Control access point inclusion in Google's Location services - Google Maps Help
support.google.com
To improve Location services and estimate the location of a device, Google uses publicly broadcast Wi-Fi information from wireless access points and GPS, cell tower, and sensor data. This data is limi

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/51680197

Append “_nomap” to the end of your SSIDs to instruct Google not to use your wi-fi access point for their mapping services.

To do the same for Apple, add “_optout” to the end of your SSIDs¹.

To boycott both, the rumor is that Google’s “_nomap” must be last, but Apple’s “_optout” flag must be in the penultimate position if and only if Google’s token is at the end. So you might have an SSID like “boycottCloudflare_optout_nomap” to boycott the baddies, for example. But note that “boycottCloudflare” is merely symbolic, to raise awareness of the web’s most harmful enshitifier.

¹ sorry to say I have no reference to cite for the Apple rules. It’s just a rumor.

update

The Apple opt-out procedure has apparently changed to align with Google. Someone refers to this page for Apple.

update 2

Mapquest is suddenly gaining popularity.

  • A_norny_mousse@piefed.zipEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    So it’s independent of any Google account, they can just use any wifi access point to - do what exactly? Not sure I understand this at all.

    • daveyOsborn@infosec.pubOPEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      I lost the link but the research was done by: Douglas J. Leith, School of Computer Science & Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 25th March, 2021 in a paper titled “Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google”.

      Every Android device owner is a Google spy. Every iOS device owner is an Apple spy. They don’t know it, generally. Android and iOS devices constantly¹ harvest the radio data of their surroundings and they send the data home to their respective mothership. This is hard-wired into the platforms and has nothing todo with accounts. An arbitrary person randomly walks/drives by your house with their iPhone or android powered on, and it collects your SSID, MAC, GPS position, etc and sends it to Google or Apple, unwittingly, because people are oblivious as to what’s going on.

      ¹ The phone user may need to have location services enabled for the phoning-home to occur… not sure if turning on location services enables the data sharing in both directions or just one. Guess I need to re-read the research.