Comment on Give permission. Don't give permission. They know where you are anyway
cyborganism@lemmy.ca 2 days agoUse a VPN. Problem solved.
This problem solved, but whenever you change your network or IP and then periodically, your phone will report to Firebase, so you can receive push notifications.
You can block those with software that simulates a local VPN with a filter, but you won’t get any more push notifications. Now push notifications are not just the ones you see. Some apps use invisible ones to get infos they need to work.
But when Firebase gets that network/IP change report, what information does it get? Because if it only gets the public IP address, the reported IP will still be the VPN one, not the real one, right? So, if that were the only information reported to Firebase, wouldn’t you still be protected? Does Firebase block requests when you’re using a VPN (this could be detected, for example, if certain aspects of the network have changed but the IP hasn’t)? Is that what you mean with not getting push notifications when simulating a local IP with filters?
PS: From my research, the WiFi’s SSID can also be used to track someone’s whereabouts, but depending on where you are and how many networks have used the same SSID, it may work work well or badly. You can see that by going to wigle.net (which is a database on WiFi networks with some publicly-available information), go to the map, type in the SSID field, and click “Filter”.
It gets your unique tracking ID, so it knows you’re the same person now with different IP. If you use apps that store location data in firebase (eg. find my device, fitness trackers, emergency alert apps) it will upload your GPS location and maybe nearby wifi names, if you set it to be extra precise.
Make sure you disable or properly configure webrtc. Even with a VPN it will leak your true IP address.
Check here.
Not the magic bullet people think they are. Oh, and you can’t turn it off, so you’ll have to take the loss in network speed on absolutely everything. And better know how to configure each device so it doesn’t go ahead and check leak your IP anyways, which also restricts choice of devices you use. Cause remember, if any device on your network ever connects to the net without the VPN, then your anonymity just went out the window.
Not the magic bullet people think they are.
No one thinks VPNs are “magic bullets”. I don’t know why this gets repeated ad nauseum.
Oh, and you can’t turn it off, so you’ll have to take the loss in network speed on absolutely everything.
True but it’s not that bad.
And better know how to configure each device so it doesn’t go ahead and check leak your IP anyways
Just choose a good provider. You don’t need to configure anything.
if any device on your network ever connects to the net without the VPN, then your anonymity just went out the window.
That’s what kill switches are for.
I agree it’s a powerful tool! I was specifically responding to “problem solved” in the previous comment. My reply was in no way meant as a general review of VPNs.
No one thinks VPNs are “magic bullets”. I don’t know why this gets repeated ad nauseum.
Ooh, I know why! It’s because YouTubers hawk their preferred (sponsored) VPN as if it was silver bullet and that it’s dangerous to use your mobile device out in public or worse – public WiFi – without it.
Latitude and Longitude are in there. As is screen brightness. He does acknowledge that he is on Wi-Fi, but that’s still super suspicious
That VPN provider will then know ALL the connections you make. Almost worse than just using the Internet normally.
That’s an uninformed statement.
You get to pick your provider. So pick one that you trust.
It’s FAR better than without as your ISP is probably selling your traffic to third parties or at least monitoring it. Some VPNs don’t.
Scrollone@feddit.it 2 days ago
Using a VPN just moves the trust to another middleman.
Ulrich@feddit.org 2 days ago
So use a trustworthy middleman? Surely you can find someone more trustworthy than advertising companies?
priapus@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Yeah, a middleman you get to choose. That’s a huge improvement. There are plenty of trustworthy VPN providers.
1984@lemmy.today 2 days ago
You can set up wireguard vpn on a tiny instance in Amazon or Google, and bounce traffic through that one. Then you control what gets logged (Amazon may have logs over all outgoing connections from all instances somewhere though).
futatorius@lemm.ee 1 day ago
Multiple middlemen are better than just one. Also, you can test its effectiveness.
cyborganism@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Tor over VPN
cyborganism@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
Is that tinfoil hat comfortable?
Scrollone@feddit.it 1 day ago
Using a VPN means that all your traffic is routed through a possibly malicious actor.
oxomoxo@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Like Kevin Spacey?