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Networks (such as the Internet) operate on a protocol called
IP4:
IP4 = Internet Protocol 4. The ‘4’ referring to the
number of uniquely addressable network addresses. IP4 has 232
or 4,294,967,296 unique network addresses. The current
technologies that attempt to determine the geographical
location of an address by mapping the known, assumed,
determined or guessed locations of almost all of the 4,294,967,296
possible addresses. This involves a large amount of work
which is hampered by network topologies, ISP's (etc) blocking
their mapping activities. Bottom line: they are mapping less
and less of the Internet. It’s simply not working.
By the mid 90’s it was determined
that we would quickly run out of the IP4 address range (yes,
there will be more than 4 billion network devices on the
planet)
 A
replacement protocol – IP6 - was
developed.
The IP6 protocol will be adopted
over the next decade and is seeing deployment in some DSL,
cable and satellite networks. IP6 has as address range of 2128
= 3.4028236692093846346337460743177e+38 or 34 with 37
zeros at the end of it.
That’s over
340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 unique
addresses.
It’s unlikely that a technology will
exist to map all the possible, or even the used IP6 addresses
in the near future which renders any mapping activities
subject to massive problems and inaccuracies. Simply put,
mapping is no longer viable.
Out
with old, in with the new.
One alternative to mapping involves a process similar to
GPS triangulation where timing measurements are made against
the device to be located and then compared against timing
measurements of known locations to determine the closest
value. The device is then considered to be in the vicinity of
that known location. This technique gives rise to potential
problems because unlike GPS where timing signals travel at
fixed speeds without interruption, signals on networks such
as the Internet can be interrupted and travel at differing
speeds. The NSA's - ‘NGT’
- is an example of such a technique.
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