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Interesting article shared with me about the way Wi-Fi location services work.
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related : https://support.google.com/maps/answer/1725632?hl=en
How do I opt my access point out of Google Location services?
To opt out, change the SSID (name) of your Wi-Fi access point (your wireless network name) so that it ends with “_nomap.” For example, if your SSID is “12345,” you would change it to “12345_nomap.”
Microsoft has an additional requirement where “_optout” has to be somewhere in the SSID (not necessarily at the end). This was detailed in a now deleted support post.
I recall this being announced a decade or more ago. At the time, I wasn’t so jaded and was more surprised than anything else that it was opt-out rather than opt-in.
Now I’m more annoyed than surprised.
And just like robots.txt, I’m sure they will totally honor this in perpetuity
/s
And remember: this won’t work with “hidden” SSIDs.
From what I recall hidden SSIDs will always be used for location services.
I thought hidden SSIDs aren’t discoverable :(
Every WiFi router and network has something called an SSID and a BSSID. The SSID is the friendly name that you use to show off your puns to your neighbors. The BSSID is a 6 byte MAC address. All devices use the BSSID when connecting and communicating.
With a non hidden SSID, your router broadcasts the SSID and BSSID.
The BSSID is actually is static and doesn’t change and it’s what is actually used for geo location.
When it’s hidden, it doesn’t send the SSID out, but sends out packets with the BSSID. Clients then scream out to the void “anybody know the SSID ‘My Secret SSID??’” Then it’ll respond.
So basically hidden networks still send out the unique identifying address and then when you take your phone with you, you’re just telling everybody what your home WiFi is called.
Hidden SSIDs are not that useful.
That isn’t great.
I actually had to do that with my phone’s hotspot name because I used to play Pokemon Go on a tablet which was Wi-Fi tethered to the phone. Before I renamed it to opt out, the game would randomly jump me to wherever the network had last been scanned any time the tablet’s GPS got too flaky.
“It’s associated with “Location Services” on most devices, meaning that you cannot opt out of your phone reporting the locations of surrounding Wi-Fi devices without turning off your phone’s ability to obtain its location entirely.”
You may usually know where you’re at, but maybe someone else needs to?
