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According to Wi-Fi PrivacyPolice from 2017, Android devices ask for all the SSIDs they know whenever they try to connect to any Wifi network. This can be used to profile devices. Wi-Fi PrivacyPolice limited this behavior. Since the app is no longer developed, I wonder if modern Android systems, LineageOS especially, still broadcast their known SSIDs. Can you tell me? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Error ( talk • contribs) 00:11, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
From what I read in discussions like [1] [2], from stock Android 9, Android will only broadcast the SSID of any hotspots specifically marked as hidden. I have no idea if this feature is present in LineageOS. You can probably check and see if you have the option to mark a hotspot as hidden. While this doesn't guarantee it's not broadcasting other SSIDs, it probably a lot less likely. Note that this setting may only be shown when adding a hotspot, it's possible you might not be able to change an existing SSID [3] [4].
If you don't have the option, then your device may be broadcasting all SSIDs, or maybe it just doesn't support hidden networks, if you have sufficient control over a hotspot you could make it hidden and see if your device can auto connect to it. (My EMUI 11 Huawei device which is based on Android 10 doesn't seem to have an option for hidden networks. I suspect it just always broadcasts SSIDs or at least of manually added ones, but I haven't checked.) Of course you could also use a scanner device to see exactly what your device is broadcasting.
Note if you do want to connect to a hidden network, AFAIK there is no way to do so without broadcasting its SSID. You should ask the operator of the SSID to reconsider hiding the SSID, outside of a few specific use cases where it may make sense (and not really for security), it's generally considered a dumb idea which doesn't actually help anything. If you can't convince the operator to disable hiding the SSID, you could disable auto connecting to the hotspot and manually connect when you know it's nearby. (I mean technically your device could decide whether to broadcast based on its known location but I think this is too much work for something that is fairly silly that it's unlikely it'll be a stock feature in a major device.)
Since Android 10, stock Android also has MAC address randomisation on by default [5]. If you're using MAC address randomisation for the SSID, any devices paying attention to what is being broadcast will know a device is looking for those SSIDs, it won't know which device, although if the specific set of SSIDs is unique enough it might be enough to guess it's the same device everytime it appears.
According to this article from 2005 [6] and this 2020 blog post [7] anyone using a .us domain name must publicly post their street address, phone number, and email address.
Has anyone challenged this in court? Is that 2005 article still valid? There are deaf people who have no phone. There are homeless people who access the Internet through a library computer but don't have a mailing address or who get mail from a PO box or a friend. There are people who live in recreational vehicles and get their mail through general delivery. There are people who are hiding from stalkers. Are these people really not allowed to own a .us domain? 05:43, 3 January 2022 (UTC) 2600:1700:D0A0:21B0:3D1A:8C93:93FF:7F53 ( talk)
Hi there, I have this Thunderbird email browser in my computer. It serves as a dumping ground because I placed there a single email account, Microsoft account that ends as ****@live.com. I give this email address to people and organizations that I know will dump a lot of spam in this account that I will never read. I have a password for this account stored in my reliable database.
A day or two ago I noticed that the password does not work. Thunderbird is a weird system. That password is needed to sign in and apparently for this purpose my password is stored in the Thunderbird itself and used internally. My God, then why the Thunderbird needs a password at all? Once my password that the system stored in itself many years ago when I first downloaded and installed the Thunderbird, failed (first time yesterday) it gives me a window with my masked password and with a note that my password has failed and I need to either try it again (can you imagine that? It has already failed and the PW was provided by the Thunderbird itself!) or provide a new PW or Cancel. You have to Cancel twice for this window to disappear.
There is no PW recovery mechanism. At least I cannot find any. What shall I do? Delete and reinstall the Thunderbird. I have a hundred incoming emails waiting for me to take a look at least at their headings. Of course it is all Viagra type messages but still I what to know what they are.
Also I want to know how I can increase the size of the font for "Editing Wikipedia Reference Desk" or, simpler saying, for typing any messages to you. I barely see what I am typing at my age which is quite advance. Thanks AboutFace 22 ( talk) 14:55, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
Many thanks to both of you. Great suggestions! AboutFace 22 ( talk) 01:53, 4 January 2022 (UTC)
Computing desk | ||
---|---|---|
< January 2 | << Dec | January | Feb >> | Current desk > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
According to Wi-Fi PrivacyPolice from 2017, Android devices ask for all the SSIDs they know whenever they try to connect to any Wifi network. This can be used to profile devices. Wi-Fi PrivacyPolice limited this behavior. Since the app is no longer developed, I wonder if modern Android systems, LineageOS especially, still broadcast their known SSIDs. Can you tell me? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Error ( talk • contribs) 00:11, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
From what I read in discussions like [1] [2], from stock Android 9, Android will only broadcast the SSID of any hotspots specifically marked as hidden. I have no idea if this feature is present in LineageOS. You can probably check and see if you have the option to mark a hotspot as hidden. While this doesn't guarantee it's not broadcasting other SSIDs, it probably a lot less likely. Note that this setting may only be shown when adding a hotspot, it's possible you might not be able to change an existing SSID [3] [4].
If you don't have the option, then your device may be broadcasting all SSIDs, or maybe it just doesn't support hidden networks, if you have sufficient control over a hotspot you could make it hidden and see if your device can auto connect to it. (My EMUI 11 Huawei device which is based on Android 10 doesn't seem to have an option for hidden networks. I suspect it just always broadcasts SSIDs or at least of manually added ones, but I haven't checked.) Of course you could also use a scanner device to see exactly what your device is broadcasting.
Note if you do want to connect to a hidden network, AFAIK there is no way to do so without broadcasting its SSID. You should ask the operator of the SSID to reconsider hiding the SSID, outside of a few specific use cases where it may make sense (and not really for security), it's generally considered a dumb idea which doesn't actually help anything. If you can't convince the operator to disable hiding the SSID, you could disable auto connecting to the hotspot and manually connect when you know it's nearby. (I mean technically your device could decide whether to broadcast based on its known location but I think this is too much work for something that is fairly silly that it's unlikely it'll be a stock feature in a major device.)
Since Android 10, stock Android also has MAC address randomisation on by default [5]. If you're using MAC address randomisation for the SSID, any devices paying attention to what is being broadcast will know a device is looking for those SSIDs, it won't know which device, although if the specific set of SSIDs is unique enough it might be enough to guess it's the same device everytime it appears.
According to this article from 2005 [6] and this 2020 blog post [7] anyone using a .us domain name must publicly post their street address, phone number, and email address.
Has anyone challenged this in court? Is that 2005 article still valid? There are deaf people who have no phone. There are homeless people who access the Internet through a library computer but don't have a mailing address or who get mail from a PO box or a friend. There are people who live in recreational vehicles and get their mail through general delivery. There are people who are hiding from stalkers. Are these people really not allowed to own a .us domain? 05:43, 3 January 2022 (UTC) 2600:1700:D0A0:21B0:3D1A:8C93:93FF:7F53 ( talk)
Hi there, I have this Thunderbird email browser in my computer. It serves as a dumping ground because I placed there a single email account, Microsoft account that ends as ****@live.com. I give this email address to people and organizations that I know will dump a lot of spam in this account that I will never read. I have a password for this account stored in my reliable database.
A day or two ago I noticed that the password does not work. Thunderbird is a weird system. That password is needed to sign in and apparently for this purpose my password is stored in the Thunderbird itself and used internally. My God, then why the Thunderbird needs a password at all? Once my password that the system stored in itself many years ago when I first downloaded and installed the Thunderbird, failed (first time yesterday) it gives me a window with my masked password and with a note that my password has failed and I need to either try it again (can you imagine that? It has already failed and the PW was provided by the Thunderbird itself!) or provide a new PW or Cancel. You have to Cancel twice for this window to disappear.
There is no PW recovery mechanism. At least I cannot find any. What shall I do? Delete and reinstall the Thunderbird. I have a hundred incoming emails waiting for me to take a look at least at their headings. Of course it is all Viagra type messages but still I what to know what they are.
Also I want to know how I can increase the size of the font for "Editing Wikipedia Reference Desk" or, simpler saying, for typing any messages to you. I barely see what I am typing at my age which is quite advance. Thanks AboutFace 22 ( talk) 14:55, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
Many thanks to both of you. Great suggestions! AboutFace 22 ( talk) 01:53, 4 January 2022 (UTC)