POTWIN, Kan. (AP) — An 82-year-old Kansas woman never knew why strangers kept calling or showing up at a property she owns in rural Kansas.
But she gained some clarity recently when Fusion.net published a story about a Massachusetts company, MaxMind, which helps companies learn where their Internet traffic comes from.
MaxMind inadvertently used the same geographic coordinates for its default IP address as Joyce Vogelman Taylor’s family home. An IP address helps tell computers where to send information and where information is coming from.
The Wichita Eagle reports the mix-up led some of MaxMind’s customers to Taylor’s property, claiming that the IP address for their complaints was associated with the property.
MaxMind has since changed the IP address. It says it also intends to apologize to Taylor.