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speeder

Suppose I don't want my router Mac address + GPS location shared with Apple or Google

What are my options? Banning guests from my network is enough or I have to physically not allow phones near my wifi?

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According to that abstract, only Apple does that, not Google.

Full disclosure I work for Google, but not on anything related to this.

Google merely drive past your house, recording your GPS location and WiFi SSID broadcasts, and find it that way. And "accidentally" packet capture some of your network traffic too. ( https://www.wired.com/2012/05/google-wifi-fcc-investigation/ )

between 2008 and 2010 for the network traffic part

Can confirm. Moved houses something about ten years ago, only a few kms, and Google Maps kept on saying I was at my old address.

I used location sharing actively then as now, found it mostly annoying - but also learnt how they built up their SSID location databases.

I did find it creepy, but could also see how it would massively assist location services.

You can end your WiFi SSID with _optout_nomap to tell Microsoft, Google, and Mozilla not to collect it. Apple has no way to opt out.

Practical options? Apple rotates Mac addresses to avoid tracking[1]. If you're broadcasting a mac address you have to assume someone is logging it and correlating it with a location. Wardriving was a thing long before smart phones were common.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211227

This is what I'd like to know. I don't own a wifi router. But suppose I did, is the fact that my router's signal was simply seen by an Apple device within range consent for Apple to track it's location? And does Apple knowing my router's location mean that I've consented to it's use to track others?

Coat your walls in lead. As long as your device broadcasts network, anyone in range can see it.

Better yet: coat your iPhone in lead.

That won’t fix another users iPhone transmitting your SSID details.

A tad easier would be to set the Network to hidden. Then clients would have to mention the SSID themselves to advertise themselves.

Then don’t broadcast your network outside your home.

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