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this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
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Privacy
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Pretty much all modern phones randomize the MAC address everytime they connect to a network unless the user explicitly says not to do that.
When there's a Captive Portal like the screenshot, many devices use a random but persistent mac for that network avoid reauthorization after any network drop. This will make your access to the specific network trackable.
But can't you go manually forget the network in your device network options to circumvent this?
chuckles in GrapheneOS
(per-connection random MAC, for all networks, by default)
This is actually just part of stock Android. My Pixel 5 has MAC randomization on by default for new Wi-Fi networks.
It's per-network, not per-connection. Though that option does exist but is hidden away under developer settings.
Oh you mean like per TCP connection?
It's not at the packet level - by default on gOS (and a dev option on stock pixels), every time you connect to a network, even ones you have connected to prior, you get a new random MAC. The standard aosp/pixels do one random but persistent MAC randomization. This only helps marginally from a privacy standpoint. Per-connection makes this data point useless, thereby increasing privacy.
I'd assume after a certain amount of time or after moving far enough away from the network it "forgets" the last randomized MAC address?
It doesn't really make sense to store these things long term.
+1, had issues using Android devices for presence detection because of this very useful privacy feature. Even on your home network, the MAC address and device hostname get randomized, unless disabled in the settings
Edit: typo