beaconDB

privacy notice

This privacy notice aims to be a human readable outline that documents what data BeaconDB collects. If you have any questions or concerns regarding how BeaconDB handles your data, please contact me using Signal or email.

What is BeaconDB?

BeaconDB is a public database that collects location information about common wireless infrastructure, such as cell towers, WiFi networks and Bluetooth devices. BeaconDB (will) freely and openly publish aggregated data. Data collected has been submitted by users for the explicit purpose of being aggregated and publicly shared.

Do you sell my data?

No. This is a passion project funded by donations.

What does BeaconDB collect?

I record HTTP server logs as part of maintaining my infrastructure. These logs include your IP address, the date and time, the URL requested and your browser’s user agent.

When you request data using the BeaconDB geolocation API, I do not collect identifying information such as MAC addresses or your estimated location.

When you submit data using the BeaconDB geosubmit API, I keep a copy of the raw measurements you upload for research. I understand that the raw measurements you submit may include sensitive or identifying locations and I will not share any raw measurements with any third parties without your explicit approval beforehand. In the future, raw measurements will not be written to disk - current status.

What does BeaconDB publish?

BeaconDB freely and openly publishes aggregated location information about common wireless infrastructure, such as cell towers, WiFi networks and Bluetooth devices.

If a WiFi access point has a stable location, BeaconDB publishes location information that can be used by other devices to estimate their position. This data is obfuscated so that others must observe the exact same MAC and SSID to be able to use any location information. If your access point moves, BeaconDB will not publish the updated location until it has been stable for at least one year to prevent tracking.

If you own a WiFi access point, you can opt-out from BeaconDB by adding _nomap to the end of your SSID. This also prevents multiple third party databases from collecting information about your WiFi access point, such as Google Location Services.


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