Russell Brandom reports that a new feature in iOS 8 is set to cause havoc for location trackers, and score a major win for privacy: When iOS 8 devices look for a connection, iOS 8 will randomize their MAC address, effectively disguising any trace of the real device until it decides to connect to a network. Why are iPhones checking out Wi-Fi networks in disguise? Because there's an entire industry devoted to tracking customers through that signal. Shops from Nordstrom's to JC Penney have tried out a system that automatically logs any phone within Wi-Fi range, giving stores a complete record of who walked into the shop and when. But any phone using iOS 8 will be invisible to the process, potentially calling the whole system into question. "Now that Apple has embraced MAC spoofing, the practice of Wi-Fi sniffing may stop working entirely," says Brandom. "The result is a privacy win for Apple users and a major blow against data marketing and all it took was an automatic update."
(Score: 2) by tynin on Wednesday June 11 2014, @01:23PM
Can anyone suggest an MAC spoofer for Android that would be grandma friendly (e.g. doesn't need to be a rooted phone, and just works)?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 11 2014, @01:54PM
> Can anyone suggest an MAC spoofer for Android that would be grandma friendly (e.g. doesn't need to be a rooted phone, and just works)?
No. Because that level of hardware access is not available to normal android apps.
However, for a rooted phone there is pry-fi
(Score: 2) by tynin on Wednesday June 11 2014, @01:57PM
I suspected as much but haven't followed phone OSs pretty much at all. Thanks for the clarification and the pry-fi suggestion.