Re: Geofeeds are adversarial

[Mel Beckman via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org>]

Any law based on the idea that IP addresses can locate users at the U.S. state level is poorly conceived, as 
geolocation at that granularity is 80% accurate at best, with radically lower accuracy at state borders. Fitting to 
state boundaries is simply not a deployment constraint in any edge network. The inaccuracy worsens with population 
density, which is arguably where such laws need the highest accuracy for realistic enforcement.

It would be like identifying people’s country of birth based on skin color.

Oh, wait…

 -mel

> On Feb 16, 2026, at 6:22 AM, nanog--- via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org> wrote:
>
> It would be nice if bad laws were impossible to comply with. Then nobody would comply with them.
>
> Then someone comes along and finds there's a way to sell the appearance of complying with the law (even though actual 
> compliance is impossible) as a service, and everybody is forced to buy the service so they don't get prosecuted.
>
> Just one more instance of bad politics and capitalism messing everything up for everybody.
>
>
> > On 16 February 2026 15:08:46 CET, Michael Greenup via NANOG <nanog () lists nanog org> wrote:
> > It is important to consider the extent to which US state government mandates influence the regulation of content 
> > access. For instance, numerous states now require identity verification for viewers of adult content to confirm 
> > their age. Many of these laws are formulated such that any viewer within the state's jurisdiction must be verified, 
> > necessitating IP address-based geolocation to ensure compliance.
> >
> > Not saying I agree or disagree here, just laying out a regulated use case.
> >
> > YMMV.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Michael
> >
> > The views and opinions included in this email belong to the author and are not representative of the views and 
> > opinions of the company which employs me. If you find a spelling or grammatical error, you may keep it.
> >
> > Rich Kulawiec wrote:
> > > On Sun, Feb 15, 2026 at 10:25:56PM -0800, Owen DeLong via NANOG wrote:
> > > > Personally, I???ve always thought that IP Geolocation was a bad idea
> > > > and nothing I???ve seen in the usage of it to date has changed my mind.
> > > > Agree.  We've spent decades trying to build a network that allows everyone
> > > to access everything independent of geographical location, and now people
> > > have come along with broken business models which demand that we abandon
> > > this fundamental principle of the Internet in order to accomodate them.
> > >
> > > ---rsk
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