MAC addresses are 48 bits in length and the first 24 bits contain a unique set of characters known as the Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) or vendor ID. And so, a laptop computer that has an Ethernet port and a Wi-Fi radio will have different MAC addresses for the wired and the wireless network interfaces. Please note that there is a different MAC address for each network interface. A typical MAC address may look something like 00:0a:98:9d:65:16. The MAC address is usually in the form of six sets of two-digit characters, separated by colons. The NIC is needed by your devices when connecting to a network whether it is wired (Ethernet) or wireless (Wi-Fi).
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It is a unique identification code which is hard-wired or hard-coded into your computer’s and other mobile devices’ Network Interface Card (NIC) hardware.
The MAC acronym actually stands for Media Access Control. This is why Apple has started introducing a system of generating random MAC addresses on their iOS devices. The startup company Renew tested this successfully by tracking mobile devices in and around London. The stark reality of this was highlighted by the famous whistle-blower Edward Snowden who disclosed that NSA tracks persons via their devices’ MAC addresses.
However, another way in which individuals and their online activities can be identified is through the manipulation of the MAC address on their devices. That is just one important reason why we recommend using a trusted VPN service as a basic privacy measure. Most people know that the IP address of our devices can give away our location and a whole bunch of other information. Tracking and Profiling is Getting More Sophisticated & Moving Away from IP Addresses Of course, this is all just the tip of the iceberg.Īs you become more informed, you will discover many more potential ways in which your privacy can be compromised or is already compromised-that is the reality. You have probably noticed how Google can suggest a particular item for you to buy or when Facebook and LinkedIn suggest that you send a friend or connection request to a particular person. If this is the sort of targeting available to Joe and Jane Blo, imagine how specific the big & powerful players can target you? It’s no stretch to imagine they can target right down to the level of specific individuals. Go to Facebook ads and check out how easily you can specifically target an audience. Our lives creep ever closer to what is depicted in futuristic dystopian movies. In fact, what seems more unethical is that there is an entire industry ranging into the billions of dollars involving the sale and resale of our personal information – not to mention the wholesale spying of governments into every bit (literally) of our online data. Long gone are the days when the only way persons were identified was by their face, fingerprints, or handwriting.īy the way, for cynics who may scoff at the need for privacy as simply an excuse to do illegal activities, they should know that there is a community of law-abiding citizens who do prefer privacy. A quick check on Wikipedia gives you a long list of over 20 different pieces of data which can be (and are) used to identify, locate, profile and target you.Īlthough it’s of scary, I guess we all have become used to the threat of our privacy being compromised. Why learn to hide MAC address for your computer and protect your privacy? It is interesting to note how our Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Sensitive Personal Information (SPI) is increasingly under attack.
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Learn how to hide your MAC address (courtesy Christiaan Colen / CC BY-SA 2.0)
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