Enabling / disabling location access

In playing with my new VPN service, I noticed that the latitude and longitude of my computer is identified as soon as I turn on the computer and get online. The VPN support team suggested that the "location access" switch on my browser must have gotten switched from the default setting of disabled to an enabled setting. I can find nothing remotely similar to this. Ideas?

 

What happens if you try a different browser?

 

Just tried that. Same result: zip and zilch. Not getting any responsive hits on my search engine queries. Now that I think about it how can this be a browser issue, when I am identified as soon as I hook into wifi before opening a browser?

 

Good point.

Are you using Windows 10, where location is offered to various apps as a feature selectable in 'Settings'?

 

No. I have never gone beyond XP. Saw a friend's WIndows 7 and didn't like what I saw. And Microsoft has clearly gone off the deep end with 8 and 10.

 

https://proprivacy.com/privacy-service/guides/disable-geolocation-in-browsers

read through above and see if it helps

 

Windows XP doesn't have geolocation information, the support staff probably don't know what XP is and gave you a generic answer. Location is program specific and device specific. you either gave them your zip code and they are using that to map you or they are looking in an existing database that has street routers plotted and can guess close to where you are based on IP of nearest switch on your street, or past submissions from users on cell phones who were stupid enough to share such information. When you tell your browser to allow location it does nothing unless you have a USB gps hooked up or have some extended API.

 

Thank you for the proprivacy link. I will read that.
Good to know that XP doesn't have geolocation info. Yes, I seriously doubt the support staff knows anything about XP.
Didn't give a zip code. Name either. Only country.
I'm not following you on street routers, etc. ("Hey, I'm a new at this.") Don't use cellphones, tablets, or any of that kind of crap. PC and public wifi.
Don't have a USB gps hooked up. Don't know what API stands for.

 

Your IP is either changing based on when you log on and off the internet or its static and assigned for a very long time, usually years or until the cable company make some changes. A street router is the thing you see on telephone poles or sometimes on the ground, it's the thing your house plugs into to get an IP. In this case you can trace a user pretty close to the street level and within a few blocks of home based on only the IP. Some routers even give away the location in the name like hwy49_henderson.239.234.11.

If your IP is dynamic it means someone in the region also had that IP before you and submitted location info while using a service. If I geolocate my IP it puts me precisely at the lobby door of an apartment building about 10 min from me, because that was where location info was once sbmitted by someone using this IP.

Geolocation, Location service and actual location and 3 different things. Location is your GPS output or hardcoded data if the device is stationary. Location service is the permission to use it and/or extensions from the hardware/software provider and geolocation is location mapped based on what is known about you. usually the IP or the IP + GPS information if available.

 

I like your straightforward and clear definitions.
I see things on the telephone poles nearby, not sure what they are though. They just look like boxes to me (about 1 cubic foot). (Been told that the tower that was installed nearby is 5G.)
Interesting that "Geolocation, Location service and actual location and 3 different things."
Mostly, I want to know if my initial typing is being captured.

 

it would have helped if you told us how you connect to the internet to avoid all those definitions. they're irrelevant if you use wireless as your internet source. such as 4g/5g

have you actually tried to map the co ordinates they give you. maybe they're saying you're at 74.32 x 43.42 but that might be a data center or head office of the company selling you the internet access

 

I connect by wifi.
Thanks for the tip about the co-ordinates. I will start writing those down.
And now (as I keep being urged to do) I am going to see about getting an avatar attached to my profile.

 

How you connect to the internet is more like Cable, DSL , dial up, or cellular. wifi is how you connect to your home network or other local networks. It would be the people you pay your bill to each month.

 

Over the past couple of decades I have used cable, DSL, and dial up to get on the internet. I am presently using wifi (for the first time). Currently using a variety of public wifi or that of friends. I am guessing that these are would classify as my home network and the local networks are those that provide cable, DSL, and dial up services. Haven't paid bills for any of these services.

 

No you have it backwards. local networks are the things at home and office and between you and your friend. internet service providers are the people you pay to hook you up to the internet, in this case your friend seems to be paying the bill but that still doesn't change anything, you are still connecting to the internet through one of these services, cable, dsl etc..

 

Okay. Sounds like local networks refer to the originating and final computers engaging in a communication (for instance, emails, visiting a website, logging in to VPN) -- not the connections along the way.
Returning to your Aug. 17 posts ... "Geolocation, Location service and actual location and 3 different things" and [These are] "irrelevant if you use wireless as your internet source. such as 4g/5g." I am not sure about my wifi internet sources (4G, 5G, or whatever). Just concerned that my VPN login info is being captured prior to VPN activation.

 

I don't think you get it yet but I don't think you have anything to worry about either. you probably didn't even look up the co ordinates they give you and it's most likely going to point to norway. if you log on to VPN it would make sense that they geo locate your IP as a feature to show you it's working.

 

Yeah, my usual state when confronting complex material for the first time is confusion (e.g., whether my VPN login info is seen before I get my VPN up and running). Glad to hear that you think I have nothing to worry about on this. The answers I get from my VPN support team are pretty close to nil.

Regarding coordinate data: Once I have gotten my VPN up and running, the latitudes / longitudes I get stay very similar. Haven't gotten Norway yet, but you're close. Almost always Germany and the Netherlands. For instance, I currently see
[geolocation.com] 52.52437 / 13.41053 (Berlin).
[iplocation.net] 52.52437 / 13.41053 (Berlin); 50.475 / 12.365 (Falkenstein, Germany); 51.2993 / 9.491 (city, country not stated).
[dnsleak.com] 52.52437 / 13.41053 (Amsterday, Netherlands but identical to geolocation's data, see above).

 

there you go. all fixed and it wasn't even a problem to begin with.

 

I believe I was unclear. The coordinates I gave were after my VPN was up and running. (And even then the longitude of "(city, country not stated)" is four degrees away from the other longitudes, so that's a little concerning to me.)
My big concern remains the same: that the latitude and longitude of my computer is identified as soon as I turn on the computer and get online. That is, prior to typing in my login info for my VPN service. I still feel like that info is low-hanging hack fruit.