In reply to a post by DFScale:

The BSSID is agreed to be a MAC address. But it is the MAC address of the wifi interface and therefore inside the user's own network.

No the BSSID is broadcast as part of the wifi signal - I can see the BSSID for all of the neighbouring wifi routers.

In reply to a post by brookheather:

No the BSSID is broadcast as part of the wifi signal - I can see the BSSID for all of the neighbouring wifi routers.

On windows I used the free InSSIDer years ago, now there are some free tools in the Microsoft Store. On macOS there is a paid tool with a yellow logo that works well, I can't recall the name.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

But it's possible BT have a relatively new IPv6 CIDR that Google haven't caught up with yet.

Then try Google with https://ipv4.google.com/ to force IPv4.

I had this after coming back from Finland. Oddly all the devices in my house thought my IP was from Finland even the ones that i wasnt signed into (i can understand the ones im signed into and used in Finland, but not the ones i wasnt)

I ended up contacting Google to say its got my wrong location. Dunno if it was coincidence but not long after it fixed itself

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

But it's possible BT have a relatively new IPv6 CIDR that Google haven't caught up with yet.

Then try Google with https://ipv4.google.com/ to force IPv4.

That is interesting!

IPv4 returns the correct location & results

IPv6 still has me in Washington DC

In reply to a post by brookheather:

In reply to a post by DFScale:

The BSSID is agreed to be a MAC address. But it is the MAC address of the wifi interface and therefore inside the user's own network.

No the BSSID is broadcast as part of the wifi signal - I can see the BSSID for all of the neighbouring wifi routers.

You are actually arguing with a quote out of context.

Of course you can see the BSSID of neighbouring wifi because you are effectively a candidate station to join that wifi network - in just the same way as a wired ethernet card MAC can be seen by DHCP, because that ethernet card is a candidate to join that LAN. Google are able to do this from the Google car.

The significant point is that even though the BSSID can be seen from the street, it cannot be seen across the user's router interface, because MACs are not seen across routers. Hence there is no simple way for Google or anyone to correlate the BSSID seen in the street with any incoming network connection via the wider internet.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

Hence there is no simple way for Google or anyone to correlate the BSSID seen in the street with any incoming network connection via the wider internet.

They don’t do that.

They take the broadcast BSSID (so it doesn’t matter if you change your network name) and align it with a GPS position they have themselves.

Then all Android phones and Google maps on iPhones nearby that hear the BSSID know where they are.

No network (TCPIP) required.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

They take the broadcast BSSID (so it doesn’t matter if you change your network name) and align it with a GPS position they have themselves.

Then all Android phones and Google maps on iPhones nearby that hear the BSSID know where they are.

No network (TCPIP) required.

So the client determines its own location using Google, rather than the client determining from Google.. Makes sense.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

So the client determines its own location using Google, rather than the client determining from Google.. Makes sense.

Yes, in that the WiFi networks are geolocated, so your mobile device can use them as reference points. Works well when you have no view of the sky (for GPS) e.g. indoors.

There are others doing the same thing, e.g. SkyHook (https://www.skyhook.com/)

I wish Google and other data-hoarders/spies thought I was somewhere else! My location invariably shows my post town which admittedly is four miles away. Hard enough to keep one's details private. But each to his/her own.