[danielf]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Scary??? Paranoid more like it...

Most IP's don't have a lot of geo-location details, VM have more than many but even do geo-locating puts me between 4-8 miles away.. 9 meters is only relevant when the IP belongs to a source they can truly trace..

You're in more danger of people finding you through details you've put on the net yourself than anything else...

As I understand it, Google created a database of router Mac addresses and associated GPS location when it went around for streetview. That database, in association being able to rig someone's router to give up the mac address could be sufficient.

However, Mr Kamkar found a way to booby-trap a webpage via a browser so the request for the ID information looks like it is coming from the PC on which that page is being viewed.

He then coupled the ID information, known as a MAC address, with a geo-location feature of the Firefox web browser. This interrogates a Google database created when its cars were carrying out surveys for its Street View service.
Google Street View car, Getty The attack uses data gathered by Google's Street View cars

This database links Mac addresses of routers with GPS co-ordinates to help locate them. During the demonstration, Mr Kamkar showed how straightforward it was to use the attack to identify someone's location to within a few metres.