IEEE And IETF Test Privacy MAC Address

To prevent consumers via the MAC address of their smartphone or other mobile devices have followed the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) held several successful experiments, so both organizations this week let know . The IEEE and IETF are two organizations involved in the development of standards.

During the experiment in November was tested with random MAC addresses. Participants had to run a script that made ​​they got a random MAC address if they were connected to the network. A MAC address serves as a unique identifier on the local network and is assigned by manufacturers to network. Because of the unique feature of the MAC address, that is continuously broadcast by mobile devices, for example, stores use it to track people.

Privacy Implications

Because of the privacy implications decided the IEEE and IETF last year the IEEE 802 Executive Committee Privacy Study Group to focus on. This group looks at the impact of Wi-Fi technology and is working on recommendations and standards."From the beginning IEEE 802 and IETF have shared conviction to address the privacy risks for non-technical users, who live in a world of continuous connectivity is present," said Juan Carlos Zuniga, president of the group. According to him, the experiments show that there are viable ways to protect users from Wi-related privacy risks.

"The IETF community sees widespread monitoring as an attack on the privacy of Internet users," Joel Jaeggli IETF adds. He argues that the IETF and IEEE 802 itself will work to protect users from passive observation. "Successful tests with MAC address privacy implementations help solve a major problem with the visibility of Layer 2 identifiers on a shared local network," Jaeggli further notes. The results can be used to establish new standards. Whether this will happen and when exactly allow both organizations do not know. Last year Apple came with a measure to provide users with a random MAC address when scanning Wi-Fi networks.