5 ms·
Um, no, that's not correct. SSIDs aren't tied to geographic location. The mothership might infer location by looking at the list of SSIDs and checking it agains
by jfnixon 8y ago
Um, no, that's not correct. SSIDs aren't tied to geographic location. The mothership might infer location by looking at the list of SSIDs and checking it against a geotagged list compiled by a mapper, but that's a completely different thing that saying if you let an app look for an SSID you are allowing to it to know your location. You might as well say that by giving a camera the ability to know the time, you are allowing it to know your location, as someone could look at the sun's shadows or weather and infer location.
- icebraining 8y agoBy that reasoning, nothing is; even GPS signals aren't tied to geographic locations, you infer it based on timing calculations. BSSIDs can be easily mapped to a location using free and readily-available services. They are as good as most geolocation mechanisms you can get.
- jsight 8y agoThanks to how difficult GPS signals can be indoors, they can be better than some other geolocation mechanisms. Google did this for the right reasons.
- justanother- 8y agoYes. The reason is showing ads and spying on their users. Right reasons for THEM.
- mannykannot 8y agoIf inferring location works well enough in enough cases (for the purposes of the inferrer), the fact that it is not completely accurate or reliable is moot.
- imglorp 8y agoSSID's pretty much ARE tied to geo, and those that aren't tied are easy to identify. The basic tech is known to both major players [1,2]. First you crowdsource as much of the data collection as you can: various apps can collect both SSID, BT, etc. sightings and report them with GPS. So you have a giant DB of locations vs network IDs. Then you tag any network ID which appears at differing locations: it's somehow mobile for whatever reason. The untagged ones are not mobile and probably dependable indications of location to within a few dozen meters. If they do move, they get tagged at your next sweep. 1. https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-lawsuit-motorola-samsung https://www.theverge.com/2011/05/12/google-android-skyhook-l... 2. https://xconomy.com/boston/2010/08/04/skyhook-wireless-digs-in-touts-location-patents-after-apple-drops-technology-from-iphone/ https://xconomy.com/boston/2010/08/04/skyhook-wireless-digs-...
- reaperducer 8y agoSSID's pretty much ARE tied to geo, and those that aren't tied are easy to identify. I bring an AirMac (Apple Airport Express) with me to hotels when I travel. I guess this is why my Android phone gets so confused about where I am if it's in airplane mode with wifi enabled.
- y04nn 8y agoIt's not SSIDs that are used for location but the BSSID of access points around you. You need only 2 of them to get the location of a user with Mozilla Location Service and there is other providers.