 |
Locate your internet bettor!
Compliance with national laws is one of the selling points of companies that sell so-called « geo-location » software. We shed some light on this matter. |
Intro
Geo-location software exists since the 1990’s, but has become sophisticated and reliable around 5 years ago. It allows you to identify the location of online website visitors down to a city level worldwide.
Use
It is widely used commercially, for example for marketing purposes. It allows companies to advertise to local audiences, define the language version for each site visitor, etc.
Weather forecast services also use geo-location functions to provide the user with the forecast where he is.
It is also used for what is called “Digital Rights Management”. Access to a site can be accepted or refused depending on which town or country the visitor comes from. This would prevent the access to pirated digital goods.
Access could off course also be restricted to comply with national laws and regulations. Geo-location software allows Internet betting websites for example to restrict the access for those visitors located in countries where the proposed service is illegal.
IP address
IP addresses play a key role in geo-location. Every machine (PC or other computer) that wants to access the Internet needs an address. This address, called IP (Internet Protocol) address, is provided by the Internet Assigned Numbers Agency and consists of a 32-bit number. The IP address might be the same each time you log on "static IP", or you might be assigned a new number each time "dynamic IP", but it is always unique to the user.
The information linked to the IP address does not contain personal, but rather technical information, such as location or identity of Internet Service Provider. There is much more data on IP addresses available on the net itself, on sites like www.answers.com or www.webopedia.com.
Locating IP address
The technology for locating IP addresses is off-course a trade secret, but most suppliers seem to rely on a net-monitoring system, based on search engine technology. Records of IP addresses and IP address ranges are stored on a central database and are kept up to date through continuous monitoring of the Internet.
Unlike earlier versions, the geo-location software today is able to deal with some of the problems in identifying location of the user. For example, it is able to identify location even if IP addresses are continuously allocated and de-allocated. It is estimated that around 2,5 to 5% of all the 4 billion global IP addresses changes every month! (Source “Digital Envoy, IP Intelligence Whitepaper).
Geo-location software operates on every single commercial software on the market, from Windows to Linux. One supplier allows you to try it yourself; when visiting www.ip2location.com, you are told your own location and ISP. Another interesting illustration is www.web-stat.com. This site gives you all the locations worldwide of the visitors that are online that very moment!
Relevance to betting
Although it is generally accepted that a mail order company cannot deliver goods to people living in countries where these goods are forbidden, why would this be different if supply is online? This is obviously very relevant for a sensitive product like gambling, that is governed by national law according to national considerations of public moral and public order.
Unfortunately, there are many online betting operators today that take bets from people living in countries where this is forbidden by law. The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities rejects this and urges companies to take measures to prevent this. The use of geo-location software seems a simple way of doing so.
We also call upon governments to realise that online betting operators that offer illegal bets in their countries can, and should be stopped.
For further information, contact Maurits Bruggink
|
