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Static IP where...

bobpullen
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Re: Static IP where...

Quote from: Jack007
I'm not sure what the Lottery use for the GEO IP stuff, try http://whatismyipaddress.com/ again and make sure it is the UK that shows on your IP.

They use Neustar (formerly Quova) I believe. Further to what Chris has said above, I contacted them directly towards the end of March about another customer with an IP in the same range as the OP's - 81.174.xxx.xxx
This is the reply I received:
Quote
Hello Bob,

Thank you for reaching out to Neustar IP Intelligence.  I have reviewed our data and noted that 81.174.128.0/17 is already geolocated to the United Kingdom correctly.  However, 81.174.222.0/23 has a Confidence Factor (CF) of lower than 99 which is required to the UK specific services.  Confidence factor (CF) is one of Neustar's data fields that describes the degree of data accuracy with the scale of 0 to 99.
I have raised the CF of this IP range so that the whole 81.174.128.0/17 has a CF of 99.  This update will be available to our customers in the data release scheduled for tomorrow April 5, 2013.  Please note it may take some times for the changes to work their way through our customers' systems.

So assuming that's correct, we've done all we can and the National Lottery will need to ensure they've updated their geo-loaction database since April 5 (feel free to ask them).
After reading Neustar's reply again it's dawned on me that I was enquiring about an IP that's outside the 81.174.222.0/23 range (so what they've said doesn't make 100% sense). I'll drop them another email just to make sure they've made the changes they say they have.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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bobpullen
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Re: Static IP where...

Right, I've received another reply from Neustar but it's a tad confusing:
[quote author="Neustar]Hello Bob,
I have reviewed our data and noted that whole 81.174.128.0/17 is still correctly geolocated to the United Kingdom with a CF of 99.  This assignment is available in our current data release, and this should enable the users to access to the UK specific content.
However, this specific IP address 81.174.xxx.xxx was previously identified as a part of TOR network.  Based on my understanding, the UK National Lottery prevents the users accessing from anonymizer proxies to utilize their web services.
I hope I answered your questions.
The latter part of that doesn't even make sense to me. Even if you were using TOR, the National Lottery would see the IP of the exit proxy you were using rather than the IP address we've assigned you Huh
@marmalizer, are you still having problems and do you use TOR or any other proxying service (it's your IP Neustar are referring to)?

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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marmalizer
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Posts: 17
Registered: ‎13-03-2013

Re: Static IP where...

Quote from: Bob

The latter part of that doesn't even make sense to me. Even if you were using TOR, the National Lottery would see the IP of the exit proxy you were using rather than the IP address we've assigned you Huh
@marmalizer, are you still having problems and do you use TOR or any other proxying service (it's your IP Neustar are referring to)?

Still having issues says "We think you're outside the UK and Isle of Man".  Sad
I have never used a proxying service and didn't know what TOR was till I just Googled it.  Huh
pwatson
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Re: Static IP where...

Quote from: Bob
The latter part of that doesn't even make sense to me. Even if you were using TOR, the National Lottery would see the IP of the exit proxy you were using rather than the IP address we've assigned you Huh

I think the point is that although the address is associated with the UK, Neustar believe it to have previously been used as part of the Tor network and therefore been part of a method to bypass their geo-location systems.  Consequently the address has been blocked...
jelv
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Re: Static IP where...

Do you have to be on a fixed IP to be part of the TOR network? If so the only solution would be for Plusnet to ban the use of TOR, otherwise Neustar will progressively block more IPs.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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bobpullen
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Re: Static IP where...

Quote from: pwatson
Quote from: Bob
The latter part of that doesn't even make sense to me. Even if you were using TOR, the National Lottery would see the IP of the exit proxy you were using rather than the IP address we've assigned you Huh

I think the point is that although the address is associated with the UK, Neustar believe it to have previously been used as part of the Tor network and therefore been part of a method to bypass their geo-location systems.  Consequently the address has been blocked...

Yes, but why would the National Lottery then use this logic to block access to their website? It makes no sense. As Neustar have said themselves, the IP is still based in the UK according to their records and if somebody was using TOR to access the National Lottery's website then all the National Lottery would see is the IP of the TOR exit proxy.
Edit: Unless Neustar are implying that somebody was hosting a TOR proxy from the Plusnet IP? I'd have thought the chances of that would be extremely slim though.
Edit again: Ah, I see it's relatively trivial to set TOR up as a relay, so I guess the above isn't as unlikely as I originally thought.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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jelv
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Re: Static IP where...

If someone is hosting a TOR relay I would say it is more likely than not that an attempt to contact National Lottery via that IP is coming from outside the UK.
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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bobpullen
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Re: Static IP where...

Latest response from Neustar:
[quote author="Neustar"]Hello Bob,
Since you kindly clarified that this IP address was recently allocated to a new customer who has never used a proxy service, Neustar will make an exception and remove the TOR assignment from this IP address.  This update will be available to our customers in the data release scheduled for May 8, 2013.  This should enable the user to access to the UK National Lottery.  Please note it might take some time for the changes to work their way through our customers' systems.

Bob Pullen
Plusnet Product Team
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marmalizer
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Re: Static IP where...

Thats great news  Cheesy fantastic even.
Thanks for all your help.