Tech: How to fake location

What is Geo Location

Geo location is a technology that locates your position on the planet and ties it into your web browser (or other application). A couple of services work to provide location services in your web browser. One is a Google service that looks at your IP and connected network information and matches it up to known locations, Microsoft runs another similar service. Apple uses the internal service Core Location to locate you across a variety of services. Geo location has a lot of useful applications, but it also has some serious privacy implications.

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How Browsers Determine your Geo Location

Earlier, websites would use the IP address to determine your approximate location but with the HTML5 Geo location API, web browsers can more accurately detect your location using data from GPS, Wi-Fi networks, cell towers, Bluetooth and the computer’s IP address. If you agree to share your location with the browser, it will send these details to Google Location Services for estimating your location which is then shared with the requesting website. 
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Turning off Geo Location

Turning off the location features in either browser is fairly easy.  

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Mozilla Firefox : Go to the configuration settings by typing about:config in your browser window. Find the setting geo.enabled and double click it to set it to “false.”

 

Google Chrome : Go to Setting > Options > Advanced Setting > Content Setting > Location and click on Do not allow any site to track my physical location.

 

Internet Explorer : Go into Internet options -> Privacy. Select “Never allow websites to track your physical location.”

Opera : Go to Preference > Advanced > Network> Enable Geo location, Now cross it to Disable Geo location.

How to Fake your Geo-location Coordinates

The easiest browser to fake your location in is Firefox. In fact, there is a browser extension that does just that called Geolocater (sic). Download and install Geolocater and restart your browser.

 

To configure it, you must go into the “Tools” menu, so right click at the top of your browser and enable the file menu to gain access to configuration. 

 

 

When you launch it, you must add a new location and include the name to save it. Search or browse to the location you wish to set, enter the name in the box on the right, and then click the button that looks like a kite with a check mark to save it.

 

Next time you go to a website that has Geo location enabled, you will be able to change which location you want to send to them and then “Share” to fake your location.
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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 Geo location coordinates” and specify the exact latitude and longitude coordinates that you want to share with that website.

 

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 Geo location.

 

Location Is Disabled – But You Can Still Be Tracked

Even though location services have been disabled or faked, a great deal of information about where you are located is sent just by using the Internet. Your IP address can narrow your location down to your country and maybe even the city you are located in. Just be aware that unless you use a VPN, your location can still be tracked based on that information.