Comment by stygiansonic | Hacker News Reader

Comment by stygiansonic | Hacker News Reader

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I guess we really shouldn't be surprised at this point, but what many don't understand is just how easy it is to track devices, and by extension people, in this manner.

You don't even have to connect to an open WiFi AP, or any AP. As Glenn Wilkinson demonstrated some time ago [1], the probe requests your device sends out can in many cases, identify you or at least the important locations you've been to. Basically, if WiFi is enabled on your device and it's not associated with an AP, it's constantly sending out requests asking for the [E]SSID of AP's it's previously connected to.

I also recommend this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03iEaKPRb9A

> I guess we really shouldn't be surprised at this point

Yes, we shouldn't stop at being surprised. We should put our actions where our surprise/shock is and do something about it.

For example: leave your mobile phone permanently in flight mode and just all the other features, like agenda, clock, etc (or leave it always at home, if you don't have a landline anymore).

There are certain Android apps, like this one [1] that attempt to turn on/off your WiFi automatically based on location. I have not used this one, but it might make the process a bit less tedious. Obviously, the best option is just to manually turn on/off WiFi yourself.

A more interesting idea would be to create an app that sends out random probe requests with a randomized MAC address. (While not sending out any real probe requests) I wonder if that would be effective at disrupting these sorts of surveillance techniques.

1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.kismetwire...

By which you mean... don't have a mobile phone? (I imagine you are someone who either spends most of the day in one place, or doesn't have anyone who they would want to be able to contact them on a whim.)

I just realized I forgot the link to my [1]:

1. http://research.sensepost.com/tools/footprinting/snoopy

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