hello everyone, I have a question that might turn out to be even stupid but I can’t find an answer, I am approaching the world of privacy and anonymity, the question is, even if I have an old laptop where previously there was windows and no methods were used to protect the identity is the pc still considered valid? because if the mac address is unique and I had linked my accounts to the pc, the address is also associated with my person and always will be, is there any way to sanitize this problem or would it be better to buy a new pc and start from scratch?
The MAC address is a code on each of your networking chips that allows it to talk with local networking equipment. This means its only legitimate use is to be broadcast on your local network (or in the local broadcasts for WiFi).
However, it is also often part of the UUID generated by some software and sent to all sorts of online places.
The good news about this is that there are other components of the UUID that are easier to change that will change that ID.
And you can always software mask your MAC IDs if you’re running Linux. This enables your device to pretend the various MACs are numbers of your choosing.
And you can always software mask your MAC IDs if you’re running Linux
Can be also done under Windows. I’m not suggestion that Windows is good for privacy, but it can be done. https://www.digitalcitizen.life/change-mac-address-windows/
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Also I know OP is talking about their laptop, but you can use XPosed modules on an android phone to mask your MAC address too.
edit: as someone who replied to me pointed out, you can apparently do this by default in a lot of android roms
damn I didnt knew about XPosed, thats really good to know and you were right talking about the laptop, I was also worried for the phone thing, cuz if the phone is next to the laptop they get associated to me, but I was actually thinking to buy a new phone and boot calyx on it and maybe change the wifi adapter of the laptop as @netchami@sh.itjust.works said
If you’re getting a new phone anyway just get a Google Pixel and install GrapheneOS on it. It’s way more private and secure than Calyx ever will be. It also has per-connection MAC address randomization built in and it’s enabled by default.
Android can do this by default, no need to significantly increase attack surface by loading third-party code with elevated privileges. GrapheneOS, probably the most private and secure mobile OS out there even has per-connection randomization, the strongest form of MAC address randomization, built in and enabled by default for all networks.
woah, had no idea. i think i thought this bc im running miui rn and its not exactly… the most private OS.
There are various ways to mask your hardware. For example its close to trivial to change your MAC-Address.
If you are concerned for Wi-fi beacons scanning your MAC address, you can use tools like SpoofMAC to randomize it. You might also be able to swap out the Wi-fi card on the laptop.
My OpenBSD operating system on my laptop is set to randomize my MAC address at every boot.
damn I was really thinking to use openBSD but it looks hard as hell and I’d miss the AUR honestly, can you give me some tip?
It involves a learning curve, and some things don’t work like bluetooth and streaming copyrighted movies. But most everything else works. Many things in AUR would not be there, but alteratives exist for those willing to adapt. Setting things up are typically done by editing text files on the command line. This sounds hard, but is actually simple once you get used to it. I tried Qubes last year out of curiosity and found it hopelessly convoluted.
