Hiding MAC address

woo

I am very sure that a MAC address is not transmitted outside of the local LAN.

Have a look at this http://www.watchguard.com/infocenter/editorial/135250.asp

ManAtHome

Used to know stuff like this... pretty low-level though. Just had a quick google of OSI and ARP - quite likely that the other end will have your router or modem MAC. Not sure about connected PC details - the router/modem will maintain an ARP table, in theory shouldn't be accessible to the outside world if you have a firewall (I think..).

albertross_2

the only way to hide it, is to use a proxy server.. but the proxy server will know it.

without the other end knowing your mac address, it won't be able to communicate with you.

ManAtHome

That's the bit I'm not sure about - thought the router would do the address translation. It would have to give its own MAC to the other end, but not necessarily the target PC address..?

Still, plenty of googling pages for the OP (or could get a big box of NICs for a couple of quid each and change them every few weeks...).

wolfman

innovate wrote:

I do not own a website so cannot provide an example of what webmasters can see.

However, any webmaster with the right tools can track your Internet activity if they know your MAC Address. Your MAC Address is continuously being sent over WiFi networks, even if they use secure WEP/WPA Encryption.

Where have you seen webmasters that can track MAC addresses?

Simply speaking this is not possible. The only way I can see that someone could get your MAC address is via ActiveX or a Java applet, but even then it may still be tricky and you'd need to allow it. I don't think it's even possible to do via JavaScript. MAC addresses weren't designed for such use, they're a more internal thing.

The average website won't be able to see your MAC address, only the IP of your router. I think you're being overly paranoid. And even if one website does note your IP, it's strictly related to that site and not anywhere else you've browsed. And even then it's purely a number to them, probably something they have thousands for each request.

You mention MAC addresses being sent via Wifi, but again this is purely local. And also it's encrypted. If someone could break that encryption I'd be more worried about your neighbours packet sniffing your browsing habits, than websites trying to track you.

chuckles1066

superscaper wrote:

If websites are able to record your computer's name and mac address I think I'd be more concerned with your firewall settings. I'm pretty sure it's not a standard thing they are able to do.

It's primarily used by law enforcement agencies when dealing with, among other things, people who visit illegal websites.

From your IP address they are able to force your ISP to reveal your details and then from the MAC address they are able to identify exactly which machine on the premises was being used to visit the said websites.

hibees1875_2

im getting a whiff of over anxious paranoia here. Even if your mac address was broadcast.... it would be meaningless if you were simply surfing web without signing up to anything. it would just be an anonymous number. But, as you have registered on this site... with an email address, and registered for your email address either web based or with your ISP, you have already started a trail of info relating to you. So, if you are that bothered about being tracked on the web, don't surf or use internet cafe's. Although anonymizer.com (?sp) can be good fun.

ev0s

You MAC addres is logged by every switch your data goes through when you are browsing the internet that is how they work. There is no need to hide your MAC address, I think your being over paranoid. If your ISP wants to trace you they will have logs to do so.

innovate

Looks I was very mis-informed about how MAC addresses are being used / can be used by webmasters. Thanks to all who responded with better infromation than I had

albertross_2

http://www.voidnish.com/articles/ShowArticle.aspx?code=MacIdChanger

http://www.gorlani.com/publicprj/macmakeup/macmakeup.asp

Not much use if you have a router though..

make sure system restore is turned on if you try them.. just in case.

Turning of third party cookies in IE may be of more benefit to you.