Wifi tracking your devices
Thought I'd post about this after hearing about it on BBC's technology program Click this weekend. Many places that offer free wifi are using it to track people's wifi enabled devices as they move around, even if they don't connect to it.
All devices capable of connecting to a computer network have something called a mac address, nothing to do with Apple before you jump to conclusions. By listening to wifi devices' pinging to search for networks and so on, which includes the device's mac address, the wifi network can measure signal strengths from various antennae and get an idea of where the device is. The same can be done with devices which have Bluetooth enabled using Bluetooth receivers. Shops are using it to tell how long you spend in a particular aisle, and the British city York is planning to roll it out to the entire city.
Here's the important bit, you aren't asked permission for this. In addition if you do use the public wifi network the terms and conditions say they can track your traffic which includes social network profiles, they can then tell your age, gender, who you're friends with and potentially your interests and what part of the world or country you come from.
So how do you avoid this? Obvious answer, switch off wifi and Bluetooth when you leave the house unless you really need it. iOS8 plans to include a system to periodically change your device's mac address and I'm sure someone has already figured out how to make Android do this. If you need to use the wifi network you can always use a virtual private network or VPN, some advanced home routers can offer this function or you can set it up using a computer that stays at home or use a third party service. A VPN bounces all your internet traffic off the VPN server before it goes out, the traffic still has to travel through the internet between you and the VPN server but this "tunnel" as it's called is en crypted. Be aware though that some wifi hotspots may block the use of VPN.
Personally I'm hoping iOS will eventually include a function to automatically turn off wifi when you leave home based on a geofence, for me that would be the ideal solution. Of course YMMV, I'm not saying don't use these wifi services just make sure you know what you're giving them in return. The key here is informed choice, it's up to you whether you think the trade off is worth it but it's important that we consciously make that decision rather than accidentally stumbling into it.
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