I created an account while in the store with an email of [email protected] and a basic password and surprisingly didn't have to verify the email. Then turned on a VPN to my house.
I plan on just creating a new account every time I go in just to fill up their database with nonsense.
GIGO (Garbage in, garbage out) is the correct way to deal with the surveillance system.
Cool, is [email protected] still available?
It is not. You need to add a number at the end.
You do realize that they are actually tracking the device itself by the hardware MAC address and other device fingerprints.
The email is just a bonus to let them legally spam you. Anti-spam laws have an exemption. If there's a prior business relationship like shopping in their stores, they can put you on their spam list unless you opt out.
Bogus email only helps for spam but doesn't do anything about tracking.
EDIT: For Android when there's a Captive Portal like the screen shot. devices will use Persistent randomization which while not the hardware MAC will remain the same for the same network where they can track your visits.
Pretty much all modern phones randomize the MAC address everytime they connect to a network unless the user explicitly says not to do that.
Don't forget to spoof your MAC address so they cant see who is making the fake accounts ;D
I think the point of this post is all the stuff below the email field. Yikes.
That data isn't nothing, either. Over ten years ago, Target was able to use shoppers habits to determine when women were pregnant, sometimes even before the women knew.
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html
Imagine how much more robust this has gotten 10 years later.
Exactly, a damn good reason to avoid the Wi-Fi in stores altogether. So many wifi access points are super weak in security and super sketchy.
I try sticking to my home where I can manage it like a nervous hawk.
Bub, they always did this.
They just tell you that they're doing it now.
At least they're telling you. There's also a lot of hidden surveillance in stores - they've done it with Bluetooth and cameras for some time. Things like monitoring how long you look at products and evaluating your reactions to displays.
That's why I always introduce a good bit of entropy to my shopping patterns:
-Enter and go straight to produce
-Spend 20 minutes examining eggplants
-Walk up and down 5 aisles pausing exactly the square of the aisle number in seconds.
-Grab a box of tampons
-Grab what I need as quickly as possible
-Return tampons
-Checkout and leave
Somewhere a marketing team is spending hours trying to figure out how to improve the conversion rates for tampons and eggplants for customers in my demo.
Don't forget to flick and knock on various fruits and vegetables. Randomize how many flicks/knocks per item, and throw in a few on produce items that normally don't get that kind of test e.g. grapes or potatoes.
At least they're telling you.
Now there telling you. They just didn't ask for consent before.
In the EU they already had a complaint, because it violates GDPR, but in any case I would never use a public WiFi without a VPN, and even less in places with these conditions, there is also free WiFi in some Rstaurants (even in most McDonalds), public Libraries and others. Fuck surveillance advertising
Why would anyone interested in privacy connect to any public WiFi? That's crazy.
When you need service, but data is blocked by all the steel in the ceiling/roof. I've used it, but with my VPN active. I wonder if they're now going to try to block VPN services?
More like "we were doing this before, but now we have to tell you we are doing it".
Fake email and vpn = Free private connection
You dont even have to type a real email it doesn't verify anything. Just [email protected]
Why are all you mother fuckers shopping at Walmart. They are a welfare corporation offloading their costs to tax payers because despite making tons of money they pay shit and skirt employee benefits laws by keeping worker hours low and give new employees info on how to get financial aid such as food stamps.
This is the most privileged thing you could say.
"Hey, why isn't everyone eating sustainably sourced GMO-free, organic, locally-grown food all the time?"
Spoiler alert: it costs more
Yeah, this is the thing. Does literally anyone want to go to Walmart? No. Is it the place I can afford? Increasingly, still no. Not sure I can even afford to walk past whatever the good version of a Whole Foods is today, though.
Cause WinCo doesn't always have what I need, but most importantly:
I'm poor.
For the email, you can use an email alias service like Addy or SimpleLogin. They're both open-source and offer free tiers. I never give out my real email to anyone now except actual contacts.
After that, I think a VPN would probably still work to disguise what you're doing from Walmart, but I'm not a 100% certain on that so I won't link any.
But yeah, definitely use email alias wherever you can.
Walmart, the biggest grocery retailer in the entire United States, uses face tracking in the majority of their stores in several sections, and we’re concerned about their Wi-Fi?
The Wi-Fi seems like such a minor problem compared to them collecting massive amounts of data off of something you aren’t consenting to explicitly.
Like you walk into their stores and they can know: How often you visit, what items you buy, what payment method you use most often, what items you looked at and what aisles you visit, who you bring with you, what your kids look like, what disabilities you may have, size of your household, and whatever else they want. There’s basically no respect for any privacy in their stores.
The US is a privacy nightmare in competition with China. Most of the US doesn’t have any option over their privacy. You just don’t get it here.
Your phone simply being in the store with Wi-Fi enabled makes you personally identifiable. A request for your email when they have your location, shopping habits, taste in electronics, estimated address, browsing habits, and your full appearance isn't shocking. That no one has pointed this out yet is a bit eye opening.
Mac address randomization has been enabled by default since Android 10. I would assume iPhone does something similar.
Not sure about this Walmart case but most you can write any email like random letters [email protected] or not even the Gmail part as long as it's a valid looking mail and then works like you don't even have to confirm the email or anything.
Expecting privacy on someone else's network is absurd.
I always give some bs emails in those authentication forms. Mainly because as a client who tries to connect, I do not have internet access, so I cannot verify my email before they give me the access. And when they gave me access, there is no power in the world to make me do that 🤷
Never trust an open network. Even if the company providing isn't doing anything shady, the easy at which MITM (man in the middle) attacked, can be performed means that many insecure (and some secure) networks can be spoofed with a small amount of know-how.
Always make sure your connecting to a safe, secure wifi network, in a place where you expect that network to exist at.
If your phone connects in a place you wouldn't expect it to connect, double check what it's connecting to, and if necessary, disable your wifi.
it's not like they weren't doing this before
They can track you even if you dont accept. Turn Wifi off. If you connect, use VPN home.
They can use your wifi signal as a beacon by triangulating the signal strength from at least 3 different points. Then they can figure out in which departments you spend the most time, how long you spend in store, heatmaps, which aisles you skip and generic info like what time you visit, which locations you also shop at.
A quick google for "Retail Wifi tracking" brings up mirame.net , where you can see some of the features.
I would suggest to set your phone to flight mode if you see a "free wifi" sign in your shopping mall.
Please, think about the improved products and services before making any rash decisions.
I am so happy to live in Sweden. All open WiFi networks here are free to use and requires no email or account (VPN recommended as always, though). Even at grocery stores.
That's generally true in the US as well. That's why people are so outraged by this.
relay.firefox.com
Brilliant service and add a VON om top it will make it no sweat.
Sometimes these login portals accept any old bogus email or burner account. They were logging your IP anyway so realistically doesnt add any more compromised dafa
I'm gonna assume that by IP you mean MAC address because your IP is something that gets negotiated with the AP when you connect, changes every time you connect and can't really be linked back to your device at a public AP. In that case, the right move is to enable MAC randomization and connect through a VPN if you need to hide who you're talking to or just rely on TLS if you don't care that they know who you're talking to and only need to hide what was said.
Try luck with throwaway email + VPN. Although it's possible they'll still be able to identity you if you're the only one using that VPN on your local Walmart. At least they won't be able to see your traffic.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
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