6 ms·
I was wondering: why did they decide to randomize the address? Why not use the same address for every device?
by ohwp 12y ago
I was wondering: why did they decide to randomize the address? Why not use the same address for every device?
- FredericJ 12y agoMAC addresses are heavily used for routing purposes on a link layer. [Ethernet, WiFi ...]
- csixty4 12y ago^ This. A MAC address is a link-layer network address, just like an IP address. For example, the ARP protocol[1] uses it to identify devices with a given IP address on a network. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Resolution_Protocol#Example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Resolution_Protocol#Exa...
- jgrowl 12y agoI don't know if this was a concern, but some restaurants set time limits on internet access during certain hours based off of mac addresses. You need a different mac addy to bypass the restriction.
- jarin 12y agoThat won't work super well if there is more than one of that device in the area.
- asveikau 12y agoMaybe first ask yourself why have a MAC address at all, then the answer will come to you. I find it interesting how many people will stumble over this concept. A lot of technically minded people know that a MAC address is a "unique identifier" for the network card. They have that phrase "unique identifier" fixed in their heads and they know that MACs are this. Pull out a question like "why would you want a unique identifier?" and you get a lot of blank looks. It's almost like it's too easy to latch onto a phrase like "unique identifier" and get distracted from its practical purpose. (That thing that tells you whose packet this is.)