That would explain why it works better when you're already zoomed in on your region, rather than while viewing the whole globe.

 

This is most likely done by cross mapping an internet ip address database (zip code entry form on most sites), along with what google knows about you with your account information. There's no direct mapping of IP address to direct GPS coordinates out there, just general areas for ranges down to the zip code.

 

bull****. watch the video i posted above. streetview cars triangulate SSID and router MAC and record the longitude/latitude of the router.

its accurate to about 10 feet.

 

Little snitch rocks!

 

you can try to live off the grid
might want to stock up on these


or you can accept that privacy is dead.

 

also stop using google

 

^^^ Just waiting for your excuse to use that huh?


Also, what false advertising! $2.99 for a pack of RAMEN!? Are they f'ing HIGH?!
http://www.perpetualkid.com/wasted-a...n-noodles.aspx

 

Despite my abstract humor that does not have any value to the topic at hand, I am forced to ask you why you did not ask the question of 'why they do it' before 'how they do it'.

Granted you already answered your own question along with other folks here, using the tactics of IP logging and locational caching; I would argue that the 'why' derived from your avatar of a google QR code explains the purpose behind it and your website address and 'web spiders' that run through it to obtain all the geotagging of the pictures you have taken give you the how.

 

It is a "show current location" feature, so there is no "why do they do it" and it isn't even anything google is doing without the user asking them to do it.

 

13:52 How does one enable this "NoScript" thing?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ctRfWnisSk&NR=1


And jeez, internet security (or lack of it) stuff makes me paranoid.

 

I wish i had skillz

 

http://noscript.net/
I think they have one for chrome too.

 

Thanks a lot!

I feel a bit safer now.

 

I must be missing the link to the video, where's it at? Are you talking about the Defcon video's?

As for SSID and router MAC, how is google going to know what SSID you're on? I'm not terribly experienced with JAVA or AJAX, but that's typically run in a JVM.

From a "war driving standpoint", sure.. you'll know the location of the SSID, and the MAC address of the wireless radio for that SSID; but unless you do an invasive look (attack) into the AP, you won't know the public address, nor will you know the MAC addresses of the AP's external link ("internet"), or the internal link ("lan") of the AP (Unless the AP's incrementing their MAC's and you guess them). Your typical AP's will actually have at least 3 MAC's: Wireless, WAN, and LAN.

 

the dude uses XSS and a known port overflow vulnerability to gain access to somone's home routor remotely... google said they erased the SSID data but they never erased the MAC information...

so he grabs the routors MAC and uses a phoney user agent string to query google maps. Gmaps gives him lon/lat for the MAC's known location and he Gets Directions from the street address where the routor is located to the lon/lat.

it nails down the routor location inside the house and says "walk 30 ft" or something like that gmaps. thats how accurate their triangulation is. of course, this only works if the routor is the same as when the streetview car came by.

of course, all of this is after he reduces 160 bits of entropy down to 12bits so he can brute force someones facebook account by spoofing their cookie data and using that port overflow exploit and DCC (old IRC file transfer) to load the XSS on the target system.

dudes pretty serious biz, and very hilarious. I highly recommend watching the video its posted above or you can google "how i met your girlfriend"