Moreover, I have noticed that whenever I travel for work or pleasure, Facebook continues to keep track of my location and use it for advertising: a trip to Glacier National Park resulted in an ad for activities in Whitefish, Montana, a trip to Cambridge, MA - in an ad for a business there, and a visit to Herzeliya, Israel - in an ad for a business there.Īs it turns out, and as Facebook explains on its ads page, it is collecting location data based on "where you connect to the Internet" and "where you use your phone," aka your IP address, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth data. Nevertheless, Facebook showed me ads targeted at "people who live near Santa Monica" (which is where I live) or "people who live or were recently near Los Angeles" (which is where I work). She didn't upload photos, tag herself at certain locations, or check in, nor does she allow WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger to access her location. Korolova noticed that Facebook was continuing to provide location-based ads even after she disabled Location History, turned off the location services option for Facebook on her iOS devices, and removed her city from her profile. If the criminal connected to that VPN from another, law enforcement would have to work their way through multiple companies to find the details.If you've noticed Facebook continuing to deliver location-based ads even with all location services disabled, you're not alone, and that's because Facebook continues to use data like your IP address to determine your location for ad delivery purposes.įacebook's lack of an option to disable location tracking for ad targeting was highlighted in a Medium post shared today by Aleksandra Korolova, assistant professor of Computer Science at USC. The authorities can only track an IP address to a VPN company, which they'd then have to force to reveal the real IP address from logs, which might not even exist. VPN chaining (the real version of "bouncing" your signal around the world) makes this even more difficult. Many VPNs even claim they don't retain usage logs, although it's often hard to independently verify if this is true. Of course, anyone can anonymize her internet traffic by using Tor or a VPN. They then issue subpoenas to ISPs for the contact details of those customers. Often, lawyers or agencies that work for entertainment companies harvest IP addresses used to download pirated content. It's worth noting that law enforcement agencies aren't the only organizations interested in pinning names to IP addresses. If you search "IP lookup" on Google, you'll find dozens of websites that will gladly do the job for you. So, finding an ISP is merely a matter of typing the IP address in the right database. There are five registries, and each is responsible for administering IP addresses in their own region. They're also recorded in public databases operated by RIRs (Regional Internet Registry). ISPs typically own "blocks" or "pools" of IP addresses. However, this is much easier than you might think. To overcome this hurdle, investigators must first determine which ISP owns that IP address. Again, IP addresses identify computers, not people. Once they have the IP address, they still need more information to discover the person's identity. A subpoena is a legal instrument used to compel individuals or companies to provide evidence, usually under the threat of a penalty for failing to comply. Law enforcement can find out who this person is by subpoenaing the service provider for the IP address associated with that activity. Your internet service provider (ISP) assigns you an address, and it'll take one of two forms: static or dynamic. IP addresses are used on the entire internet for exactly the same purpose. To allow your PC to talk to your game console, your router assigns each device a unique identifier. Your home Wi-Fi network, for example, is a private IP address. Private IP addresses are used to identify machines on a closed network. There are two types of addressing systems currently in use: IPv4 and IPv6.įurthermore, there are two categories of IP addresses. In short, it's a number that identifies a computer on a network. What Are IP Addresses?īefore we delve into the practicalities, let's define what an IP address really is. Armed with this, it isn't difficult for law enforcement to discover your identity. Some of these are bigger than others, but the biggest is your IP address. Wherever you go, you leave breadcrumbs about who you really are. Knock, Knock: It's the Copyright Police.
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