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During the summer season, many of us travel and explore new places, and our smartphones are with us every step of the way, capturing and storing information about our movements. This information is not only available to us but also to various third parties who can access it.

One of the ways smartphones record our locations is through GPS or IP address information. This data is shared with companies like Google and Facebook for marketing purposes or with apps like “Strava” for tracking routes. Internet service providers also keep a log of which wireless access points our devices connect to while using their networks.

Another way our smartphones track our movements is through SSIDs. An SSID is the name of a wireless network, like “CERN” or “eduroam”, that our device connects to automatically or manually. Our devices store all the SSIDs they have ever connected to, revealing where we have been in the past.

When our smartphones have Wi-Fi enabled, they constantly search for wireless networks to connect to. In doing so, they broadcast the list of saved SSIDs, making it possible for anyone in the vicinity to know where we have been, without any time stamps attached.

In a recent experiment conducted near Building 31, numerous SSIDs were collected from smartphones advertising themselves to the network. These SSIDs included those from airports, hotels, conference venues, restaurants, and more, giving a clear picture of where people had been during their summer travels.

To protect your privacy, it is important to be aware of what your smartphone is sharing with the world. You can delete SSIDs you no longer wish to be associated with or disable automatic connections in your Wi-Fi settings. However, keep in mind that disabling automatic connections means you will need to manually connect to networks again in the future.

So, remember to take control of your smartphone’s data sharing and protect your privacy.

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