

Apple drops MAC address tracking from iOS 7 - hkimura
http://blog.tapstream.com/post/59589684290/apple-kills-the-mac-address-adds-cross-platform

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bskap
"Apple kills the MAC Address" is a terrible title. It made me worried that
Apple was trying to mess with the link layer.

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claudius
In similar news, Windows XP killed system-wide administrator accounts, Linux
killed process ptracing and your car brakes killed accidents.

Thankfully, the ‘inline headline’ is more descriptive.

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johnl1479
> Apple Kills the MAC Address

...for tracking purposes only

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nwh
It was only ever used to get around Apple removing access to the GUID anyway,
so it's a win for privacy.

Also has the side effect of stopping authors from using the MAC address as the
single form of authentication, which seems to happen an awful lot.

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klinquist
The (upside or downside, depending on your view) to this is a lot of stores
are looking to provide an omni-channel experience - install a store's app on
your mobile and login with your web login/loyalty card #/etc.

The app can send your MAC address along with your login to the store's server.

When you walk into the store.. as long as wifi on your mobile is turned on
(association not necessary), access points in the store can see your mobile
phone's wifi beacons and do a lot of things: send you a push notification,
send the store manager a push notification, track your path through the store
for targeted advertising, etc.

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cromwellian
"Cross platform notifications"-> only notifies on Apple Platform (OSX derived
OSes)

Um, shouldn't that be "Synced Notifications", but it sure ain't cross-
platform.

