this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
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Privacy
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Why exactly does vehicleprivacyreport want my VIN instead of year make and model? That’s me giving an unvetted third party website the unique tracking token for my car….
Lets talk about IMEIs of our phones too... Why is it illegal to change your phone IMEI?
Exactly!
On one hand yes, but on the other hand, doesn't it confuse the cell network? I think the IMEI is used for routing or some other similarly basic operation. Like the MAC address, but it's for a larger area and more easily can cause trouble
Theoretically, the SIM has its own MAC that’s used for routing on the cellular network; however, the network is required to route 911 calls even without a SIM, and that’s done via IMEI.
No, there are no confusions. Changing the "id" like the MAC address or the IMEI has no impact on any system.
Its just like a new device joins a network.
For example, when a client device gets its IP from the dhcp server on a router, which allocates a random ip from a specific pool, it does not influence anything like ip packets routing...
The real issue is that it is forbiden, BECAUSE if you randomize it you do not have an unique id anymore to trace back a specific device...
Hope is more clear for you now!
On the system none, yeah. But if you pick an IMEI that's also used by an other phone, that is what can cause trouble, as I know. It's the same as when multiple devices have the same MAC or IP address on the same network.
That's because it is not random. The DHCP server keeps track of the addresses it has assigned to someone, and will never tell the next new client to use an IP it has already assigned someone.
But if you set your IP statically and pick an IP that is used, or if you run multiple DHCP severs for the same network without coordination, then problems will come.
Yes you are correct!
But in our discussion it was implied/assumed a random UNIQUE IMEI or MAC address.
For example most of people have a pile of unused older phones which are NOT IN USE and you could use thoses IMEIs without issues.
How do you guarantee that it's unique? I think you can't
Fair, but how does one know which IMEIs were used by now unused phones?
IMEIs are unique by design... Any existing device SHOULD have a unique IMEI. So when you use an older device IMEI should work perfectly.
Hardware in cars, like hardware in computers drifts in configuration over manufacturing time. Some cars from a manufacturer might have some granularity of tracking that earlier units off the line didn't. Toyota does this with their Camry hybrids, for example.
The model year and other relevant info is found in the first part of the VIN. There's no legit reason for it to demand the whole thing, which it does.
I did not know that. Thanks.