I realize you're trying to help, so I will just try to be gentle at the same time I'm trying to be blunt (you can do the same with me).
Nobody said anything about IP addresses. And the *location* is inside of Google's database.
What I'm trying to understand is how the system works. And then I'm trying to see if there is a *vulnerability* in the system.
I'm not a hacker (as a hacker would have far more technical acumen and a hacker wouldn't be asking about a vulnerability on the net like this).
What I see is a *vulnerability* but you're *never* gonna see that vulnerability if you keep talking about IP addresses!
I realize you're trying to help, but just saying "Nope" wastes *everyone's* time, including yours and mine - but mostly other people have to read me responding to you, which, if all you say is "Nope" means you don't have a clue what you're talking about.
It's a *fact* that you can query Google's database to find the *location* of a BSSID. Google implemented a (IMHO weak) "security" system by requiring
*two* BSSIDs.It's this weak security that I'm searching for the vulnerability of.
It's a *fact* that you only need three things to get a GPS location out of the Google database:
- BSSID 1
- BSSID 2 (added as a weak security feature!)
- Signal Strength
Do you dispute *that* fact?
That's not at all the point! I am probing a perceived privacy vulnerability in the Google system. I am doing this not to take advantage of that perceived vulnerability, but to better *understand* that privacy vulnerability.
Specifically, with the facts known, "if" your cellphone does broadcast an SSID, then your cellphone *can* be tracked.
Do you dispute that statement (which I have backed up in gory detail already)?
Why or why not?
What on earth does this question have to do with IP addresses?
I realize you're trying to help - but what you're doing is *jumping* to conclusions that *nobody* else is talking about.
VPN has *nothing* whatsoever to do with this problem. The entire Internet has (almost) nothing whatsoever to do with this problem.
The *only* way the Internet is even involved is that your neighbor's cellphone is *sending* your SSID & MAC & GPS location & Signal Strength (etc) of your router *over* the Internet to Google.
So the IP address (and VPN) is completely irrelevant to this question.
This question has absolutely nothing to do with IP addresses and VPNs. Where did you get the idea that the question had *anything* to do with the Internet? I'm sorry if I'm being too blunt, but I'm focused on getting the answer to a *simple* question.
Q: When does an Android cellphone broadcast an SSID?
NOTE: The SSID has nothing to do with the question but people get all hung up if I ask the question this way:
Q: When does an Android cellphone broadcast a BSSID?