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Comment by gingerlime | Hacker News Reader

Looks cool. I wish there was something like this for iPhone/iPad - which is much more likely to be with me everywhere and leak my MAC...

side note/question: do I need to actively connect to a WIFI network for them to know my MAC or does it leak even when my phone scans for neighbouring SSIDs? EDIT: looks like MAC would leak even if I don't connect to any access point, but my Wifi is on... At least according to [0]

EDIT 2: looks like iPhone and Android use MAC randomization when scanning WIFI. (not sure after they connect though). But even this randomization can be defeated[1]?

[0] https://www.crc.id.au/tracking-people-via-wifi-even-when-not... [1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/10/mac_address_randomi...

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I am pretty sure that when iPhone connects to an access point it uses the real mac, I don't know about android but it is probably the same.

Some access points need your real mac to connect because they use that to authorize you, I think schools/universities use this method a lot.

I do not understand though. Whitelisting MAC addresses is something you can do, but 99.99% of the wifi spots out there don't have it enabled. Why should my phone leak my MAC address needlessly instead of just generating a new one every 5 minutes or so?

If you connect to any hotspot with a captive portal, you would need to deal with the portal again every 5 minutes.

The MAC could remain unchanged for established connections while changing for new connection offers.

What does that accomplish?

It accomplishes what changing it in the first place is intended to accomplish - anonymity. Changing for established connections offers no benefits.

Hopefully just the process of watching all connections break and seeing the internet go away as the client reassociates with the AP each time they foolishly tumble their MAC on an _active_ connection will be enough to keep this scenario from ever playing out.

Or to be more precise, those access points probably need a consistent mac, not your real one. So it would be nice if you could configure those networks to receive their own mac, but that stays the same over time. This is what the NetworkManager 1.4.1+ "stable" setting does.

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