this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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Simple trick (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago by likeaduck@programming.dev to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[–] MrBakedBeansOnToast@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Isn’t the MAC address fixed to the hardware? Am I growing old?

[–] MrWafflesNBacon@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It still is if I'm correct but most operating systems have an option to spoof/randomize your MAC address

[–] railsdev@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago

Most modern smartphones will randomize the MAC address for privacy (on Bluetooth too irc). It really killed my crappy WiFi-based people tracker.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago

It is, but there are ways to spoof it so your device presents a different one when connecting to a network.

[–] wischi@programming.dev 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not quite. I'm not really sure but I think the original idea actually was a fixed hardware address but I'm not sure if a lot of devices actually ever implemented it that way because it's simpler (and cheaper) to control it in software. In modern (especially mobile) devices it's actually a security requirement because with a fixed MAC address you could be tracked by other wifi devices.

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 year ago

With the right software, you can do anything!

[–] lud@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

As the others said that is normally the case but nowadays most computers and mobiles have an option that randomize the MAC addresses on each connection.

These MAC addresses are known as locally-administered address. They look like this:

x2:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
x6:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
xA:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
xE:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

And rarely like this:

x3‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx
x7‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx
xB‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx
xF‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx‑xx