diff --git a/docs/privacy/anonymizing-your-mac-address.md b/docs/privacy/anonymizing-your-mac-address.md index 5e28953..4863324 100644 --- a/docs/privacy/anonymizing-your-mac-address.md +++ b/docs/privacy/anonymizing-your-mac-address.md @@ -1,30 +1,30 @@ -Anonymizing your MAC Address +Anonymizing your MAC address ============================ -Although it is not the only metadata broadcast by network hardware, changing the default [MAC Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) of your hardware could be [an important step in protecting privacy](https://tails.boum.org/contribute/design/MAC_address/#index1h1). +Although the MAC address is not the only metadata broadcast by network hardware, changing your hardware's default [MAC Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) could be [an important step in protecting privacy](https://tails.boum.org/contribute/design/MAC_address/#index1h1). -Qubes OS 4.1 and higher already anonymize all Wifi MAC addresses [by default](https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-core-agent-linux/blob/master/network/nm-31-randomize-mac.conf) - they change during every Wifi session. -So there is **no need** to apply any of the below instructions if you're only interested in Wifi connections. Users requiring Ethernet MAC address anonymization may want to read on. +Qubes OS 4.1 and later already anonymize all Wi-Fi MAC addresses [by default](https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-core-agent-linux/blob/master/network/nm-31-randomize-mac.conf) - they change during every Wifi session. +So there is **no need** to apply any of the instructions below if you're only interested in Wi-Fi connections. Users requiring Ethernet MAC address anonymization may want to read on. ## Randomize a single connection -Right click on the Network Manager icon of your NetVM in the tray and click 'Edit Connections..'. +Right click on the Network Manager icon of your NetVM in the tray and click 'Edit Connections...'. Select the connection to randomize and click Edit. -Select the Cloned MAC Address drop down and set to Random or Stable. -Stable will generate a random address that persists until reboot, while Random will generate an address each time a link goes up. +Select the "Cloned MAC Address" drop down menu and pick either 'Random" or "Stable'. +'Stable' will generate a random address that persists until reboot, while 'Random' will generate an address each time a link goes up. ![Edit Connection](/attachment/wiki/RandomizeMAC/networkmanager-mac-random.png) -Save the change and reconnect the connection (click on Network Manager tray icon and click disconnect under the connection, it should automatically reconnect). +Save the change and reconnect the connection (click on Network Manager tray icon and click "Disconnect" under the connection, it should automatically reconnect). -## Randomize all Ethernet and Wifi connections +## Randomize all Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections These steps should be done inside a template to be used to create a NetVM as it relies on creating a config file that would otherwise be deleted after a reboot due to the nature of AppVMs. Write the settings to a new file in the `/etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/` directory, such as `00-macrandomize.conf`. -The following example enables Wifi and Ethernet MAC address randomization while scanning (not connected), and uses a randomly generated but persistent MAC address for each individual Wifi and Ethernet connection profile. +The following example enables Wi-Fi and Ethernet MAC address randomization while scanning (not connected), and uses a randomly generated but persistent MAC address for each individual Wi-Fi and Ethernet connection profile. ~~~ [device] @@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ You can check the MAC address currently in use by looking at the status pages of DHCP requests _may_ also leak your hostname to your LAN. Since your hostname is usually `sys-net`, other network users can easily spot that you're using Qubes OS. -Unfortunately `NetworkManager` currently doesn't provide an option to disable that leak globally ([Network Manager bug 584](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/issues/584)). However the below alternatives exist. +Unfortunately `NetworkManager` currently doesn't provide an option to disable that leak globally ([Network Manager bug 584](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/-/issues/584)). However, the alternatives below exist. ### Prevent hostname sending