How can the government locate a person if IP Geolocation is not at all precise?
In: Technology
Geolocation may not be that precise, but an ISP will be able to tell which of their customers a particular address was assigned to at a given time, and they have that customer’s address. In the U.K. at least ISPs are required to keep their IP assignment logs for minimum periods, and provide info to the police if requested.
IP Geolocation can give a general location at best on it’s own. Beyond that they have to use other methods to pinpoint someone. For example, if they subpoena an ISP they can get the physical street address of the customer who was using that IP at a specific time.
There’s also the issue of various apps and services on your phone (assuming OP is referencing a cell phone) that use location data. Which can be subpoenaed.
Let’s assume we are talking about locating about locating someone based on only knowledge of 1. Timeframe the IP was used 2. The IP address itself.
1. Governmental officials send a letter to the internet service provider (ISP), which owns this address. All publicly available IP addresses have a company they are bound to (there are also private addresses, which are reserved for basically local private networks).
2. ISP checks the connection logs. When your router connects to the internet, ISP assigns it an IP address and logs it in the database. When you disconnect your router (or reboot router), the IP address becomes free and it is logged in the database once again. So it’s fairly easy to find who used an IP address at a particular point in time.
3. ISP provides the contract information (address, name) to the government officials. End.
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