Internet Architecture Board�IP Geolocation Workshop Report

Jason Livingood

INTC Briefing – 23 April 2026

Workshop details

Virtual workshop held on December 3-5, 2025

• 30 accepted submissions, 67 participants
• https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-iab-ip-geo-workshop-report/

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Each day focused on a different area:

• Current use cases for publishing, discovering, and consuming IP address geolocation data
• Areas for improvement, to update or replace IP geolocation mechanisms
• Future directions that satisfy the use cases without relying on geolocating IP addresses

2

Why are we talking about this?

• IP addresses were not designed to carry geographic meaning...

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• ... but geolocating IP addresses is a widespread practice that has become engrained into how many functions of the web and Internet work today

2

Why is IP geolocation used?

Optimizing user experience & network behavior

• Language / regional settings
• Relevant nearby content
• Optimizing network routes and server selection

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Enforcement

• Legal/compliance requirements
• Contractual requirements
• Disaster relief & law enforcement

3

What are the current mechanisms?

• RFC 8805 defines the CSV geofeed format
• RFC 9632 adds discovery and authentication

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• Geo IP provider services add significant amounts of other metadata, and have notions of confidence in location and reputation

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• Current mechanisms don't handle the reality that a single IP doesn't always map to a single location

4

What does IP geolocation represent?

• When a claim is made about location, is it:
• Physical user location?
• Network egress location?
• Network infrastructure location?
• Regulatory jurisdiction?

5

Gaps and issues

See the report for the full list! https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-iab-ip-geo-workshop-report/

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• Privacy and security issues; implicit signal without consent, that targets and tracks users
• Issues with geofeed format; need to be able to extend or be more clear
• Deployment / ecosystem issues; updates are often slow and unreliable
• Location issues; borders between regions/countries, etc

6

Why change?

• Geofeeds have gaps to improve
• Satellite networks and privacy proxy networks are "stretching" the current models
• Regulatory requirements are adding pressure for accuracy
• Bar for security and privacy is increasing

7

Directions for change

• Update geofeed format details
• Build new mechanisms that don't rely on implicit signals, but are both more authenticated and based on user consent

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Geolocation is not going away, but we have the opportunity to drive better designs for the ecosystem

8

Next steps

• We need more collaboration!

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• Workshop involved many stakeholders not normally at IETF
• Regular conversations on how to evolve this space across the groups would help

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• What shape should this discussion take?

9

Questions?

110