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How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database

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  How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 05:08 -0700
    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-05 12:17 +0000
      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 06:28 -0700
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2025-12-05 17:42 +0000
          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 17:16 -0700
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-06 02:02 +0100
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2025-12-05 17:25 -0800
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 18:53 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-06 13:02 +0100
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-06 10:13 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 21:43 +0100
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-12-08 01:17 +0000
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-08 07:04 -0700
                          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-10 00:19 +0100
                            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-18 14:37 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-28 10:54 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-06 14:43 +0000
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-06 10:13 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-06 18:02 +0000
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-06 12:06 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2025-12-06 15:07 -0800
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-12-06 13:32 +0000
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-06 14:50 +0100
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-08 21:19 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-10 00:26 +0100
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-09 19:54 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-11 22:37 +0100
                          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-11 19:13 -0700
                          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-12 10:24 +0000
                            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-12 10:24 -0700
                            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-14 21:00 +0100
                              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-14 16:44 -0700
                                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-16 23:16 +0100
                                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-17 00:29 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-12-08 13:02 +0000
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-08 09:04 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-10 00:31 +0100
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-09 20:05 -0700
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-06 13:36 +0000
          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-06 10:13 -0700
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-06 20:51 +0000
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-06 22:38 +0000
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-06 23:53 -0700
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-07 10:23 +0000
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 09:29 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-07 11:05 +0000
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-07 14:02 +0000
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-07 22:36 +0000
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 20:14 -0700
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 21:53 +0100
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 20:27 -0700
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 20:37 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-12-08 09:16 +0000
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-08 06:46 -0700
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 22:05 +0100
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-08 06:50 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-10 00:37 +0100
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-09 19:24 -0700
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-12-10 19:10 +0000
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-10 19:30 +0000
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-10 14:30 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-11 07:20 +0000
                          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-11 19:21 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-12-10 19:37 +0000
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-10 14:35 -0700
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-12-11 14:40 +0000
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-10 14:31 -0700
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-11 22:45 +0100
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-17 02:41 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-17 02:50 -0700
                          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-17 03:27 -0700
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-12-06 18:07 +0000
          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-06 20:51 +0000
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 01:04 -0700
    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2025-12-05 10:39 -0800
    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2025-12-05 11:11 -0800
      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2025-12-05 19:59 +0000
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-06 00:08 +0000
          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 17:24 -0700
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk> - 2025-12-06 22:51 +0000
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-07 01:25 -0700
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 22:11 +0100
            Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 22:24 +0100
              Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> - 2025-12-08 01:34 +0000
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-12-08 08:13 +0000
                Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-28 17:14 -0700
                  Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Alan <nuh-uh@nope.com> - 2025-12-28 20:55 -0800
                    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Tyrone <none@none.none> - 2025-12-29 15:12 +0000
                      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-29 15:04 -0700
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> - 2025-12-29 17:52 -0600
                        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Hank Rogers <Hank@nospam.invalid> - 2025-12-29 18:45 -0600
      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-05 21:17 +0100
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Jolly Roger <jollyroger@pobox.com> - 2025-12-05 22:17 +0000
          Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 17:04 -0700
        Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-07 21:13 +0100
    Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> - 2025-12-05 17:55 -0700
      Re: How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-12-06 13:01 +0100

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#190106 — How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS database

How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS
database and, if it is in Apples insecure WPS database, what else is there.

If you'd like me to test if your access point BSSID is in the Apple WPS
database, then simply respond with that BSSID & I'll run the Windows
scripts I just wrote based on research published recently of the flaws in
Apple's methods (some of that research is listed in the signature below).

Note that your BSSID should not be in Apple's database if you've opted out
by appending "_nomap" to your access point SSID (e.g., "my.ssid_nomap").

None of my access point BSSIDs are in the Apple database, but I have the
optout keywords _optout_nomap appended to all of them, but once I confirm
the process works, I'll be glad to write a tutorial so others can do it
too.

Let me know which BSSIDs you wish me to look up for you in Apple's WPS.
-- 
Cybernews: *Anyone can tap into your WiFi location data to track you*
explains how Apple's WPS can be exploited for mass surveillance.
<https://cybernews.com/privacy/apple-beams-wifi-location-data-privacy-risk/>

Cybersecurity News: *Hackers Can Abuse Apple’s Wi-Fi Positioning System*
details the University of Maryland study showing global tracking risks.
 <https://cybersecuritynews.com/apples-wi-fi-positioning-system/>

Dark Reading: *Apple Geolocation API Exposes Wi-Fi Access Points Worldwide*
notes that researchers could query hundreds of millions of APs in days.
<https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint-security/apple-geolocation-api-exposes-wi-fi-access-points-worldwide>

Krebs on Security: *Why Your Wi-Fi Router Doubles as an Apple AirTag*
describes how Apple’s data was used to track billions of devices globally
<https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/05/why-your-wi-fi-router-doubles-as-an-apple-airtag/>

Register: *Apple Wi-Fi Positioning System open to global tracking abuse*
covers the academic paper "Surveilling the Masses with Wi-Fi-Based
Positioning Systems" by Erik Rye and Dave Levin
 <https://www.theregister.com/2024/05/23/apple_wifi_positioning_system/>

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#190107

On 2025/12/5 12:8:8, Marian wrote:
> How to test if your access point BSSID is in the highly insecure Apple WPS
> database and, if it is in Apples insecure WPS database, what else is there.
> 
> If you'd like me to test if your access point BSSID is in the Apple WPS
> database, then simply respond with that BSSID & I'll run the Windows
> scripts I just wrote based on research published recently of the flaws in
> Apple's methods (some of that research is listed in the signature below).
> 
> Note that your BSSID should not be in Apple's database if you've opted out
> by appending "_nomap" to your access point SSID (e.g., "my.ssid_nomap").
> 
> None of my access point BSSIDs are in the Apple database, but I have the
> optout keywords _optout_nomap appended to all of them, but once I confirm
> the process works, I'll be glad to write a tutorial so others can do it
> too.
> 
> Let me know which BSSIDs you wish me to look up for you in Apple's WPS.

Can you get any idea of what's in the database, or can you only check it
for a specific given one? (I. e. does it accept wildcards or anything
similar?)

I ask as it'd be interesting to know if it _does_ contain any _nomap
ones, but you can't find that out if you have to specify them exactly.
(Though you could make up a few to try, but that wouldn't be conclusive
unless you succeed.)

-- 
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"Young man, if you think I am going to climb up there you are greatly
mistaken. I am Melba." - Dame Nellie, in June 1920, on being shown the
tall aerials that would enable her voice to be heard around the world.

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#190108

J. P. Gilliver wrote:
> Can you get any idea of what's in the database, or can you only check it
> for a specific given one? (I. e. does it accept wildcards or anything
> similar?)
> 
> I ask as it'd be interesting to know if it _does_ contain any _nomap
> ones, but you can't find that out if you have to specify them exactly.
> (Though you could make up a few to try, but that wouldn't be conclusive
> unless you succeed.)

Hi John,

Thanks for asking as we can all work together on this privacy project.

It's worse than I thought. I checked the Apple database for my own BSSID of
an access point that has had "_nomap" on it for years, and it was in the
Apple database!. The real GPS location. It was horrid. I almost fainted.

I don't understand _how_ it got into Apple's database.
Nor how it _stayed_ in Apple's database.
But there's no doubt that it's there. With the GPS to 8 decimal digits!

To me, that's criminal.
But I can't believe that Apple is that horrifically bad. I just can't. 

So there must be some kind of a mistake.
But what? 

A BSSID is unique.

Just run this on your PC and it will give you the BSSID you connect to:
 C:\> netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid

I wasn't going to check Google's database, but I just started writing the
scripts to check Google's database to see if it was only in Apple's
database. Anyone on the planet can query Apple's database.

But to query Google's database, I need to generate a Google Geolocation API
account which I haven't done (and which I wasn't planning on doing).

But I was shocked my hidden-broadcast AP BSSID with _nomap was in Apple's
database, so I might bite the bullet & create the Google API key after all.

Even so, if what I found out today is correct, Apple is liable for criminal
action, so I need to be very clear and doublecheck everything I tested.

If anyone has a BSSID that they feel they don't have to worry about
posting, I can see if it's in Apple's database right away, but I do
understand why people might not post it on Usenet. 

If we could find an SSID of a local coffee shop or library, that might work
since it would only show us the location of that business on Google Maps. 

I need to prove to all of you that the Apple/Google databases are horrid.

All we need to do that is a BSSID of an AP that isn't in your own home
(because I understand nobody wanting their own home to be geolocated).

But that's the whole point.

If it's that easy for anyone to look up where we live based only on our
BSSID, then there's something horrid going on, don't you think?

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#190111

On 2025-12-05, Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> wrote:
> J. P. Gilliver wrote:
>> Can you get any idea of what's in the database, or can you only check it
>> for a specific given one? (I. e. does it accept wildcards or anything
>> similar?)
>> 
>> I ask as it'd be interesting to know if it _does_ contain any _nomap
>> ones, but you can't find that out if you have to specify them exactly.
>> (Though you could make up a few to try, but that wouldn't be conclusive
>> unless you succeed.)
>
> It's worse than I thought. I checked the Apple database for my own BSSID of
> an access point that has had "_nomap" on it for years, and it was in the
> Apple database!. The real GPS location. It was horrid. I almost fainted.

Bullshit. Weak lie.

-- 
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

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#190126

Jolly Roger wrote:
>> It's worse than I thought. I checked the Apple database for my own BSSID of
>> an access point that has had "_nomap" on it for years, and it was in the
>> Apple database!. The real GPS location. It was horrid. I almost fainted.
> 
> Bullshit. Weak lie.

It's classic for the Apple trolls to claim everything they can't understand
is a "weak lie" as Jolly Roger just did, but the fact remains that my BSSID
is in Apple's database (and the SSID is hidden & has "_nomap" appended).

This is bad. 
Very bad.

It could very well be so bad that lawyers will need to be involved.
Since I take my privacy seriously - and yet - Apple doesn't appear to.

If I need to, I will contact a class-action suit lawyer, but I'm nowhere at
that stage just yet, as I need to find out why my BSSID is in Apple's WPS.

I looked up what Apple's policy is and it appears that Apple "claims" to
scrub BSSIDs whose SSID contains the "_nomap" suffix, so my BSSID should
never be in Apple's WPS database under any perceivable circumstances.

 *Why Your Wi-Fi Router Doubles as an Apple AirTag*
 <https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/05/why-your-wi-fi-router-doubles-as-an-apple-airtag/>
 "In late March 2024, Apple quietly updated its website to note 
  that anyone can opt out of having the location of their wireless 
  access points collected and shared by Apple by appending '_nomap' 
  to the end of the Wi-Fi access point's name (SSID). 
 <https://web.archive.org/web/20240328071851/https://support.apple.com/en-us/102515>

Given I had "trusted" Apple at its word, I almost fainted when I found that
my BSSID was in Apple's WPS even as the SSID is hidden & it has "_nomap".
So I'm going to check all the other databases to try to get more datapoints
as this seems to be an egregious lack of privacy even for Apple to abuse.

Back to Jolly Roger's comments that everything he can't understand must be
a lie, the strange thing about Apple trolls is they claim everything that
puts Apple in a bad light is a lie, when the reality is that it's the
truth. 

We can prove the truth if anyone else wants to give us their BSSID to test.
Or, they can test it themselves, as noted in a prior post, simply by by
searching Apple's WPS database for their BSSID whose SSID is set to _nomap.
 <https://wavedigger.networksurvey.app/?tab=bssid>

Moving forward, I am emphatically reporting that my SSID is set to hidden
and the SSID has _nomap appended, and yet it's clearly in the Apple WPS.

That's bad.
Really bad.

I will need to check further (to see if it's in the Google database, for
example, which requires me to register for an API key from Google), but at
the moment, I'm horribly appalled my hidden/_nomap AP is in Apple's WPS.
-- 
Working together we can all help each other improve our privacy online.

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#190131

On 2025-12-06 01:16, Marian wrote:
> It's classic for the Apple trolls to claim everything they can't understand
> is a "weak lie" as Jolly Roger just did, but the fact remains that my BSSID
> is in Apple's database (and the SSID is hidden & has "_nomap" appended).

So all your efforts to hide yourself are for nothing. You are listed. 
You might as well not bother to hide! :-D

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#190133

On 2025-12-05 17:02, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2025-12-06 01:16, Marian wrote:
>> It's classic for the Apple trolls to claim everything they can't 
>> understand
>> is a "weak lie" as Jolly Roger just did, but the fact remains that my 
>> BSSID
>> is in Apple's database (and the SSID is hidden & has "_nomap" appended).
> 
> So all your efforts to hide yourself are for nothing. You are listed. 
> You might as well not bother to hide! :-D
> 

The BSSIDs are listed.

There is no easy link between a BSSID and the person or organization 
that is using it.

A click using WaveDigger's site to search by location near my building 
(as a for instance) returns more than 1,500 BSSIDs...

...and NONE of them actually show as being in my actual building.

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#190134

Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> It's classic for the Apple trolls to claim everything they can't understand
>> is a "weak lie" as Jolly Roger just did, but the fact remains that my BSSID
>> is in Apple's database (and the SSID is hidden & has "_nomap" appended).
> 
> So all your efforts to hide yourself are for nothing. You are listed. 
> You might as well not bother to hide! :-D

Hi Chris,

Alas... it's shockingly disturbing, so I'm very happy that I had checked!

While the statement is horrifyingly correct that Apple has my BSSID in their 
WPS database even though I have appended "_nomap" to the SSID (and it's hidden)... 
and even though Apple says they respect the opt-out directive... 

I don't own the mentality of Sklaven.

I am already documenting everything so that, if I need to, I can present the i
nformation to someone in the legal profession who can stop this.

But at this point, I have to take Apple at its word.
So I'm going to need to delve deeper to dig for "some kind of mistake".

It may be that by hiding my SSID broadcast, I prevented Apple from recognizing 
that the _nomap was appended to the SSID, for example. 

Wouldn't that be ironic!

Since I'm a well-educated scientist and engineer, I have a few hypotheses to 
check out, but one of the next steps in gathering data is to see if the same 
BSSID is found in the Google WPS databases.

Unfortunately for me (but good for privacy), much unlike Apple (whose queries 
are unrestricted), Google a least restricts the queries to their WPS database, 
by requiring an API key.

It's not a huge restriction, but it's bigger than Apple's restrictions are.

And I've already written the tutorial for querying Apple's WPS database.
I need to write the tutorial for querying Google's WPS database too.

I'm either going to use the GitHub tool (which queries them all).
Or I'll use the defined method Google provides to query its WPS data.

1. Create an API key in the Google Cloud Console.
   <https://console.cloud.google.com/>

2. Send a POST request to Google’s Geolocation API endpoint:
   <https://www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate?key=YOUR_API_KEY>

   Include the BSSID in the request body Example JSON payload:
   {
     "wifiAccessPoints": [
       {
         "macAddress": "11:22:33:AA:BB:CC"
       }
     ]
   }

You can use curl from the command line to send the request:
   curl -X POST \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{
       "wifiAccessPoints": [
         {"macAddress": "11:22:33:AA:BB:CC"}
       ]
     }' \
     "https://www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate?key=YOUR_API_KEY"

3. If Google has that BSSID in its database, you’ll get back GPS
   latitude/longitude coordinates.

   If it's been excluded (because of _nomap or other reasons), 
   the response will likely be an error or no location data.

Here's a command line script that will make that query for us:
 C:\> python geolocate.py

 Where "geolocate.py" would be something like the following script:
  # geolocate.py Python Script to Query Google WPS database
  # USAGE:  C:\> python.exe geolocate.py 
  import requests

  # Replace with your own Google Geolocation API key
  API_KEY = "YOUR_API_KEY"

  # Replace with the BSSID you want to test
  bssid = "11:22:33:AA:BB:CC"

  url = f"https://www.googleapis.com/geolocation/v1/geolocate?key={API_KEY}"

  payload = {
      "wifiAccessPoints": [
          {"macAddress": bssid}
      ]
  }

  response = requests.post(url, json=payload)

  if response.status_code == 200:
      print("Response from Google Geolocation API:")
      print(response.json())
  else:
      print("Error:", response.status_code, response.text)

Note that each API call counts as one request against your daily quota,
regardless of how many BSSIDs you include. To cut down on the request count, 
you can provide multiple wifiAccessPoints entries (each with a BSSID). 

That means if you batch 10 BSSIDs into a request, it consumes only 1 quota unit, 
not 10 (although, for individuals, in practice, the quota is large enough 
at 2,500 per day before costing you a fee).

 {
   "wifiAccessPoints": [
     {"macAddress": "11:22:33:AA:BB:CC"},
     {"macAddress": "AA:BB:CC:11:22:33"},
     {"macAddress": "12:34:56:78:90:AB"}
   ]
 }
-- 

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#190141

On 2025-12-06 02:53, Marian wrote:
> It may be that by hiding my SSID broadcast, I prevented Apple from recognizing
> that the _nomap was appended to the SSID, for example.

Maybe.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#190153

Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> It may be that by hiding my SSID broadcast, I prevented Apple from recognizing
>> that the _nomap was appended to the SSID, for example.
> 
> Maybe.

Hi Carlos,

I thank you for making me think about it, where the fact remains that we
need to explain why a hidden SSID with "_nomap" is in the Apple WPS db.

The BSSID is always in the broadcast packet but that the SSID field is
"null" (or blank). 

Since the broadcast happens ten times a second, there's no doubt Apple
products (of which I own many) are seeing the "BSSID", and, since these
Apple devices are in my own home, they're seeing the "SSID in the clear"
whenever a PC or mobile device handshakes with the access point.

So, clearly, Apple *knows* that the SSID is hidden, and, Apple likely even
knows the SSID, but Apple may have chosen to ignore these obvious facts.

Hence, I take this loss of my privacy by Apple very seriously.
What I need to do, moving forward, is gather more data points.

What would be useful to know is if it's only me or if it's everyone.

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#190200

On 2025-12-06 18:13, Marian wrote:
> Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>> It may be that by hiding my SSID broadcast, I prevented Apple from recognizing
>>> that the _nomap was appended to the SSID, for example.
>>
>> Maybe.
> 
> Hi Carlos,
> 
> I thank you for making me think about it, where the fact remains that we
> need to explain why a hidden SSID with "_nomap" is in the Apple WPS db.
> 
> The BSSID is always in the broadcast packet but that the SSID field is
> "null" (or blank).
> 
> Since the broadcast happens ten times a second, there's no doubt Apple
> products (of which I own many) are seeing the "BSSID", and, since these
> Apple devices are in my own home, they're seeing the "SSID in the clear"
> whenever a PC or mobile device handshakes with the access point.
> 
> So, clearly, Apple *knows* that the SSID is hidden, and, Apple likely even
> knows the SSID, but Apple may have chosen to ignore these obvious facts.
> 
> Hence, I take this loss of my privacy by Apple very seriously.
> What I need to do, moving forward, is gather more data points.
> 
> What would be useful to know is if it's only me or if it's everyone.

Sorry, I can't help with that. But yes, Apple should take the hint that 
if the SSID is hidden, they should not list the associated BSSID either.

If you have a free unused/old router or access point, you could set it 
up with a hidden _nomap SSID, and without connecting any of your phones 
to it, wait to see if the BSSID appears listed after a month or two. It 
would be interesting to check every day with a script, to see how fast 
they update.


But you yourself posted recently a list of databases, and the procedures 
to not get listed are quite different. _nomap in most of them, but 
actually writing to them to get yourself unlisted on some of them. Not 
very nice of them!

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#190216

Carlos E.R. wrote:

> If you have a free unused/old router or access point, you could set it 
> up with a hidden _nomap SSID, and without connecting any of your phones 
> to it, wait to see if the BSSID appears listed after a month or two. It 
> would be interesting to check every day with a script, to see how fast 
> they update.

Ask some friends who use iPhones to come round for a coffee, the more 
devices hoovering up data the better?  They may only add BSSIDs to the 
DB if they've seen them via multiple devices.

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#190237

Carlos E.R. wrote:
> Sorry, I can't help with that. But yes, Apple should take the hint that 
> if the SSID is hidden, they should not list the associated BSSID either.
> 
> If you have a free unused/old router or access point, you could set it 
> up with a hidden _nomap SSID, and without connecting any of your phones 
> to it, wait to see if the BSSID appears listed after a month or two. It 
> would be interesting to check every day with a script, to see how fast 
> they update.

Andy Burns wrote:
> Ask some friends who use iPhones to come round for a coffee, the more 
> devices hoovering up data the better?  They may only add BSSIDs to the 
> DB if they've seen them via multiple devices.

I appreciate the input from both Carlos & Andy in that both of you seem to
understand the problem set, which is I didn't consent to be tracked.
 a. I hid my SSID (which is a clear non-consent active action), and, 
 b. I added _nomap to all my SSIDs (which is another active non consent).
And yet, I'm in the Apple WPS database down to the middle of the house.
(Wavedigger maps are accurate to 8 digits pinpointing the exact home!)

The fact is that I have plenty of Apple devices in the home, maybe even
more than Android devices, so I don't need to bring in more iPhones. :)

We're all smart people so we can see that "something" is wrong. 
But what?

It could be Apple (e.g., a bug).
Or, it could be me (as Andy has intimated in a prior post).

I've met with my neighbor who is a VP at Apple who knows me extremely well
so he takes my claims seriously, so we'll find out soon if it's a bug.

Or, it could be "something that I did"; but what?

I'm thinking that I need to look more deeply at how repeaters and bridges
pass BSSIDs. I'm not really all that familiar with how BSSIDs propagate.

I'll dig a bit to see if maybe a repeater/bridge threw me under the bus.

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#190273

On 2025-12-08 15:04, Marian wrote:
> Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> Sorry, I can't help with that. But yes, Apple should take the hint 
>> that if the SSID is hidden, they should not list the associated BSSID 
>> either.
>>
>> If you have a free unused/old router or access point, you could set it 
>> up with a hidden _nomap SSID, and without connecting any of your 
>> phones to it, wait to see if the BSSID appears listed after a month or 
>> two. It would be interesting to check every day with a script, to see 
>> how fast they update.
> 
> Andy Burns wrote:
>> Ask some friends who use iPhones to come round for a coffee, the more 
>> devices hoovering up data the better?  They may only add BSSIDs to the 
>> DB if they've seen them via multiple devices.
> 
> I appreciate the input from both Carlos & Andy in that both of you seem to
> understand the problem set, which is I didn't consent to be tracked.
> a. I hid my SSID (which is a clear non-consent active action), and, b. I 
> added _nomap to all my SSIDs (which is another active non consent).
> And yet, I'm in the Apple WPS database down to the middle of the house.
> (Wavedigger maps are accurate to 8 digits pinpointing the exact home!)
> 
> The fact is that I have plenty of Apple devices in the home, maybe even
> more than Android devices, so I don't need to bring in more iPhones. :)
> 
> We're all smart people so we can see that "something" is wrong. But what?
> 
> It could be Apple (e.g., a bug).
> Or, it could be me (as Andy has intimated in a prior post).
> 
> I've met with my neighbor who is a VP at Apple who knows me extremely well
> so he takes my claims seriously, so we'll find out soon if it's a bug.
> 
> Or, it could be "something that I did"; but what?
> 
> I'm thinking that I need to look more deeply at how repeaters and bridges
> pass BSSIDs. I'm not really all that familiar with how BSSIDs propagate.
> 
> I'll dig a bit to see if maybe a repeater/bridge threw me under the bus.

Doubtful.

The SSID is the same, so would have the _nomap, but I'm unsure about the 
BSSID keeping or not.

In any case, you can find out if the SSID is published or hidden by any 
of those repeaters/bridges. Just move near to each one of them, and 
query the laptop information. Make sure it is connected to it by 
comparing the strength of the signal.

-- 
Cheers, Carlos.
ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;

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#190518

Carlos E.R. wrote:
>> I'll dig a bit to see if maybe a repeater/bridge threw me under the bus.
> 
> Doubtful.
> 
> The SSID is the same, so would have the _nomap, but I'm unsure about the 
> BSSID keeping or not.
> 
> In any case, you can find out if the SSID is published or hidden by any 
> of those repeaters/bridges. Just move near to each one of them, and 
> query the laptop information. Make sure it is connected to it by 
> comparing the strength of the signal.

I found out, directly from Apple, what the problem was. 

I'm not at liberty to provide the details, but my neighbor, who is very
high in the Apple hierarchy, filed a RADAR internal bug report for me.

After a week of discussing the problem, and even with my high-level access,
Apple pulled the typical stalling & denial (can't reproduce) tactic, I
stood my ground and asked Apple to answer one question to my satisfaction.

Q: Why, when I followed all Apple's published rules, am I in their WPS db?
A: The answer came back that they don't respect the fact my SSID is hidden.

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#190760

Andy Burns wrote:
>> If you have a free unused/old router or access point, you could set it 
>> up with a hidden _nomap SSID, and without connecting any of your phones 
>> to it, wait to see if the BSSID appears listed after a month or two. It 
>> would be interesting to check every day with a script, to see how fast 
>> they update.
> 
> Ask some friends who use iPhones to come round for a coffee, the more 
> devices hoovering up data the better?  They may only add BSSIDs to the 
> DB if they've seen them via multiple devices.

Hi Andy,

I respect you so I am explaining that I'm taking your suggestion to heart.
Yet we don't need any Apple devices to run this test, it's that easy to do.

Jan 1st I'm putting 3 old routers (which you may recognize) in Palo Alto.
 <https://i.postimg.cc/44WKMKpJ/apple-wps-testing.jpg>

  1. Normal SSID
  2. _nomap SSID
  3. _nomap SSID + hidden broadcast frames

I have a friend in Palo Alto who is willing to host these three routers for
about a month, starting on January 1st, 2026. Then we will move the three
routers to Cupertino on February 1st to simulate moving to a new flat.
 From: Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com>
 Newsgroups: alt.comp.os.windows-10,comp.mobile.android,alt.internet.wireless
 Subject: Help!  How do we get Apple to care about privacy for entities who own access points?
 Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2025 23:42:17 -0700
 Organization: BWH Usenet Archive (https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com)
 Message-ID: <10ig209$29kr$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

I already know EXACTLY what will happen, but this is simply the test
results that I will show to Apple when the time comes to show it to them.

Given virtually every router in the world has the HIDDEN broadcast frame
feature, we can assume hundreds of millions of people use that feature.

Apple does not intend to honor their own published privacy policy, so the
routers with that feature will be included in the public Apple WPS
database, which is expressly against the wishes of the people who do that.

What Apple "is doing" is the antithesis of what Apple "says" they will do.

To me, that's morally, ethically & legally reprehensible for Apple to do
that, and Apple can't say they're unaware because I know they're aware.
-- 
It used to be Apple only told the truth in court, but with Judge Gonzalez' 
case with Apple execs, it may be Apple doen't even tell the truth in court.

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#190150

Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> wrote:
> Carlos E.R. wrote:
>>> It's classic for the Apple trolls to claim everything they can't understand
>>> is a "weak lie" as Jolly Roger just did, but the fact remains that my BSSID
>>> is in Apple's database (and the SSID is hidden & has "_nomap" appended).
>> 
>> So all your efforts to hide yourself are for nothing. You are listed. 
>> You might as well not bother to hide! :-D
> 
> Hi Chris,

You're replying to Carlos. 

> Alas... it's shockingly disturbing, so I'm very happy that I had checked!
> 
> While the statement is horrifyingly correct that Apple has my BSSID in their 
> WPS database even though I have appended "_nomap" to the SSID (and it's hidden)... 
> and even though Apple says they respect the opt-out directive... 
> 
> I don't own the mentality of Sklaven.
> 
> I am already documenting everything so that, if I need to, I can present the i
> nformation to someone in the legal profession who can stop this.

"A fool and his money are soon parted." 

> But at this point, I have to take Apple at its word.
> So I'm going to need to delve deeper to dig for "some kind of mistake".
> 
> It may be that by hiding my SSID broadcast, I prevented Apple from recognizing 
> that the _nomap was appended to the SSID, for example. 
> 
> Wouldn't that be ironic!

"Hoisted by your own petard." Tragic. 

An alternative is that the "_nomap" flag only works going forward and
doesn't require Apple/Google/etc to remove existing db entries already
captured. 

> Since I'm a well-educated scientist and engineer

You are neither. 

<snip>

Just hack the MAC or get a new router. 

If you were in the EU/UK you could demand them to delete the information
under GDPR. But apparently you prefer your version of "freedom" and this
isn't the american way. 

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#190151

Chris wrote:
> You're replying to Carlos. 

Thanks for pointing out that I often confuse Carlos with you for some odd
reason, which I apologize for. As I've explained many times, I wrote my own
newsreader long ago so that I could pop up the edits in vi (later gVim).

So I don't see anything in the header unless I take pains to look.
However, the "attribute" line shows up, so I can see some identifiers.

> "A fool and his money are soon parted." 

I agree, and, you'll note, that in the last three decades of using
computers, the only apps/programs I've ever need to pay for are:
 a. The company paid for MS Office (which I'm still using)
 b. The company paid for Adobe Acrobat writer (which I'm still using)
 c. Every year I buy at Costco on sale in December their TurbuTax

That's it. Even all my phones have been free lately.
All I had to do was pay the sales tax on them.

I even get many tens of thousands of dollars of Amazon items for free.
 <https://amazon.com/vine/about>

Many people calculate that the Amazon Vine members are two in a million.

Amazon gives me tens of thousands of dollars of "stuff" for free
(although the deal is that they require me to write reviews for them).

Of course, I have to pay income taxes on the MSRP of everything I get from
Amazon so while there are no price limits per se, that limits what I get.

In summary, I get much of what other people pay for, for free.
As you stated, if you're intelligent, everything turns out to be free.

Never make the mistake to think that I'm anything like you are.

>> Wouldn't that be ironic!
> 
> "Hoisted by your own petard." Tragic. 

Well, never make the mistake of ever thinking I'm anything like you.
I care deeply that other people get the benefit of all that I learn.

In this case, I'm determined to find out the answer and then make sure
people on the Internet LEARN the answer that I work hard to find out.

That's where I differ from most people.
I'm trying to always spread the knowledge.
> 
> An alternative is that the "_nomap" flag only works going forward and
> doesn't require Apple/Google/etc to remove existing db entries already
> captured. 

I won't try to dig up the references, but I'm of the understanding that
Google will "scrub" the nomap BSSIDs within weeks of them disappearing.

The real question is what is Apple's policy when *both* nomap and a hidden
SSID are encountered since Apple is well aware of both circumstances.

Personally, I consider this class-action-suit worthy.
But I'm not a lawyer. When I find one who is interested, we'll find out.

But that's for the future. 
For now, we need to figure out what has happened.

>> Since I'm a well-educated scientist and engineer
> 
> You are neither. 

Heh heh heh... 

The good news is my ego is not tied up in what you think of me.
My ego is tied up in how much valuable info I impart to others.

Never think I'm anything like you.

> Just hack the MAC or get a new router. 

It's not easy to "hack the mac" so that's out of the question.
I got my router for free but I have no intention of changing it out.

> If you were in the EU/UK you could demand them to delete the information
> under GDPR. But apparently you prefer your version of "freedom" and this
> isn't the american way.

I get the political dig, where I don't disagree that, in the USA, the
government favors the corporation being ruled by supply & demand.

The US government feels, for the most part, that if Apple breaks the rules,
people will stop buying Apple products, but it turns out that Apple is
brilliant at counteracting that with their marketing propaganda.

But at this point, all we know is Apple put my BSSID in its WPS database
even though I clearly told Apple not to put my BASSID in its WPS database.

That's all we know for sure. 
A lot more digging needs to be done before I go to the lawyers.
I've never sued anyone in my life (nor ever have I been sued).

SO this will be uncharted territory for me.
But what I care about is what drives me.

Apple has no business morally or legally holding my BSSID in their db.
Apple's brazen lies will have huge legal moral and privacy implications.

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#190157

Marian <marianjones@helpfulpeople.com> wrote:
> Chris wrote:
>> You're replying to Carlos. 
> 
> Thanks for pointing out that I often confuse Carlos with you for some odd
> reason, which I apologize for. As I've explained many times, I wrote my own
> newsreader long ago so that I could pop up the edits in vi (later gVim).
> 
> So I don't see anything in the header unless I take pains to look.
> However, the "attribute" line shows up, so I can see some identifiers.

Not true. Your replies always have the person's name. See above where is
says "> Chris wrote". That's in the *body* of your reply so you can see it.


>> "A fool and his money are soon parted." 
> 
> I agree, and, you'll note, that in the last three decades of using
> computers, the only apps/programs I've ever need to pay for are:
>  a. The company paid for MS Office (which I'm still using)
>  b. The company paid for Adobe Acrobat writer (which I'm still using)
>  c. Every year I buy at Costco on sale in December their TurbuTax

Why use proprietary tools when appropriate free and open source
alternatives exist? 

> That's it. Even all my phones have been free lately.
> All I had to do was pay the sales tax on them.

"Free" as in you have to pay $$$ every month to get them. Your iphone was
also not free, remember. Cheap, but not free. We've been through this. 

Why are you such an incorrigible liar?

> I even get many tens of thousands of dollars of Amazon items for free.
>  <https://amazon.com/vine/about>
> 
> Many people calculate that the Amazon Vine members are two in a million.
> 
> Amazon gives me tens of thousands of dollars of "stuff" for free
> (although the deal is that they require me to write reviews for them).

No they don't. You've already admitted that it is the vendors which give
you the items. Amazon is exploiting you. And yet you claim not to be a
slave...

Remember, if the service is free then you're the product. 

> Of course, I have to pay income taxes on the MSRP of everything I get from
> Amazon so while there are no price limits per se, that limits what I get.

It gets worse. jfc. 

> In summary, I get much of what other people pay for, for free.
> As you stated, if you're intelligent, everything turns out to be free.

Junk is still junk. The price doesn't matter. 

> Never make the mistake to think that I'm anything like you are.
> 
>>> Wouldn't that be ironic!
>> 
>> "Hoisted by your own petard." Tragic. 
> 
> Well, never make the mistake of ever thinking I'm anything like you.
> I care deeply that other people get the benefit of all that I learn.

But you never learn. You only look for things that support your dogma. 

> In this case, I'm determined to find out the answer and then make sure
> people on the Internet LEARN the answer that I work hard to find out.

You won't find the answer. You'll just keep making baseless assertions as
that's all you can do. 

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#190162

Chris wrote:
>> However, the "attribute" line shows up, so I can see some identifiers.
> 
> Not true. Your replies always have the person's name. See above where is
> says "> Chris wrote". That's in the *body* of your reply so you can see it.

That's exactly what I said. 

 Me: I see the attribute (i.e., Chris wrote).
 You: Not true
 Me: Yes true.

>> I agree, and, you'll note, that in the last three decades of using
>> computers, the only apps/programs I've ever need to pay for are:
>>  a. The company paid for MS Office (which I'm still using)
>>  b. The company paid for Adobe Acrobat writer (which I'm still using)
>>  c. Every year I buy at Costco on sale in December their TurbuTax
> 
> Why use proprietary tools when appropriate free and open source
> alternatives exist? 

Well, you know I test free and open source tools all the time, Chris.

a. I've tested all the free MS Office alternatives.
b. I've tested all the free Adobe Acrobat writer alternatives.
c. I've tested all the free TurboTax alternatives.

For example, I've tested every single free PDF tool ever suggested on these
newsgroups (including those suggested on comp.editors & comp.text.pdf).
 <https://i.postimg.cc/jSNb7bkF/pspdf.jpg>

As a result of those extensive tests, I've never needed to buy Adobe tools
in decades (and the ones I have that are payware, my company bought).
 [x] Print booklet format (pdfbook, pdfbooklet, enbooken, acrobat reader)
 [x] Add or concatenate pages (pdftk, acrobat payware)
 [x] Add signature (Adobe Reader Fill-and-sign sign-yourself tool)
 [x] Archive sites (wkhtmltopdf, Acrobat payware,fastone scroll capture)
 [x] Compress PDFs (ImageMagick, PDFgear, rlvision)
 [x] Convert PDF to MSOffice (PDFgear, Calibre for MS Word only)
 [x] Convert PDF to MSWord (Calibre, PDFgear)
 [x] Convert PDF to epub format (Calibre)
 [x] Convert PDF to PostScript (Calibre, Poppler)
 [x] Converts PDFs to HTML (poppler)
 [x] Convert PDF to raster (Imagemagick,GhostScript,Poppler-pdftocairo)
 [x] Convert PDF to vector (Inkscape, Poppler-pdftocairo)
 [x] Converts PDFs to PPM/PGM/PBM image formats (poppler)
 [x] Add text to existing pdf (Irfanview/Paint.NET plugins + Ghostscript)
 [x] Minor text editing (Adobe Reader commenting, PDF-XChange Editor)
 [x] Generate PDF using markup language (LaTeX via pdfTeX or LuaTeX)
 [x] Embeds files into a PDF as attachments (poppler) 
 [x] Extract images (PDFExchangeEditor,PDF Shaper,PDFgear,poppler,muPDF)
 [x] Extract text (poppler) or mine textual & metadata (pdfminersix)
 [x] Extracts embedded files (attachments) from a PDF (poppler)
 [x] Fastest PDF readers (Sumatra or Foxit)
 [x] Globally search & replace PDF text (Libre Office)
 [x] List fonts used in a PDF (poppler)
 [x] Metadata display on command line (poppler)
 [x] Metadata removal (LibreOffice Writer, PDFgear offline)
 [x] OCR, PDF-Xchange, freeOCR (paperfile.net), GOCR (jocr.sourceforge.net)
 [x] Offline encrypt PDF with a password (pdfencrypt)
 [x] Online shrink PDF <adobe.com/acrobat/online/compress-pdf.html>
 [x] PDF text to audio file (Balabolka)
 [x] Delete pages (pdfsam, pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
 [x] Renumber pages (Acrobat Reader)
 [x] Reorder pages (pdftk, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
 [x] Rotate pages (pdftk, mutool, PDF-XChange Editor, PDF Arranger)
 [x] Remove restrictions (Ghostscript,Ghostview,ps2edit,pdfwrite,pdf2djvu)
 [x] Separates a PDF into individual pages (poppler)
 [x] Split PDFs (PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript) 
 [x] Merge PDFs (pdfsam, pdftk, PDFgear, Poppler, Ghostscript) 
 [x] Tile PDFs (i.e., to print large posters) (Posterazor)
 [x] Redact sensitive information (PDF-Xchange Editor, Adobe Acrobat Pro)
 [x] Add watermarks or background layers (pdftk, PDFgear, PDFsam)
 [x] Add bookmarks/TOC (jpdfbookmarks, LaTeX(hyperref), PDF-ExchangeEditor
 [x] Flatten form fields (Ghostscript, Acrobat Pro)
 [x] Embed audio/video into PDFs (Acrobat Pro, LaTeX (media9 package)
 [x] Generate PDF from Markdown or HTML (Pandoc, wkhtmltopdf)
 [x] Create fillable forms (LibreOffice Draw, Scribus, LaTeX (AcroTeX))
 [x] Batch rename, convert, split, etc. (PDFsam, Poppler, Ghostscript)
 [x] Extract annotations/comments (PDF-XChange Editor, Adobe Acrobat)
 [x] Convert to OCR (Tesseract OCR, PDF-Xchange, ABBYY FineReader)
 [x] Add hyperlink buttons (LibreOffice,LaTeX,PDF-XChange Editor)
 [x] Compare two PDFs side-by-side (DiffPDF, Acrobat Pro)
 [x] Digitally sign with certificate-based signature (Foxit PDF Editor)
 [x] Free PDF samples 
     <https://examplefile.com/document/pdf>
     <https://onlinetestcase.com/pdf-file/>
     <https://sample-files.com/documents/pdf/>
     <https://graydart.com/sample/documents/pdf>
     <https://freetestdata.com/document-files/pdf/>
     <https://getsamplefiles.com/sample-document-files/pdf>
     <https://learningcontainer.com/sample-pdf-files-for-testing/>
 [?] What other tasks do you do to edit or modify a PDF file?

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