You've seen them... ads with nearby cities in them... calling out "meet singles in your area", "visit this new housing development just a few miles down the street." How do they know where you are? Has your computer had spyware installed on it? Or worse, has it been hacked?! Hopefully not, but more likely you're seeing geolocation in effect.

Geolocation is the process by which advertisers and content providers are able determine the approximate location of internet users from their IP address. Internet service providers and retailers are starting to sell aggregate information about their customers. Data mining services are starting to look at IP addresses. These things come together to allow companies to build databases that contain the approximate geographic location of IP addresses.

Initially this appears to be a scary thing. There are privacy concerns. Who has access to this data? What are they doing with it? Does it put me at risk? Yes, it can. Some online retailers who allow orders from certain geographic locations, or worse their internal fraud prevention services armed with inaccurate information might result in the delay in delivery of an order, or worse, they might just cancel it. All these are legitimate concerns.

The other side of the argument would be that based on reasonably accurate information advertisers and content providers could provide a more relevant surfing experience. No longer would you see some random ad for a business on the other side of the country, you might see an ad for a local plumber, local restaurant , or a local service provider offering you a discount. When using a search engine to find a store that sells a specialty item, wouldn't one down the street be more relevant to you than one 4 hours away?

These are all things to think about as the internet age advances. There are websites that will provide you your IP location Check it out and see where the far reaching data miners think you live.