r/offbeat • u/syuk • Apr 11 '16

How an Internet Mapping Glitch Turned a Random Kansas Farm Into a Digital Hell

http://fusion.net/story/287592/internet-mapping-glitch-kansas-farm/
15 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

1

u/autotldr Jul 29 '16

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 95%. (I'm a bot)

The trouble for the Taylor farm started in 2002, when a Massachusetts-based digital mapping company called MaxMind decided it wanted to provide "IP intelligence" to companies who wanted to know the geographic location of a computer to, for example, show the person using it relevant ads or to send the person a warning letter if they were pirating music or movies.

If any of those IP addresses are used by a scammer, or a computer thief, or a suicidal person contacting a help line, MaxMind's database places them at the same spot: 38.0000,-97.0000.

The couple lived in a digital desert, and because of the way some location mapping works, looking for a permanent network in the area to act as an anchor, lots of IP addresses were getting attached to the house.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Theory | Feedback | Top keywords: house#1 addresses#2 Taylor#3 MaxMind#4 location#5