NSA Patents Internet Location-Tracking

[iago]

http://news.com.com/NSA+granted+Net+location-tracking+patent/2100-7348_3-5875953.html?tag=cd.top

[RoMi]

Haven't you ever watched the X-files?  The NAS is a sneaky agency.

[Blaze]

Seems pointless to me, and as stated in the article, Dialup and proxies beat the system.

[rabbit]

flag a password that "could be noted or disabled if not used from or near the appropriate location."

Which means a business person would be locked out of their e-mail server on a business trip?  The NSA is retarded.

Too bad the entire thing is completely raped by Tor.

[Newby]

That reminds me of ssh tunneling.

[Joe]

*waits for them to get their sorryness sued to death over privacy*

[deadly7]

Haha, this reminds me of the book "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown.. except it's not about location tracking, it's more about invaidng people's privacy via email and monitoring chat conversations and stuff. iago, YOU should read this book of all people, it's security based, computer based, and cryptography based.

[Quik]

Wouldn't this be easy to falsify? There are programs such as HopFake which throw a screw in the traditional traceroute procedures.

[Newby]

Wouldn't this be easy to falsify? There are programs such as HopFake which throw a screw in the traditional traceroute procedures.

This doesn't revolve around traceroute. My guess is they can contact your ISP, ask for your IP, and get your location.

But I could be wrong.

[Quik]

Wouldn't this be easy to falsify? There are programs such as HopFake which throw a screw in the traditional traceroute procedures.

This doesn't revolve around traceroute. My guess is they can contact your ISP, ask for your IP, and get your location.

But I could be wrong.

What would they do with your IP that would identify your location, not using traceroute?

[Newby]

The NSA's patent relies on measuring the latency, meaning the time lag between computers exchanging data, of "numerous" locations on the Internet and building a "network latency topology map." Then, at least in theory, the Internet address to be identified can be looked up on the map by measuring how long it takes known computers to connect to the unknown one.

The technique isn't foolproof. People using a dial-up connection can't be traced beyond their Internet service provider--which could be in an different area of the country--and it doesn't account for proxy services like Anonymizer.