Re: Apple changed their documentation at my request but it proves they don't care about privacy

Jon Ribbens <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2026-09-06, Carlos E.R. <[email protected]> wrote:
>> On 2026-09-06 17:37, Jon Ribbens wrote:
>>> 1. Apple are storing the location of "hidden" WiFi Access Points.
>>> (My opinion: low priority.)
>> 
>> Only Apple?
> 
> I think that is what Maria is saying, and I have no information to the
> contrary.
> 
>>> Allegedly: Apple are adhering to this exclusion, but are not also
>>> excluding BSSIDs which are not broadcasting any SSID at all (i.e.
>>> "hidden" networks). Other organisations (e.g. Google) do exclude such
>>> "hidden" networks.
>> 
>> And if it is hidden they would not see if the SSID ends in _nomap.
>> 
>> But is there a consensus that hidden SSIDs should not be listed? In 
>> writing? Maybe there is such a consensus now.
> 
> To me it's fairly intuitive that if someone has taken the unusual step
> of explicitly marking their network as "hidden", then its location
> should not be included in these databases - especially given the fact
> that the "_nomap" SSID method doesn't work for "hidden" networks.

I guess the challenge here is how can they know not to add the MAC address
if the SSID with the "_nomap" request invisible. 

>> Related: What did Arlen (aka Maria) achieve? That Apple agreed to
>> remove all hidden and _nomap entries, or that they removed only his
>> entry?
> 
> My impression is that as a result of Maria's communications with them,
> Apple updated their documentation to note that "hidden" networks are
> still listed in their database, and removed Maria's own BSSID(s) from
> the database.

That's purely a correlation. It could be a coincidence.  And is there any
evidence that the documentation did change? We only have his say so.