You are correct that this is normal for the OS. The OS will use this data to determine your location. What is not normal is abusing the Bluetooth permission to send a list of scanned devices to app vendor. They should only be collecting the location, not the raw Bluetooth list. I don’t know what the app is to confirm, but the way they said it, they would be handing all of the local device data along with the standard location permission. This is the extra data that can be used to isolate you more than just a location could.

This is similar to browser fingerprinting, but worse because your phone goes with you everywhere.

One final mention is that the app is likely not collecting that list once, but rather regularly, so they could build a profile on what devices you’re in range of and by extension where you are regularly, even if you chose to disable your location, since they’re using Bluetooth MAC addresses as their workaround.

Except that it sounds like this hooked into an app and sent all the info about those Bluetooth devices to the manufacturer, which some data collectors can use process of elimination to isolate you. Normal (privacy-respecting) Bluetooth devices do not pass this info to the service provider and only your phone uses it to pair with the device.

[controversial reply with a healthy mix of upvotes and downvotes that’s ambiguous enough that you’re not sure if they’re serious, confused, or bad at sarcasm]

Can’t you read the sign? You get an invisible hotdog.

I might be guilty of this. Used to go every week with a friend and eventually started figuring out my stride. Now I’m the one that does better than a casual player and it’s weird.

I’ve heard the explanation being that it’s a defense against treating dead bodies as alive and spending resources on them at a primal level. Just imagining when we first developed empathy and tried at length to care for those who we lost and evolution needed us to focus on the live ones.

It generally helps if you tie it on

The big smile on the shop owner’s face is the best part

At work, since I’m the sole IT, I’ve been putting everything into MkDocs and it’s been working out great for the team. Only complaint is that I can’t seem to figure out how to update anything without just relaunching the Docker container every time. They mention that you can live reload, but not how.

You can still get them on Android. I just don’t think iOS exposes the necessary information to apps.

Laundry Lint Soup 😋

I’ve bounced around for nearly 15 years in the world of Linux. Some of the ones I’ve used over the years:

• Ubuntu
• Linux Mint (+LMDE)
• Debian
• Arch
• KDE Neon
• Bazzite/SteamOS

The one I use currently is EndeavorOS. I landed on it because it’s been the most reliable and consistent for me personally at running games out of the box without extra configuration.

This is like the first house new players make when enabling infinite money in The Sims and build a house from scratch.

I’m running OMV with the Docker Compose plugin and I just SSH in for everything else. I run this stack both at home and work. It’s a good middle ground for me of stability and customizability.

Space is cool. Putting money towards space travel seems like such a ridiculous waste in our current world.

Running OpenRCT2 on a Raspberry Pi is probably one of my favorite pastimes. It’s such an incredibly well-crafted game that it will run on nearly anything.

Not just good-looking. MJ is regularly portrayed as a competent journalist who’s willing to take risks to get her story. And Gwen Stacy is a biochemist. Peter has standards!

Remember, your goal as the DM is to make sure no one makes it out alive!

This alone is enough to convince me that we have life spread across the universe. I’ve always found the thought that we’re on the only planet in the entire universe to support life to be incredibly selfish. There’s no way we’re that special.

I’m more of a fan of Magentobacteria