XPost: comp.mobile.android, alt.internet.wireless   
   From: alice.jones-donotspam@ptd.net   
      
   Andy Burns wrote in message   
   yc6dndlaMpcX-inLnZ2dnUU78b2dnZ2d@brightview.co.uk:   
      
   > A bit of an edge case, presumably they don't want to fill their database   
   > with the MAC addresses of phones at 'random' locations where they happen   
   > to have acted as access points?   
      
   I understand why they would not want to add mobile device hotspots   
   to their database but how would they differentiate between a router   
   hotspot and a mobile device hotspot?   
      
   > AFAIK only marshmallow allows creating a 5.2GHz hotspot on dual-band   
   > phones, but you can't create a hotspot on both bands simultaneously,   
      
   My phone is Android 4.3 and it can certainly act as a hotspot.   
   So can my iPads, so you don't need Marshmallow for a phone to be a hotspot.   
   T-Mobile allows it for free.   
      
   > a phone by itself with GPS enabled in the middle of nowhere can't be   
   > used to "mark" a location, presumably they filter out MAC addresses that   
   > move frequently, and are aren't seen "near" to fixed MACs they already know?   
      
   I guess what you're saying is that you need two nearby MAC addresses to   
   make a query (that's probably to foil people looking up one).   
      
   If I'm in a library, the phone won't be all by itself.   
   If I'm at home, it won't be all by itself either.   
      
   > Just login with a google account, you can restrict the key to one or   
   > more IP addresses, but that's optional information.   
      
   Thanks!   
      
   > you can't fool it by giving the   
   > same MAC address twice, or by giving it one valid and one fictional MAC   
   > address. So they do validate that multiple valid MAC addresses are in   
   > use within a certain proximity to each other, which avoids people going   
   > on fishing expeditions to find every router's location, without being   
   > there   
      
   Yes. This is probably a crude "security" measure, that you need two   
   nearby MAC addresses. But if you're fishing for a particular person's   
   MAC address of their phone, then it seems that would be easier because   
   you would know the MAC address of their router (since you know who it   
   is you're fishing for where they are).   
      
      
   > thought dual band routers will negate that to a certain degree   
   > with a little guessing, also the API key is limited to a certain number   
   > of queries per day.   
      
   Isn't the adjacent MAC address on a router usually simple incremented by 1?   
   That would make guessing pretty darn easy!   
      
   > I tried giving two MAC addresses one with a high the other with a low   
   > signal level, flipping the signal levels didn't alter the location they   
   > returned.  I haven't tried with three MAC addresses.   
      
   I wonder why they want the signal level if they're not using it?   
      
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