Google is collecting information from Wi-Fi access points from all over the world to enable it to speed up location services. Unfortunately it is gathering this information and maybe more, without the consent of the owners of the access point.
What’s more, Google is not only gathering data from public Wi-Fi access points but also from home and business users too. If you value your privacy, there is a way to stop Google recording your Wi-Fi access point’s location information. It’s reasonably straight forward to implement.
- Log in to your routers home page; usually this is done via an IP address similar to 192.168.0.1 if you don’t know, consult your router instruction manual
- Once you are logged in, go to the routers Wireless Settings
- Find the name or SSID of your Wi-Fi access point
- Add _nomap to the end o the the SSID
- Make sure to Apply or Save the changes
- That’s it, Google will no longer have your Wi-Fi router in its database.
One things to note, now that you have changed your access point name, you will need to reconnect all of your Wi-Fi connected devices to the new access point name.
Source: Google via Android Central
Reader comments
Daily Tip: How to remove your Wi-Fi access point from Google’s location database
or dont broadcast your SSID
I'm not sure why this is such a huge deal but ok. :-/
I prefer a better Google service so I'll allow both of my routers to contribute.
Does anyone really care? No.
Doesn't apple do this too? My wifi iPad gets location from our router. Or am I just misunderstanding?
waste of time unless your country of origin is Egypt
I had this problem for a week- I turned every device off and then turned them back on again ( the iPhone with GPS enabled first, in sight of a window) and it righted itself.
Apple used to use Skyhook, but they dont anymore, so no point in registering your Wifi location with Skyhook.
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Spamming comment lists has been going on for quite some time so really, no need to hurry.