamic IP address, so it's innacurate for mine.

[amy31416]

Fuckers are dead on mine.

:mad:

Why can't I just get the service I paid for? Why do you feel it's your right to track my every....thing?

Precise hit on mine too.

And here's an article I read today: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20084939-281/house-panel-approves-broadened-isp-snooping-bill/


House panel approves broadened ISP snooping bill


Internet providers would be forced to keep logs of their customers' activities for one year--in case police want to review them in the future--under legislation that a U.S. House of Representatives committee approved today.

The 19 to 10 vote represents a victory for conservative Republicans, who made data retention their first major technology initiative after last fall's elections, and the Justice Department officials who have quietly lobbied for the sweeping new requirements, a development first reported by CNET.

House Judiciary committee prepares to vote on sweeping data retention mandate.
(Credit: U.S. House of Representatives)
A last-minute rewrite of the bill expands the information that commercial Internet providers are required to store to include customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses, some committee members suggested. By a 7-16 vote, the panel rejected an amendment that would have clarified that only IP addresses must be stored.

It represents "a data bank of every digital act by every American" that would "let us find out where every single American visited Web sites," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who led Democratic opposition to the bill.

Lofgren said the data retention requirements are easily avoided because they only apply to "commercial" providers. Criminals would simply go to libraries or Starbucks coffeehouses and use the Web anonymously, she said, while law-abiding Americans would have their activities recorded.

To make it politically difficult to oppose, proponents of the data retention requirements dubbed the bill the Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011, even though the mandatory logs would be accessible to police investigating any crime and perhaps attorneys litigating civil disputes in divorce, insurance fraud, and other cases as well.

"The bill is mislabeled," said Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the panel. "This is not protecting children from Internet pornography. It's creating a database for everybody in this country for a lot of other purposes."


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20084939-281/house-panel-approves-broadened-isp-snooping-bill/#ixzz1TXqxwWXl

[DamianTV]

Precise hit on mine too.

If you want to go for locational privacy, you'll need to run through a Proxy, like Tor, however, most of the Privacy Proxy networks that I've tried are painfully slow.

The accuracy also depends on the size of your ISP. When I ran my ISP, the IP Addresses we gave out were localized to pretty much Reno or Elko. The smaller the ISP, the less likely they are to screw you over, but the better the chance to tag your geographical whereabouts within 20 miles or so. The larger the ISP, the less likely that your Geographical Data will be anywhere close to accurate.

Any suggestions on Proxies are welcome.

[kah13176]

It's been exceedingly easy to geolocate IP addresses for years now. Not a new thing.

[dannno]

I'm 5-10 miles away.

[amy31416]

If you want to go for locational privacy, you'll need to run through a Proxy, like Tor, however, most of the Privacy Proxy networks that I've tried are painfully slow.

The accuracy also depends on the size of your ISP. When I ran my ISP, the IP Addresses we gave out were localized to pretty much Reno or Elko. The smaller the ISP, the less likely they are to screw you over, but the better the chance to tag your geographical whereabouts within 20 miles or so. The larger the ISP, the less likely that your Geographical Data will be anywhere close to accurate.

Any suggestions on Proxies are welcome.

I've used proxies before, and yeah, they were painfully slow.

[V4Vendetta]

Microsoft convinced me when they tried to established a monopoly. Do not want.

Bill Gates can go hang.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1

[guitarlifter]

BTGuard.

Does that really work? I've seen it being advertized on demonoid. I've tried Peerblock before, but I was told that it actually blocked a lot of good connections as well and wasn't really doing much, so I stopped using that. I have tried Super Hide IP as well, and my IP did show up differently online than what it really was, but that slowed down my browsing for some reason, so I stopped using that.

[torchbearer]

Does that really work? I've seen it being advertized on demonoid. I've tried Peerblock before, but I was told that it actually blocked a lot of good connections as well and wasn't really doing much, so I stopped using that. I have tried Super Hide IP as well, and my IP did show up differently online than what it really was, but that slowed down my browsing for some reason, so I stopped using that.

it actually works. you have two options.
you can get an SSL proxy just for your torrent, or you get the whole VPN package and everything you do on the net goes through their server.