OT What went wrong with webpage submission

Being the good citizen I am, I tried to write to some of the
candidates for Prez. Some make it easy, some make it hard.

I once or twice before, years ago, tried to write to someone at his
congressional webpage and each time, the screen insisted that I give
an address in the state they represented. If I didn't, I got an error
message on that same screen, not on a blank page, like the two error
messages below:


I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
live in Florida? If not, is it because the web server, Verizon,
isn't used in Florida? That doesn't make sense.

You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
this server.
Reference #18.98f24317.1457099856.bac518

-------------------------------------

I'm also curious if this error, the long text that follows, represents
an actual software or connection error, that might go away if I wait,
OR it's their way of saying I don't live in the state the addressee
lives in.

And in general I'm interested in what the error means. Thanks.


Server Error in '/' Application.

Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a
Web Farm or cluster, ensure that machineKey configuration specifies
the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot
be used in a cluster.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Validation of viewstate
MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster,
ensure that machineKey configuration specifies the same
validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in
a cluster.

Source Error:
[No relevant source lines]
Source File: c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temp orary
ASP.NET Files\root\5764eab5\a955f07b\App_Web_q40u3in5.20.c s Line: 0
Stack Trace:

[HttpException (0x80004005): Unable to validate data.]
System.Web.Configuration.MachineKeySection.GetDeco dedData(Byte[]
buf, Byte[] modifier, Int32 start, Int32 length, Int32& dataLength)
+289
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(Str ing inputString)
+140

[ViewStateException: Invalid viewstate.
Client IP: 71.166.5.180
Port: 50972
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:44.0)
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0
ViewState:
/wEPDwULLTIxNDU2ODgxNzdkZFMsGoC5T9xWKKG6rUA7nkEfEN6 2
Referer:
http://addresscustomerservicecentern...o-John-Kasich/
Path: /ResultPG.aspx]

[HttpException (0x80004005): Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If
this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that
machineKey configuration specifies the same validationKey and
validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.]
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowError(Except ion inner, String
persistedState, String errorPageMessage, Boolean macValidationError)
+106
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowMacValidatio nError(Exception
inner, String persistedState) +14
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(Str ing inputString)
+242

System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.System.Web.UI.I StateFormatter.Deserialize(String
serializedState) +4
System.Web.UI.Util.DeserializeWithAssert(IStateFor matter formatter,
String serializedState) +37
System.Web.UI.HiddenFieldPageStatePersister.Load() +207
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadPageStateFromPersistenceMed ium() +105
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadAllState() +43
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
+6785
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
+242
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() +80
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestWithNoAssert(Http Context context)
+21
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +49
ASP.resultpg_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) in
c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temp orary ASP.NET
Files\root\5764eab5\a955f07b\App_Web_q40u3in5.20.c s:0

System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.Htt pApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
+181
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionS tep step,
Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.4927;
ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.4927

| I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
| live in Florida?

It could be. According to your IP you live
in Baltimore, based on a search of the free
MaxMind database: Client IP: 71.166.5.180

According to an IP search you live
in Columbia and the IP address is Verizon.

http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/71.166.5.180

It's easy for a site to know that. Some sites
even offer local weather reports, or sidebars
with "news in [yourtown] today".


| You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
| this server.

That can mean a lot of things. Server error.
Server config details. For instance, they might
block you because you send no referrer, because
you block cookies... anything can be a basis
for a 403 error. It could also be that the URL
you entered is invalid, which is probably the most
likely problem. It's hard to imagine politicians
turning you away because they don't like your
referrer.
You may have access to a particular page but
be blocked from the parent folder. Basically it means
your request is rejected.

The rest looks like an error with .Net on the
server side. They're apparently using .Net on a
Windows server to build the webpage. something
went wrong.

You can look these things up yourself easily
enough. If you search for distinct error messages
you'll usually find lots of info.

[Default] On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 10:18:01 -0500, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general "Mayayana"
wrote:

| I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
| live in Florida?

It could be. According to your IP you live
in Baltimore, based on a search of the free

I do. Well, a close suburbs with a Baltimore zipcode.

MaxMind database: Client IP: 71.166.5.180

According to an IP search you live
in Columbia and the IP address is Verizon.

Columbia is about 15 miles away, from me and from the center of
Baltiomore. Yes, Verizon.


http://www.ip-adress.com/whois/71.166.5.180

It's easy for a site to know that. Some sites
even offer local weather reports, or sidebars
with "news in [yourtown] today".


| You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
| this server.

That can mean a lot of things. Server error.
Server config details. For instance, they might
block you because you send no referrer, because
you block cookies... anything can be a basis

What's a referrer? I don't block cookies.

for a 403 error. It could also be that the URL
you entered is invalid, which is probably the most

I didnt' enter a URL. It was a webform, where I filled in my message,
address, etc. and clicked Submit. I said I lived at 100 Main St. in
Anytown and my phone was 555-555-5555, but it didn't complain about
those things.

likely problem. It's hard to imagine politicians
turning you away because they don't like your
referrer.
You may have access to a particular page but
be blocked from the parent folder. Basically it means
your request is rejected.

The rest looks like an error with .Net on the
server side. They're apparently using .Net on a
Windows server to build the webpage. something
went wrong.

You can look these things up yourself easily
enough. If you search for distinct error messages
you'll usually find lots of info.

Okay, maybe I'll do that. I was able to find other pages for both
of them that did accept my message, but I'm still curious.

Micky wrote:
Being the good citizen I am, I tried to write to some of the
candidates for Prez. Some make it easy, some make it hard.

I once or twice before, years ago, tried to write to someone at his
congressional webpage and each time, the screen insisted that I give
an address in the state they represented. If I didn't, I got an error
message on that same screen, not on a blank page, like the two error
messages below:


I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
live in Florida? If not, is it because the web server, Verizon,
isn't used in Florida? That doesn't make sense.

You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
this server.
Reference #18.98f24317.1457099856.bac518

-------------------------------------

I'm also curious if this error, the long text that follows, represents
an actual software or connection error, that might go away if I wait,
OR it's their way of saying I don't live in the state the addressee
lives in.

And in general I'm interested in what the error means. Thanks.


Server Error in '/' Application.

Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a
Web Farm or cluster, ensure that machineKey configuration specifies
the same validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot
be used in a cluster.

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Validation of viewstate
MAC failed. If this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster,
ensure that machineKey configuration specifies the same
validationKey and validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in
a cluster.

Source Error:
[No relevant source lines]
Source File: c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temp orary
ASP.NET Files\root\5764eab5\a955f07b\App_Web_q40u3in5.20.c s Line: 0
Stack Trace:

[HttpException (0x80004005): Unable to validate data.]
System.Web.Configuration.MachineKeySection.GetDeco dedData(Byte[]
buf, Byte[] modifier, Int32 start, Int32 length, Int32& dataLength)
+289
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(Str ing inputString)
+140

[ViewStateException: Invalid viewstate.
Client IP: 71.166.5.180
Port: 50972
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:44.0)
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0
ViewState:
/wEPDwULLTIxNDU2ODgxNzdkZFMsGoC5T9xWKKG6rUA7nkEfEN6 2
Referer:
http://addresscustomerservicecentern...o-John-Kasich/
Path: /ResultPG.aspx]

[HttpException (0x80004005): Validation of viewstate MAC failed. If
this application is hosted by a Web Farm or cluster, ensure that
machineKey configuration specifies the same validationKey and
validation algorithm. AutoGenerate cannot be used in a cluster.]
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowError(Except ion inner, String
persistedState, String errorPageMessage, Boolean macValidationError)
+106
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowMacValidatio nError(Exception
inner, String persistedState) +14
System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.Deserialize(Str ing inputString)
+242

System.Web.UI.ObjectStateFormatter.System.Web.UI.I StateFormatter.Deserialize(String
serializedState) +4
System.Web.UI.Util.DeserializeWithAssert(IStateFor matter formatter,
String serializedState) +37
System.Web.UI.HiddenFieldPageStatePersister.Load() +207
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadPageStateFromPersistenceMed ium() +105
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadAllState() +43
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
+6785
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean
includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
+242
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() +80
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestWithNoAssert(Http Context context)
+21
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) +49
ASP.resultpg_aspx.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) in
c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temp orary ASP.NET
Files\root\5764eab5\a955f07b\App_Web_q40u3in5.20.c s:0

System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.Htt pApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute()
+181
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionS tep step,
Boolean& completedSynchronously) +75

Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:2.0.50727.4927;
ASP.NET Version:2.0.50727.4927

This isn't going to help you, but I thought I'd throw it in.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/geolocation/

It means your computer would need Wifi as well as a
LAN connection, if your primary Internet connection
was wired. With the intention being, it extracts
Wifi info as proof of where you are.

And once you have Location Services, you have Location Spoofers.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...location&hl=en

Spoofing fun for Chrome (HTML5) users.

http://www.labnol.org/internet/geo-location/27878/

"Here’s how. While in Google Chrome, press Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows,
or Cmd+Opt+I on Mac, to open the Chrome Developer Tools. Now press
the Esc (escape) key to open the Console window. Switch to the
Emulation tab and choose the Sensors option in the left sidebar.

Here check the setting that says "Emulate Geolocation coordinates"
and specify the exact latitude and longitude coordinates* that
you want to share with that website. You can use the Postal Address
finder to know the latitude and location of a place.

Now refresh the current web page and it will take your fake
location. Make sure that the developer tools panel is visible
always else Chrome will not override your geolocation.
"

That doesn't mean the web site you're connecting to,
actually uses those services. But any site attempting
to do that, it would be a natural thing to "sniff".

IP reverse lookup, in the year 2016, maps to the ISP
head office. Mine is off by a six hour drive or so.
At one time, major ISPs used to pick IP address names
with the city code embedded in the name, so you could
tell what city a person was in. But even that wouldn't
work here, as one of our major ISPs would backhaul a
new ADSL connection to one of three major cities,
with a seven hour driving distance uncertainty. So
if it said I was in Montreal, it wasn't true. And
I guess some of them decided to drop the city codes,
because of the technological realities.

Paul

On 03/04/2016 08:30 AM, Micky wrote:
Being the good citizen I am, I tried to write to some of the
candidates for Prez. Some make it easy, some make it hard.

I once or twice before, years ago, tried to write to someone at his
congressional webpage and each time, the screen insisted that I give
an address in the state they represented. If I didn't, I got an error
message on that same screen, not on a blank page, like the two error
messages below:


I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
live in Florida? If not, is it because the web server, Verizon,
isn't used in Florida? That doesn't make sense.

You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
this server.
Reference #18.98f24317.1457099856.bac518


snip

This is the 21st century and setting up a web page is not rocket science.

If Cruz has chosen people who do not know how to setup a working web
page, can you imagine how he'd run this country?

| What's a referrer?

When you visit a site, one of the things sent is a
referrer, which tells where you just came from, if
you clicked a link from another page. (Otherwise it's
blank.) In some cases it might send your search
terms, if you came from a search engine.

In some browsers you can block the referrer. In
Mozilla browsers, in about:config, you can set these:

network.http.sendRefererHeader integer 0
network.sendRefererHeader boolean false
network.http.sendSecureXSiteReferrer boolean false

One of the first two is out of date, but I don't
remember which in what version, so I just do both.

It might be worth seeing what you typically send.
Here are a couple of examples:

-----------------------------------
xxx.org.uk.Humberstone-Leicester-UK - - [03/Mar/2016:09:41:28 -0500] "GET
/jsware/msicode.php5 HTTP/1.1" 200 77535
"http://www.bing.com/search?q=msi+unpacker+online&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid="
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"
-----------------------------------

I've changed the host name to xxx to respect their
privacy. From that line I can see that someone visited
from xxx in the UK yesterday. They entered "msi
unpacker online" at Bing, using Win7-32 with IE11.

Here's one from Google:

----------------------------------------
xxx.xx.xxx.xx.Edinburgh- City of-UK - - [03/Mar/2016:09:48:59 -0500] "GET
/jsware/hxs2chm.php5 HTTP/1.1" 200 17576
"http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&u act=8&ved=0ahUKEwiOvufA4aTLAhVDLZoKHRVTDeMQFgg0MAM &url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jsware.net%2Fjsware%2Fhxs2ch m.php5&usg=AFQjCNFWuQU5LxheKKKaGhW60D2PIDJ0Lw&bvm= bv.115339255,d.ZWU"
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"
-----------------------------------------

This one is also from the UK. They clicked the 4th listing
at Google. (cd-4) But Google stripped out the search
terms. (q=) They were using Win7 and also using IE11.
The other parameters, like ved= and cad= mean something
to Google. I could probably figure them out, but it's
unlikely to b e of interest to me. Google may read it
when a webmaster embeds their analytics code. (See next.)

It used to be that search terms were usually forwarded.
These days, most Google searches don't send them. I
suspect that's because Google wants to push their analytics
services to webmasters. (At any rate, it's clearly not because
the Googlites respect privacy. A very large number of
sites add google-analytics.com code to their pages, allowing
Google to spy on visitors and getting access to statistics in
exchange. Most webmasters don't know how to read/process
their own web server logs, so it's a nice convenience to
have Google do it.

In Firefox you can block the referrer if you want to. You
can also change the userAgent, or use an extension like
Secret Agent to alter it. The userAgent is this part:

"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"

The first part, with the xxx, is your IP address. You can't
block that. Webmasters can optionally do a hostname
request and a geo-location check with the IP address,
as I've done here. A hostname request is a call to the
IP address asking who they are. Most respond, and a
surprising number are informative. For example:

pool-xx-xx-xxx-xxx.nycmny.fios.verizon.net

Again I've hidden the IP address to respect their
privacy, but I know from that line that it's a Verizon
FIOS customer in or near NYC.

So that's what you're telling websites, *before* you
get into things like script, web bugs, iframes and cookies.
If you allow any of those things then there are probably
a dozen or so companies -- especially Google/Facebook/
Twitter -- that are following you movements online.

| https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/geolocation/
|
| It means your computer would need Wifi as well as a
| LAN connection, if your primary Internet connection
| was wired. With the intention being, it extracts
| Wifi info as proof of where you are.
|
That wouldn't be relevant except maybe in a case
where a service needs a precise location. There are
databases used that list IP addresses. I use a free
one from maxmind.com. The paid version is said to
be more accurate. It won't say you're on lower
Elm St., but it is usually easy to get the city from
you IP address alone.

Thanks, and thanks, Paul. Much to think about.


On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 12:48:33 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote:

| What's a referrer?

When you visit a site, one of the things sent is a
referrer, which tells where you just came from, if
you clicked a link from another page. (Otherwise it's
blank.) In some cases it might send your search
terms, if you came from a search engine.

In some browsers you can block the referrer. In
Mozilla browsers, in about:config, you can set these:

network.http.sendRefererHeader integer 0
network.sendRefererHeader boolean false
network.http.sendSecureXSiteReferrer boolean false

One of the first two is out of date, but I don't
remember which in what version, so I just do both.

It might be worth seeing what you typically send.
Here are a couple of examples:

-----------------------------------
xxx.org.uk.Humberstone-Leicester-UK - - [03/Mar/2016:09:41:28 -0500] "GET
/jsware/msicode.php5 HTTP/1.1" 200 77535
"http://www.bing.com/search?q=msi+unpacker+online&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid="
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"
-----------------------------------

I've changed the host name to xxx to respect their
privacy. From that line I can see that someone visited
from xxx in the UK yesterday. They entered "msi
unpacker online" at Bing, using Win7-32 with IE11.

Here's one from Google:

----------------------------------------
xxx.xx.xxx.xx.Edinburgh- City of-UK - - [03/Mar/2016:09:48:59 -0500] "GET
/jsware/hxs2chm.php5 HTTP/1.1" 200 17576
"http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&u act=8&ved=0ahUKEwiOvufA4aTLAhVDLZoKHRVTDeMQFgg0MAM &url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jsware.net%2Fjsware%2Fhxs2ch m.php5&usg=AFQjCNFWuQU5LxheKKKaGhW60D2PIDJ0Lw&bvm= bv.115339255,d.ZWU"
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"
-----------------------------------------

This one is also from the UK. They clicked the 4th listing
at Google. (cd-4) But Google stripped out the search
terms. (q=) They were using Win7 and also using IE11.
The other parameters, like ved= and cad= mean something
to Google. I could probably figure them out, but it's
unlikely to b e of interest to me. Google may read it
when a webmaster embeds their analytics code. (See next.)

It used to be that search terms were usually forwarded.
These days, most Google searches don't send them. I
suspect that's because Google wants to push their analytics
services to webmasters. (At any rate, it's clearly not because
the Googlites respect privacy. A very large number of
sites add google-analytics.com code to their pages, allowing
Google to spy on visitors and getting access to statistics in
exchange. Most webmasters don't know how to read/process
their own web server logs, so it's a nice convenience to
have Google do it.

In Firefox you can block the referrer if you want to. You
can also change the userAgent, or use an extension like
Secret Agent to alter it. The userAgent is this part:

"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Trident/7.0; rv:11.0) like Gecko"

The first part, with the xxx, is your IP address. You can't
block that. Webmasters can optionally do a hostname
request and a geo-location check with the IP address,
as I've done here. A hostname request is a call to the
IP address asking who they are. Most respond, and a
surprising number are informative. For example:

pool-xx-xx-xxx-xxx.nycmny.fios.verizon.net

Again I've hidden the IP address to respect their
privacy, but I know from that line that it's a Verizon
FIOS customer in or near NYC.

So that's what you're telling websites, *before* you
get into things like script, web bugs, iframes and cookies.
If you allow any of those things then there are probably
a dozen or so companies -- especially Google/Facebook/
Twitter -- that are following you movements online.

On Fri, 4 Mar 2016 10:30:50 -0600, philo wrote:

On 03/04/2016 08:30 AM, Micky wrote:
Being the good citizen I am, I tried to write to some of the
candidates for Prez. Some make it easy, some make it hard.

I once or twice before, years ago, tried to write to someone at his
congressional webpage and each time, the screen insisted that I give
an address in the state they represented. If I didn't, I got an error
message on that same screen, not on a blank page, like the two error
messages below:


I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
live in Florida? If not, is it because the web server, Verizon,
isn't used in Florida? That doesn't make sense.

You don't have permission to access "http://www.cruz.senate.gov/?" on
this server.
Reference #18.98f24317.1457099856.bac518


snip

This is the 21st century and setting up a web page is not rocket science.

If Cruz has chosen people who do not know how to setup a working web
page, can you imagine how he'd run this country?

LOL

I see his office is at 404 Russell Senate Office Building. That's
probably a bad computer omen.

On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:52:28 -0500, Paul wrote:

IP reverse lookup, in the year 2016, maps to the ISP
head office. Mine is off by a six hour drive or so.
At one time, major ISPs used to pick IP address names
with the city code embedded in the name, so you could
tell what city a person was in. But even that wouldn't
work here, as one of our major ISPs would backhaul a
new ADSL connection to one of three major cities,
with a seven hour driving distance uncertainty. So
if it said I was in Montreal, it wasn't true. And
I guess some of them decided to drop the city codes,
because of the technological realities.

But isn't it sometimes tricky to describe distance by using driving time,
especially in Canada? You might be driving a typical 4-wheeled vehicle on a
paved road, or that road could be a single lane dirt thing chock full of pot
holes, or you might be on a 4-wheeler crossing a hill and heading out across
a valley. In the winter, that trip could be by dog sled. Or if you suffer
from affluenza, (you know that story from Texas?), you might be traveling by
a little two-seater bush plane. So it really depends...

--

Char Jackson

Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:52:28 -0500, Paul wrote:

IP reverse lookup, in the year 2016, maps to the ISP
head office. Mine is off by a six hour drive or so.
At one time, major ISPs used to pick IP address names
with the city code embedded in the name, so you could
tell what city a person was in. But even that wouldn't
work here, as one of our major ISPs would backhaul a
new ADSL connection to one of three major cities,
with a seven hour driving distance uncertainty. So
if it said I was in Montreal, it wasn't true. And
I guess some of them decided to drop the city codes,
because of the technological realities.

But isn't it sometimes tricky to describe distance by using driving time,
especially in Canada? You might be driving a typical 4-wheeled vehicle on a
paved road, or that road could be a single lane dirt thing chock full of pot
holes, or you might be on a 4-wheeler crossing a hill and heading out across
a valley. In the winter, that trip could be by dog sled. Or if you suffer
from affluenza, (you know that story from Texas?), you might be traveling by
a little two-seater bush plane. So it really depends...


The point was, for the way that particular ISP was set up,
you couldn't rely on anything except the notion of the
head office. The coincidental information was all over
the map. At that time, if you did a naive reverse lookup,
with a claimed city name in the IP address, it was
totally bogus. But you could always use the usual
techniques, to figure it out some other way.

"Towards Street-Level Client-Independent IP Geolocation"

http://static.usenix.org/events/nsdi.../Wang_Yong.pdf

Paul

On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 23:15:15 -0500, Paul wrote:

Char Jackson wrote:
On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:52:28 -0500, Paul wrote:

IP reverse lookup, in the year 2016, maps to the ISP
head office. Mine is off by a six hour drive or so.
At one time, major ISPs used to pick IP address names
with the city code embedded in the name, so you could
tell what city a person was in. But even that wouldn't
work here, as one of our major ISPs would backhaul a
new ADSL connection to one of three major cities,
with a seven hour driving distance uncertainty. So
if it said I was in Montreal, it wasn't true. And
I guess some of them decided to drop the city codes,
because of the technological realities.

But isn't it sometimes tricky to describe distance by using driving time,
especially in Canada? You might be driving a typical 4-wheeled vehicle on a
paved road, or that road could be a single lane dirt thing chock full of pot
holes, or you might be on a 4-wheeler crossing a hill and heading out across
a valley. In the winter, that trip could be by dog sled. Or if you suffer
from affluenza, (you know that story from Texas?), you might be traveling by
a little two-seater bush plane. So it really depends...


The point was, for the way that particular ISP was set up,
you couldn't rely on anything except the notion of the
head office. The coincidental information was all over
the map. At that time, if you did a naive reverse lookup,
with a claimed city name in the IP address, it was
totally bogus. But you could always use the usual
techniques, to figure it out some other way.

"Towards Street-Level Client-Independent IP Geolocation"

http://static.usenix.org/events/nsdi.../Wang_Yong.pdf

I got your point. I was just having some fun. :-)

--

Char Jackson

[Default] On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 21:31:22 -0600, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general Char Jackson
wrote:

On Fri, 04 Mar 2016 10:52:28 -0500, Paul wrote:

IP reverse lookup, in the year 2016, maps to the ISP
head office. Mine is off by a six hour drive or so.
At one time, major ISPs used to pick IP address names
with the city code embedded in the name, so you could
tell what city a person was in. But even that wouldn't
work here, as one of our major ISPs would backhaul a
new ADSL connection to one of three major cities,
with a seven hour driving distance uncertainty. So
if it said I was in Montreal, it wasn't true. And
I guess some of them decided to drop the city codes,
because of the technological realities.

But isn't it sometimes tricky to describe distance by using driving time,
especially in Canada? You might be driving a typical 4-wheeled vehicle on a
paved road, or that road could be a single lane dirt thing chock full of pot
holes, or you might be on a 4-wheeler crossing a hill and heading out across
a valley. In the winter, that trip could be by dog sled. Or if you suffer
from affluenza, (you know that story from Texas?), you might be traveling by
a little two-seater bush plane. So it really depends...


I think they allow for this. When I registered my domain, I had to
tell them whether I was using a car, a hummer, or going on foot.

In message , Micky
writes:
[]
I'm curious about this. Do they use my IP address to decide I don't
live in Florida? If not, is it because the web server, Verizon,
isn't used in Florida? That doesn't make sense.
[]
I'm also curious if this error, the long text that follows, represents
an actual software or connection error, that might go away if I wait,
OR it's their way of saying I don't live in the state the addressee
lives in.
[]
Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Validation of viewstate
[]
[ViewStateException: Invalid viewstate.
Client IP: 71.166.5.180
Port: 50972
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:44.0)
Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0
ViewState:
/wEPDwULLTIxNDU2ODgxNzdkZFMsGoC5T9xWKKG6rUA7nkEfEN6 2
[]
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowError(Except ion inner, String
persistedState, String errorPageMessage, Boolean macValidationError)
+106
System.Web.UI.ViewStateException.ThrowMacValidatio nError(Exception
inner, String persistedState) +14
[]
serializedState) +4
System.Web.UI.Util.DeserializeWithAssert(IStateFor matter formatter,
String serializedState) +37
System.Web.UI.HiddenFieldPageStatePersister.Load() +207
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadPageStateFromPersistenceMed ium() +105
System.Web.UI.Page.LoadAllState() +43
[]
I could be wrong, but I suspect the parameters viewstate, ViewState,
viewState, persistedState, serializedState,
HiddenFieldPageStatePersister, LoadPageStateFromPersistenceMedium,
LoadAllState, and any others I've missed, have nothing to do with states
in the Florida sense, but are states - conditions - in the software,
servers, and so on.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

what - recession? Up north? What we gonna have - more nowt?
(News Quiz 2013-7-26)

| The point was, for the way that particular ISP was set up,
| you couldn't rely on anything except the notion of the
| head office. The coincidental information was all over
| the map. At that time, if you did a naive reverse lookup,
| with a claimed city name in the IP address, it was
| totally bogus.

I think you may be conflating IP with hostname.
IP would be like 33.44.55.66. Hostname, if it's
resolvable, could be something like the one I gave
above:

pool-33-44-55-66.nycmny.fios.verizon.net

That indicates NYC. But there are geo-location databases
that are more precise. They do it by just collecting as much
information as possible for all possible IP address. It's static
data that doesn't require anything more than knowing the
IP address. You can test the accuracy of that method in
getting your location by going to any site that tries to be
clever by giving you your local weather on the home page.
(I don't know one offhand, but I've seen it before.) If they
use a free database they can probably get at least as close
as the next town over. With a paid database they should be
able to ID the town in most cases.

In any case, Cruz's or Rubio's website
should have no difficulty at all in checking whether a visitor
is coming from a particular US state -- if that's what they
were trying to do.