• jet@hackertalks.com
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    3 days ago

    GOS let’s you disable Bluetooth automatically if your not using it. So yes, it protects against Bluetooth trackers that way.

    If you mean the airtags and whatever google is calling their airtags, no, it’s not baked I to the osz but you can install apps to show you all the trackers in your vicinity

    • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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      3 days ago

      So yes, it protects against Bluetooth trackers that way.

      Umm… that’s now how those trackers work.

      I mean, yes your phone could be a point of data, but turning off bluetooth doesn’t stop you from being tracked.

      If the tracker is AirTag, or Samsung’s SmartTag, or one that uses Google networks, then all it takes it one person living near you to walk past your house and it will upload the location of the tracker* that your crazy ex put in your packpack. There are like a lot of iPhones, Samsung Galaxy phones btw, there’s a good chance that (in most parts of the world) your neighbors are using either an iPhone or a Galaxy phone.

      (*Technically, its uploading the location the the device that scanned it, but it’ll be close enough to your house for your stalker to find you)

      • jet@hackertalks.com
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        3 days ago

        Welcome to the wonderful world of Bluetooth Mac address tracking, often used in stores to track the location of customers throughout the store. So yes absolutely Bluetooth tracking is a real thing, turning off your Bluetooth radio prevents your Bluetooth radio from being tracked.

        https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~nibhaska/papers/sp22_paper.pdf

        Bluetooth beacons, which I believe most people are thinking of when they talk about air tags, or Bluetooth tiles, are a different thing entirely.

        Bluetooth threats:

        • a phones radio being tracked
        • a Bluetooth beacon planted on someone
        • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
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          3 days ago

          So its a dilemma.

          Either turn on bluetooth so you can detect trackers, but you then expose your bluetooth MAC address allowing others to track you.

          Or turn off bluetooth, but you’ll never know if there’s a secret track on you.

          Wonder if there’s a way to passively scan for trackers without emitting bluetooth signals.

          (Does Graphene OS allow MAC address randomization for bluetooth?)

          • jet@hackertalks.com
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            3 days ago

            Does Graphene OS allow MAC address randomization for bluetooth

            Actually, I believe AOSP allows for a MAC address randomization when not connected to a device, but as the UCSD paper above indicates, it’s still quite fingerprintable