Comment on Going to a Protest? Don't Bring Your Phone Without Doing This First

unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

• sobchak@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Modern phones rotate random MAC addresses. For WiFi, capturing SSID probes can be enough to track somebody though (some phones also have some mitigation for that too, like not probing for an SSID after it hasn’t been seen for some amount of time). Even when turned off, many phones, including iPhones, turn into BLE beacons similar to AirTags, which can be used to track you.

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  • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    almost worthless. I just learned that the android 13 xiaomi phone of a family member broadcasts some of the wifi AP names it knows when scanning for available networks! constantly! why the fuck it does I don’t know because neither are hidden networks that would need this, and there’s no setting for it

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    • sobchak@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah, I’m guessing it’s so if you “hide” the network, it will still connect to it. Anyone can scan these advertisements, then go to wigle.net and likely get a good idea of where you live/work.

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    • chaospatterns@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Are those networks marked as hidden SSID networks? Hidden networks require the client STA to broadcast them to find them.

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      • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        they aren’t. one of them is an AP from another phone, so I believe that one couldn’t even be configured as hidden by accident, because the phone does not offer it. another is one I sometimes use, and it’s not hidden either.

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  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Good additions, thanks.

    Modern phones rotate random MAC addresses

    My phone does, but im not sure if normal google/apple phones do by default.

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    • lepinkainen@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      iPhones do by default, you need to specifically turn on fixed IP at home to identify the damn phone reliably

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• BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  Thank you, I have been saying this. Use a regular camera and be sure to delete meta data off images and videos when uploading!

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• Jyek@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

  This is slightly false in an alarmist fashion. At least in the US, the police are not actively tracking anything without a subpoena to the cellular provider of the phone in question. They can look at the location data after the fact, using a court ordered subpoena. They can also use live location data in an emergency situation,also using a court ordered subpoena.

  Cellular data from cell towers on cell networks are private property of the cellular provider companies. That’s not to say you are private while on them. Just that the police are not actively tracking your location through them without great effort for each individual they wish to track.

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  • linuxguy@lemmy.gregw.us ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    You’ve never heard of a stingray or cell site simulator?

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  • Bazoogle@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Commercial location data, in this case acquired from hundreds of millions of phones via a company called Penlink, can be queried without a warrant, according to an internal ICE legal analysis shared with 404 Media.

    www.404media.co/inside-ices-tool-to-monitor-phone…

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    • chaospatterns@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I thought this was using SDKs embedded in apps and advertising platforms. This is a different threat model. You need to block ads and prefer using websites instead of apps which have more access to device info like the advertising ID.

      If you’ve got an Android, go to Settings, search for ads, and find the advertising ID and delete the ID. It’s a stable identifier that can be used to identify your phone.

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  • Zangoose@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They can also use live location data in an emergency situation,also using a court ordered subpoena.

    What qualifies as an “emergency situation”? I imagine that definition could be stretched pretty thinly

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  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Cell tower data is private just like your google search history is private. Which means absolutely not private. Also cops can (and do) use fake cell towers to make your phone connect to something that they have live access to.

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