beaconDB is an open, and privacy-friendly network location service, replacing Mozilla's defunct location service

beaconDB is a drop-in replacement for MLS, which uses the same format request that's used by Mozilla's Ichnaea.

The source code is available on Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/beacondb/beacondb

You can contribute to the project by using an app like NeoStumbler (GitHub) or Tower Collector (GitHub) to submit location reports. NeoStumbler does Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GSM, while Tower Collector can only do GSM cell towers. Both are FOSS and available on F-Droid.

It is also recommended by the GrapheneOS project: https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112759509558471713

https://grapheneos.org/articles/positon-location-service

Just keep in mind that it's still in relatively early development, which is why it really needs contributions.

Open Source @lemmy.ml beaconDB is an open, and privacy-friendly network location service, replacing Mozilla's defunct location service

Hacker News @lemmy.smeargle.fans Show HN: BeaconDB – An Alternative to Mozilla Location Services

20 comments

Aren’t “privacy-friendly” and “location service” mutually exclusive?

6
- No.
  
  It is hard to have both; but not impossible. You can still be privacy friendly without sacrificing necessary functionality.
  
  It will require that the "provider" of such a dataset constantly scrub, sanitize and remove data that would cause privacy hazards as quickly as reasonably possible however. That in and of itself is a technical challenge; though not impossible.
  
  6
  
  I disagree that location is necessary functionality.
  
  1
- beaconDB doesn't log location requests, and it anonymizes location submissions, making it much more privacy-friendly than Google's or Apple's location services
  
  4
  
  Is “not as bad as Google” really a good goal for a project?
  
  1
- Note that they didn't say "private" or "privacy-respecting".
  
  2
  
  Touché. My bad 😕
  
  2
Nothing to add yet, just glad there's a replacement effort going, and wish them the best. Hopefully it will be in a useful state soon.,

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- Why is this needed? There’s a reason for Mozilla cancelling their service.
  
  1
  
  So, you are willing to give your location to Google anytime any app asks for the location permission? A lot of people is not. And there's been efforts over time to get privacy-friendly location services. So there's clearly demand for this, even if it's still niche due to lack of knowledge.
  
  1
Ideally there's not a whole lot of data that needs to be kept.

Legitimately all that needs to be stored is a few things:

Location (GPS)

SSIDs (Wifi APs only)

Cell ID & MCC/MNC (Cell Towers only)

and things they MUST NOT STORE OR SHARE like:

IPs of contributors for longer than a few days

un-hashed BSSIDs (Wifi/BT)

MAC addresses (Wifi/BT)

IMEI/IMSIs (or other cellular identifiers derived from them)

APs that don't exist in a fixed location (Think mobile hotspot SSIDs) for longer than a fixed amount of time.

BT devices

Non-unique SSIDs or IDs that may indicate no user config took place and manufacturer did not differentiate device ID. (Things like "SETUP" with no unique number (SSIDs like"SETUP-be3fd34d" would be valid) or "[ISP]@HOME" or "[ISP]Wifi" which provide no meaningful discriminators)
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