A couple who say that a company has registered their home as the position of more than 600 million IP addresses are suing the company for $75,000.
James and Theresa Arnold, who live on a farm near Potwin, Kansas, say that MaxMind have made their lives "digital hell," the BBC reports.
The pair's home has been linked to the IP addresses because it's close to the geographical center of the United States, according to an April investigation by Fusion.
IP addresses, which are identifiers associated with computers or networks of computers connected to the internet, commonly identify individual properties. But they can often be more vague than that, and sometimes give inaccurate information.
MaxMind chose the location of the property, which the couple have rented since 2011, as the default spot for any IP addresses they couldn't pinpoint further than by country.
After years of being mistaken for spammers and scammers the Arnolds have decided to take action.
It's meant that the pair been investigated for a host of nefarious activities linked to some of the IP numbers.
They received a visit by Butler County Sheriff's Department looking for a stolen truck amid several other intrusions, according to documents filed with a Kansas court.
In fact, any number of issues, from missing persons to computer fraud and even attempted suicides, have sent to "local, state or federal officials" to the Arnolds' place.
It gets worse.
"Threats began to be made against the plaintiffs by individuals who were convinced that the perpetrator of internet scamming lived at the residence," court documents say. "State investigators -- convinced that the plaintiffs had been involved in an identity theft -- came to the residence to take pictures of assets."
"The following events appeared to originate at the residence and brought trespassers and/or law enforcement to the plaintiffs' home at all hours of the night and day: stolen cars, fraud related to tax returns and Bitcoin, stolen credit cards, suicide calls, private investigators, stolen social media accounts, fundraising events and numerous other events."
After years of being mistaken for spammers and scammers the Arnolds have decided to take action. They accuse MaxMind of "reckless and grossly negligent conduct" causing "great emotional distress, fear for their safety, and humiliation."
Their attorney Randal Rathbun added: “My clients have been through digital hell. The most vile accusations have been made against them – such as that they’ve been involved in child pornography. What impact would it have on your life if someone accused you of being in child pornography? Obviously it’s horrendous.”
Mashable has reached out to MaxMind for comment. The company's founder Thomas Mather has said that they've since changed the default center points to be in bodies of water.
UPDATE Aug. 12 10:16 a.m. PT: Maxmind has told Mashable that they "can confirm we have been served with official notification of the lawsuit but we do not comment on pending litigation."
