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Density.io

density.io

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Re: Density.io

#101

Post by Rafert »

chrisfarms wrote: post #5

Risky. MAC address tracking is definitely a legal 'grey area' at the moment. I can imagine mining/fingerprinting in this way could easily become illegal in the not-to-distant future. In the UK, City of London already banned the wifi-enabled bins that were tracking MAC addresses. It would be really easy to tie a name to MAC address (from point of purchase with a credit card), then see exactly where that person went vi…

Something similar caused a stir in the Netherlands as well, a month ago certain electronics stores where caught using wifi and bluetooth tracking alongside IR cameras. The Dutch Data Protection Authority said customers should be informed and have a possibility to opt-out, while the State Secretary of Security and Justice commented that people should turn off their wifi or bluetooth if they do not want to be tracked.

Source: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&js=n&prev=...

Re: Density.io

#105

Post by jonknee »

parennoob wrote: post #93
shiftpgdn wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

City of Houston does MAC address tracking on the freeways and surface streets to power their traffic tracking measures. It's probably used in hundreds of other places you haven't thought about. If you're concerned about your privacy just turn wifi off. http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/

> If you're concerned about your privacy just turn wifi off. No, you shouldn't have to turn off a very commonly used service so that people can do better business by tracking it in an intrusive manner. Privacy should be the default option in such programs. If the city used a ton of cameras + facial recognition to track you and your car everywhere and then sold that data to companies so they could optimize for whateve…

> No, you shouldn't have to turn off a very commonly used service so that people can do better business by tracking it in an intrusive manner. Privacy should be the default option in such programs.

Maybe, maybe not, but if you care about your privacy you shouldn't assume everyone will follow the rules. Opt-in would be tough too--they need to know who you are before knowing if you have opted in.

Re: Density.io

#106

Post by alexcroox »

plusbryan wrote: post #97

Without wishing to belittle the privacy concerns of my fellow HNers, I wonder how long it will take for people to just be ok with being tracked in this way? This seems like one of those social changes that feels strange and uncomfortable at first, but over time becomes the accepted norm.

In the same way we are tracked with Cookies across the web, I don't see the difference.

Re: Density.io

#107

Post by lloeki »

plusbryan wrote: post #97

Without wishing to belittle the privacy concerns of my fellow HNers, I wonder how long it will take for people to just be ok with being tracked in this way? This seems like one of those social changes that feels strange and uncomfortable at first, but over time becomes the accepted norm.

People already have dozen of loyalty cards, and throw their email at every point of sale, which are handled in a centralized way behind the scene by a few actors.

Also, people log in with Facebook to basically anything.

"it's free" and "get cool rebates" create such an incredible variant of SEP field[0].

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEP_field#Fiction

Re: Density.io

#108

Post by paulgb »

MAGZine wrote: post #71
aroch wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Network's that whitelist devices by MAC and device registration/provisioning by MAC. And debugging network is theoretically easier when every device has a unique MAC. There are several applications for OSX and various *nix distros that run at boot and randomize MACs. SpoofMac is probably the most well known: https://github.com/feross/SpoofMAC

This is perfect--I'm definitely going to set this up. I'd just like a background service for my Android device that would also randomize my MAC address... (perhaps it's time to investigate android development :P)

I'd buy that app :)

Unfortunately (from the apps that I've seen) it looks like only a rooted Android could support it.

Re: Density.io

#109

Post by jordanmessina »

650REDHAIR wrote: post #37
icebraining wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How will you know?

I guess I have to start looking towards outlets. I wonder if there is any other way to 'protect' yourself?

We have stickers for stores to put on their doors so you know if they're using Density. We don't want to be sneaky about this.

Re: Density.io

#110

Post by Karunamon »

parennoob wrote: post #93
shiftpgdn wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

City of Houston does MAC address tracking on the freeways and surface streets to power their traffic tracking measures. It's probably used in hundreds of other places you haven't thought about. If you're concerned about your privacy just turn wifi off. http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/

> If you're concerned about your privacy just turn wifi off. No, you shouldn't have to turn off a very commonly used service so that people can do better business by tracking it in an intrusive manner. Privacy should be the default option in such programs. If the city used a ton of cameras + facial recognition to track you and your car everywhere and then sold that data to companies so they could optimize for whateve…

Devil's advocate mode:

What privacy is that? Your device is broadcasting information, in the clear, to anyone who cares to receive that information. You've taken no steps to prevent anyone from receiving that information.

Your device is doing the equivalent of standing on the street corner and screaming various things. You can't rightly tell someone not to listen or write down what's being said.

I don't see how this is any more invasive than CCTV cameras that every business already has anyways.

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