Did you know that your browser is geolocating you? This is how to turn it off for good.

Are you using FF or IE...only works in FF.

I did it, but why does it still displays our national flag on GLP?

Unplug your modem if you dont want to be located.

Nothing in the OP will stop websites from geolocating you by your IP address. That has nothing to do with the browser per se. Your IP address is the "return address" other sites use to know where to send what you requested, such as by clicking a link etc.

They know where you are by your IP address because they know the location of the ISP the IP address is assigned to. How close they can get to your exact location depends on the size of the geographic area served by the pool of addresses yours comes from.

There are ways of spoofing the IP address, but they usually entail paid services like proxies. TOR will also do it but it can be painfully slow. You can also spoof geolocating services by using a VPN (virtual private network).

Note that some sites won't accept connections from proxy or TOR servers. Membership sites like web boards are especially sensitive to this because it's frequently how spammers exploit such sites.

Not sure about other browsers, but the "geo.enabled" setting does prevent Firefox from sending enhanced geolocation data (data other than your IP address). However, according to Mozilla, it's always an opt-in, i.e. the browser asks you if you want it to provide geolocation data when it is requested by a website. See their description for details: [link to www.mozilla.org]

Fortunately (or not in some cases), geolocation by IP address doesn't work especially well. For example, if you try to geolocate me by my IP address the result will most likely be Bangkok or Chachoengsao, but I'm a 2-3 hour drive from those places. It does keep me from accessing things like Netflix here though, because Bangkok, while far from here, isn't in the US.

BTW, the "referrer" information isn't in a cookie, it's part of the HTTP request packet generated when you click the link. See this "Mozillazine" article: [link to kb.mozillazine.org]

If you want to obscure the page you're coming from, rather than clicking a link to the next page, you can simply copy-paste the link into the address bar of your browser. The browser won't identify the current page as the "referrer" because you didn't click anything on that site to get to the next site.

This is the message I get when I paste the config in my browser.

This webpage is not available
The webpage at chrome://config/ might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
Error 300 (net::ERR_INVALID_URL): Unknown error.

I don't think this works, I performed the action then went to some sites that are known to display your location and they were able to exhibit my city??

Why did u put OP? R u being mean? Or smiling at my comment?

Even if you "turn it off", there's still an IP and that will track you down to your doorstep every-time(unless of course you're stealing or using wifi on the move).

I am requesting links to other tips and tricks posted by the OP.

Thanks

yesterday someone posted something similar about the flash player.

can you please post a link to the post?! I can't find it...

thanks!

That was mine too. =)

I've done 4 so far. This one has links in it to my other threads.

Thread: Guys, I have figured out how they turn on your webcams and mics to spy on you...AND how to block it permanently.

Opera Preferences > Advanced tab > Network. Uncheck the box for Enable geolocation.

IPs are very generalized. The closest they can get is wherever your local provider hub is located

I'm thinking of doing a general computer repair/advice thread to help out with day to day computer issues.

I spend a LOT of time on GLP so I would be able to actively watch the thread for issues people are having. I'm no computer scientist, but I have picked up a few things over time that a lot of people don't really know about.

Let me know what you guys think!