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?

  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
    11·
    11 months ago

    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.

    • imkali@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      5·
      11 months ago

      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

        • Free Palestine 🇵🇸@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          11 months ago

          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.

      • Free Palestine 🇵🇸@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        11 months ago

        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.

        • imkali@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          11 months ago

          woah, had no idea. i think i thought this bc im running miui rn and its not exactly… the most private OS.

  • lameJake@feddit.de
    5·
    11 months ago

    There are various ways to mask your hardware. For example its close to trivial to change your MAC-Address.

      • AnonymousLemming@feddit.de
        1·
        11 months ago

        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.