Post by g***@cyberdude.comHow does this actually Work
There exist databases from allocation of addresses to service providers
which include the geographic coverage of the allocated address blocks.
My Linux systems have a package named GeoIP-GeoLite-data installed,
containing these databases. As well, there are command line tools in
GeoIP and C APIs available in GeoIP-devel.
Oftentimes, the result is quite wrong. I get 90+% of my Internet access
via AT&T hotspots. AT&T uses CGN (carrier-grade NAT), one effect of
which is that my apparent address as seen across the Internet depends on
where my connections through AT&T exit the AT&T network into other
providers. As a result, web searching for "what is my ip address" gives
me links to sites that are happy to tell me all about myself, among
which are their guesses for location; at the moment, depending on which
guess I read, they think I'm in either the Bronx, NYC, NY or Hartford,
CT. I'm actually northeast of Pittsburgh.
VPNs destroy geolocation. When I am traveling and using a VPS I rent,
running a VPN hub, the appearance is that I'm in Dallas. I haven't been
physically in Dallas in decades.