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How to opt out of having your wi-fi access point used for big tech mapping services (support.google.com)
submitted 3 days ago by andioop@programming.dev to c/deshittification@thebrainbin.org
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cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/51680303 where I suggest you check for more discussion on the topic.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/51680197

Append “_nomap” to the end of your SSIDs to instruct Google not to use your wi-fi access point for their mapping services.

To do the same for Apple, add “_optout” to the end of your SSIDs¹.

To boycott both, the rumor is that Google’s “_nomap” must be last, but Apple’s “_optout” flag must be in the penultimate position if and only if Google’s token is at the end. So you might have an SSID like “boycottCloudflare_optout_nomap” to boycott the baddies, for example. But note that “boycottCloudflare” is merely symbolic, to raise awareness of the web’s most harmful enshitifier.

¹ sorry to say I have no reference to cite for the Apple rules. It’s just a rumor.

update

The Apple opt-out procedure has apparently changed to align with Google. Someone refers to this page for Apple.

update 2

Mapquest is suddenly gaining popularity.

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[-] andioop@programming.dev 6 points 3 days ago

But while things are this opt-out-of-surveillance way, I wanted to post this so people can 1) know the option to opt-out exists, and 2) do so. I did not know this was happening and so it is useful to me to figure out how to resist the surveillance, at least for a little while. It's not a perfect world, but this community's spirit is about helping us to fix it, even with imperfect solutions that we should not have to make in the first place. I am not posting this to give these big corps flowers, but to help the little clueless guy like myself who did not know this was going on.

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 3 points 3 days ago

Imo, both immediate and future solutions are needed. Immediate ones like what's proposed in the post (Iirc there's a saying for this, "live today so you can fight tomorrow"), and future ones like seeking awareness of people, consequences for the companies pushing these problems, and if needed, improvement on laws.

this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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State of affairs for technology seem bad? But what is being done to change it? And what could be done by you so it changes at least for yourself?

A community to talk about the reversal of enshittification, be it news, actions that could be done, etc.

A person that sees no solution has no reason to keep going.

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