A walking tour of surveillance infrastructure in Seattle

(coveillance.org)

40 points | by eustoria 1 hour ago

5 comments

  • corprew 7 minutes ago
    Based on context on their site, this looks like it was generated in ~2019 from data gathered before that, and some stuff in it is out of date as other comments mention.
  • SauntSolaire 36 minutes ago
    Surprisingly milquetoast list given the title
    • oofbey 20 minutes ago
      They clearly have an agenda, but also openly acknowledge that public surveillance is a two sided coin, balancing public safety and convenience with privacy. Some of the risks they identify are real, but others are unabashedly exaggerated.
  • xx_ns 51 minutes ago
    > A probe packet contains the MAC address as well as the list of all the past Wi-fi networks that your device has tried to join before, which can reveal a lot about you!

    Generally, most modern devices send broadcast/wildcard probes precisely to avoid leaking the PNL. From what I know, directed probes are only sent for hidden APs.

    • rafram 8 minutes ago
      And most modern devices randomize MAC addresses ("Wi-Fi addresses" in Apple-ese, for probably obvious reasons) between networks, and even between broadcasts/connections to the same network.
    • oofbey 22 minutes ago
      Correct. All major OSes stopped broadcasting the preferred SSID list by 2017, with Android and Linux being the last. Apple stopped in 2014. Windows by 2009.
  • nobody_r_knows 2 minutes ago
    [dead]