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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, Insightful) by lajos on Wednesday June 11 2014, @03:05PM
let me fix that title for you:
"Apple Strikes a Blow Against Location Tracking That They Can't Charge $$$ For [wikipedia.org] "
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday June 11 2014, @05:11PM
really? where exactly in iBeacon does Apple start raking in the cash for it?
you don't need to pay Apple to make/deploy the iBeacon hardware [the bluetooth location broadcasting stations]
you need your app in Apple's app store, so there is the $99 fee for that
and that's it.