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   alt.internet.wireless      Fun with wireless Internet access      55,960 messages   

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   Message 55,748 of 55,960   
   Marian to Carlos E.R.   
   Re: How to test if your access point BSS   
   08 Dec 25 06:50:15   
   
   XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone, alt.comp.os.windows-10, comp.mobile.android   
   From: marianjones@helpfulpeople.com   
      
   Carlos E.R. wrote:   
   > You would have to prove that your house BSSID being listed is a breach   
   > of your fundamental right to privacy, because an AP is not directly   
   > linked to your person.   
      
   The simplistic argument that 'MAC addresses are not "directly" linked'   
   ignores the fact that when aggregated at scale, they become a powerful   
   tracking tool. A single MAC address is just a hardware identifier; but a   
   database of millions of them tied to GPS coordinates is essentially a map   
   of people's movements and residences.   
      
   Imagine this scenario:   
   1. A company collects BSSIDs (MACs) from Wi-Fi routers in a city.   
   2. Over time, they build a database:   
      a. MAC A -> seen at 123 Elm Street in 2022   
      b. MAC A -> seen at 456 Oak Avenue in 2023   
   3. From this, they infer the household at 123 Elm Street likely   
      moved to 456 Oak Avenue.   
      
   Now scale that up: Track migration patterns of entire neighborhoods.   
   Correlate MACs with census data, property records, or advertising IDs.   
      
   What was just public information becomes a de facto surveillance system,   
   without meaningful consent from the people being tracked.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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