From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address
“A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment”
this unique identifier is supposed to be unique worldwide and for the most part it is. A couple of virus writers were actually caught using this method many years ago. Unless you’re doing something wrong there’s no real reason that you would care about this because it is passive and doesn’t actually send your data anywhere. It does show that Microsoft can bury anything they wish anywhere they want to do anything they want.
At this point I’m hoping I’ve given you enough evidence to prove that privacy is a myth with Microsoft. However it is unrealistic to believe that the world is going to turn their back on Microsoft over these issues and Microsoft lack of concern over your privacy is not the real issue. The real issue is that your privacy is being attacked on all fronts without your knowledge, so with that in mind what follows are some suggestions that should help you or at least open your eyes to what’s going on.
Privacy Badger: https://www.eff.org/privacybadger
Privacy badger is 1.0 and as such very crude and does lack many of the features that I would like to see such as being able to export your settings so that you can import them from browser to browser. As it stands now you need to manually set up each and every browser that you use. I’ve been using this for about six weeks and when I go into my settings privacy badger reports“Privacy Badger blocks spying ads and invisible trackers.”I
The good part about blocking a bunch of these domains is I have far less ads the bad part is if you get too aggressive in the blocking you can actually screw up the webpage and if you turn off or block a dozen trackers at a time you will not know which one of those dozen you actually need. All in all I do like it, even though it is very crude and primitive. Privacy badger is also used over and above AdBlock Plus. I've also been considering whether or not it is actually making my browsing faster because I'm not downloading all the extra ads but these trackers bring with them. On some sites the coders are tying the trackers and the information together so if you block one you blocked both.“Privacy Badger has detected 821 potential tracking domains so far.”
Browsec VPN https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/browsec/
This bounces your IP address around a bit making it harder to tell where you actually are. One of the added advantages for Canadians is US Netflix is a walk in the park and can be viewed on demand very easily. The CEO of Bell Canada recently admitted that she wants this practice to stop and we should shame people into it. She also tries to put across the idea that this is copyright infringement and is stealing. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell-me ... -1.3099972“Browsec encrypts your traffic and routes it through our secure cloud. No one will be able to identify, track you or sniff your traffic.”
This idea that you can control what people see or watch in this day and age is asinine at the very least. One can easily go get a satellite dish and watch anything from anywhere in the world with a little work legally. The only possible reason for the Bell CEO to do away with VPNs is “US Netflix” affects their revenue stream because Bell is too stupid to realize they are overpriced and they no longer have a license to print money. There are actually small businesses starting up that will teach you how to cut the cord for cable companies etc.“she cited her 15-year-old daughter, who upon returning from the U.S. one day decided she was "bound and determined" to get around Netflix's geolocation rules for Canada”