Internet-Draft Ammar J. Salih Title: IP-LOC Expires: May 14, 2013 Intended status: Proposed Standard Filename: draft-add-location-to-ipv6-header-00.txt Status of this Memo =================== This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on May 14, 2013. Copyright Notice ================ Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. ------------------------------------ Adding GPS location to IPv6 header ------------------------------------ Abstract ========= This document describes IP-LOC, a proposed extension which suggests adding GPS coordinates to IPv6 header. The current method of determining location of IP traffic is through IP address registration database, which is not very accurate as it depends on how the ISP registers its IP subnets, that is normally done in a country/city format. It also assumes that in the future, GPS capability will be added to the router itself (just like smart phones) and packet marking and classification based on geo-location will be required. QoS, firewall and routing based on geo-location will be highly required when mobile routers move from one geo-location to another which has different policy. Benefits of adding GPS location to IPv6 header (IP-LOC) ======================================================= Web Services: getting more accurate locations will enhance many services provided by the web, like Targeted Advertising (for example, I would get Ads regarding restaurants available in my neighborhoods instead of all restaurants in the city), another good example would be preferred language, my language will be detected more accurately based on my area rather than my country, as there are many countries with more than one popular language, not mentioning that many ip registrations does not even reflect the traffic originating country. ---------------------------------------- Information accuracy and control: Nowadays, locations are assigned to IP addresses without user awareness or control, every time a user performs ip-lookup query the response would be different based on how the ISP has registered this IP subnet, IP-LOC suggests making locations more accurate and controllable through OS and network devices, exactly like IP addresses (user can change his/her IP address, but router can also modify the header information - in case its required). ---------------------------------------- Routing: Policy based routing, based on geo-location, like routing predefined traffic through certain server or path, for different purposes (security, manageability, serviceability like choosing call agent language for VoIP calls, or routing traffic to specific cashing or proxy server based on country .. etc) ---------------------------------------- Copyright law: It happens when certain media/web content is not available to certain countries due to copyright law, the current method of determining locations is not accurate, on the other hand, If layer-7 application to be used then the user might be able to manipulate the location field, in this case (if its required in future) the ISP can tag traffic with country/city more accurately as traffic passes through ISP boarder routers. ---------------------------------------- Flexibility and Compatibility: Currently, many applications do not share same mechanisms to obtain location or location-related data, like detecting language, for example, if a VoIP user called in to a customer call center, the VoIP softswitch might not support http requests in order to detect customer language and redirect the call to the proper agent, so although http and VoIP signaling protocols work at the same application layer, they can not always share the same mechanism, a lower layer mechanism is necessary to obtain the location data. ---------------------------------------- Maps, navigation, emergency calls and many other services will be also enhanced with accurate locations. Current arguments against this idea: ======================================== Adding GPS position to every IPv6 header would add a lot of overhead. Response: It does not have to be in every IPv6 header, only when there is location update, also the host should have the option of not sending location updates. ---------------------------------------- What about privacy? Response: User should have the option of not sending location updates. User should also have the ability to set location to all zeros, in this case no router will modify the location field and user loses the location-based services. If it is router-to-router link, then no need to be worried about privacy as such information usually configured on a separate network. ---------------------------------------- A good alternative would be to create aplication layer protocols that could request and send GPS positions Response: layer-7 location request will not be detected by layer-3 devices (Routers), I am assuming that in the future, GPS capability will be added to the router itself (just like smart phones), features like packet marking and classification based on geo-location will be required to enforce the new geo-location policies. ---------------------------------------- For location-based routing protocols: Why would you want this? Geographical location is not actually that important a metric for routing; what you care about there is *topological* location, how far I am away from you in terms of hops or latency Response: For shortest path maybe yes, hops or latency is important, not for policy-based routing, in our case you might want to do location-based routing, like, routing VoIP traffic coming from French speaking users (in multi-language country like Canada) to a French speaking call agent. ---------------------------------------- For geolocation-based ACLs: you have the problem that if the geolocation is attached by the endpoint, then it can not be trusted, since the endpoint would lie to get past the ACL. If it is attached by a router, the ACL needs to have proof that the router attached it (and not the endpoint), which means that you would need a signed geolocation header Response: You could have the router modify the location field anyways, just like L3 QoS fields, if you do not trust the host, so no need for encryption or security, additionally, ACL is not only for security, it could be used for routing, QoS ..etc, so the host will not always has the motivation to manipulate the location field. ---------------------------------------- Why can not you simply implement rules related to geo-locations statically on the network device (router, firewall .. etc)? Response: To enforce new geo-location policies automatically, lets assume that a mobile router (like a mobile BTS in a GSM network) moved from city-x to city-y, and according to city-x regulations, VoIP calls over GSM network is allowed, but city-y regulations do not allow that. Now the topology may reflect same network metrics in both cities but there is no rule that triggers configuration change based on geo-location. ---------------------------------------- For copyright law enforcement, GPS precision is certainly excessive for this purpose, given that copyright regimes apply at the level of the nation state, not the GPS co-ordinate It can vary from one location to another, please have a look at the boarder between Netherlands and Belgium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baarle-Nassau_fronti%C3%A8re_ca %C3%A9.jpg On the other hand, user should have the option of not sending location update by setting all zeros in the location field, telling the ISP routers not to do so as well, in that case the user protects his/her privacy but loses the benefits of location-based services, and in case user chooses to let the ISP routers tag his/her packets with location updates then accuracy can be tweaked, it could be based on your physical connection like mobile tower your connected to, or even less accurate like the city (or even country) your are connecting from. In a way that allows the implementation of copyright law without compromising user privacy. ---------------------------------------- What do you think? Authors' Addresses/Contact Information: Ammar J. Salih Baghdad, Iraq Phone: +964 770 533 0306 Email: ammar.alsalih@gmail.com