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IMEI concern grapheneOS (lemmy.world)

submitted 10 months ago by happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Is it a good enough solution for IMEI tracking to use an alternative device to provide a hotspot connection?

This approach appears to protect any new device that hasn't inserted a SIM card from being identified.

But I'm not sure how much information is carried to the second device by using hotspot.

Is this a good solution so far? Should I try to spoof IMEI?

all 17 comments

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do here. Yes, if you use a phone as a hotspot, everything going through will be associated with that hotspot phone's IMEI.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

thanks a lot.

I am trying to keep my device IMEI information private

May I also ask how much information is carried to the second device by using hotspot? By this I meant the phone with IMEI will be able to know my device name, but what else? Will the phone with IMEI also be able to know the device model?

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I am trying to keep my device IMEI information private

By replacing it with another not-private one? For what purpose?

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

using another not-private device is just a temporary solution. In the end I would like to use a portable router that supports MAC/IMEI randomnization

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Not sure how that would work. IMEI is how the carrier knows who you are and grants you network access.

[–] HelloRoot@lemy.lol 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They certainly can be spoofed or cloned.

But thats as illegal as it gets and faces serious proscecution.

[+] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The main goal here is to keep my device's IMEI number private, so that it appears to the service provider as if my phone has never used cellular data. By hiding the IMEI, the provider won’t be able to associate the device with me when I use it solely on public Wi-Fi such as in a café, or be able to track me with IMEI if my IMEI number is leaked by some service or app that I accidentally used. They might see that a new device is connected, but they won’t be able to identify that it belongs to me.

Now that I think of it twice I think you got a point Solely connecting to WIFI doesn't seem to leak my IMEI number. But I'm not sure what else will except for using SIMs.

I guess I just don't like the idea that a persistent number could be used to identify me.

Though I'm still curious about:

May I also ask how much information is carried to the second device by using hotspot? By this I meant the phone with IMEI will be able to know my device name, but what else? Will the phone with IMEI also be able to know the device model?

[–] jet@hackertalks.com 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You should be clear about what your threat model is. What are you willing to accept? What are you willing to trade?

Using a phone only as a Wi-Fi device is probably going to reduce the information surface you exposed to the world.

[–] happeningtofry99158@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

thanks a lot