Is Your Router Sharing Your Info?

[Lawdog Dago Dom]

The more you know . . . 

 

🚨 Your router is sharing your Wi-Fi with strangers (turn this off NOW)

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

no

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

That's all I need: another mysterious un-vetted  "ghost" telling me that he has a cure for something and all the time just stinking of (SCAM) trying to get more info from me (SCAM), about me, that he is exactly what he is promising to protect me from. (SCAM)

 

If I fell for all things that the internet promises I'd be living on the street in a cardboard box.

 

I've been scammed enough over the years to the point that I don't believe almost anyone about almost anything.

[John Kloehr]

Some if that is "meh." Sure, a wifi router picks up every hardware address in range. It just does, that is how it works. As to transmitting that info to the mothership... There are bigger problems. Google basically uniquely identifies an individual within 4 clicks. This identification does not necessarily mean google actually knows who you are, it is just enough to serve tailored ads.

 

The Ring and similar "meshes." Sure, but if you have Ring, you also get the greater uptime from the mesh. Meh. Just like using maps on your phone when traveling. Those yellow and red sections showing heavy traffic? Your phone contributes to that data by measuring your progress against the speed limit for the road. Meh. If you do not want your location tracked, turn off your phone or leave it at home.

 

That Xfinity thing, yes is is a service and the router will piggyback other traffic as long as it is spare bandwidth for it. It is not supposed to take any bandwidth you need at the moment. Xfinity also plays another game, it delays DNS responses which slows down traffic during periods of congestion. . When I had Xfinity, I bought my own router and hotspot. And configured my own DNS services not using Xfinity servers.

 

An item not brought up in the article, and a bigger deal, is many routers provided by ISPs have a known security whole and we must assume all of them have been breached and potentially have bots or spyware on them. This is a much bigger deal than information collection my otherwise legitimate companies. Here are a couple examples of vulnerable routers:

 

https://therecord.media/ballista-botnet-tp-link-archer-routers

 

https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-your-asus-router-part-of-a-botnet-how-to-check-and-what-you-can-do/

 

[WD Farren]

No

Your smart TV is sharing

[Stump Water]

28 minutes ago, John Kloehr said:

That Xfinity thing, yes is is a service and the router will piggyback other traffic as long as it is spare bandwidth for it. It is not supposed to take any bandwidth you need at the moment.

 

Spectrum also.   Bottom line:  Your router is broadcasting an unsecured, open WiFi SSID - doesn't require a password to connect.   Moreover, these "sidewalk" enabled devices connect to it without any user input.  

 

Of course, in the beginning when Amazon rolled out this "sidewalk network", it was just enabled on their Ring cameras.  Makes it easy to connect them yanno.  That was six years ago.  Imagine how many devices/appliances have "opted in" to it now.  Finally, these sidewalk enabled devices extend your network by effectively becoming wireless access points for your network.

 

"Supposed" is the operative word.  It's not "supposed" to take any of "your" bandwidth.  Horse hockey.  You have finite bandwidth (throughput).  If some one else is using it, then they're using your bandwidth.  Or the router is always partitioning off part your bandwidth so that you don't notice when someone on "the sidewalk" is accessing the internet through your gear.

 

Anyone/thing using this non secure SSID isn't "supposed" to be able to access your secure SSID, so the router isn't "supposed" to be "sharing your info".  Of course, the bad guy is already in the house.  Sure, your bedroom door is locked, but it's easier to break down if you're already in the house.  

 

And we're for sure and for certain that Amazon wouldn't share your info with A-N-Y-B-O-D-Y.

 

Amazon Sidewalk

[Alpo]

Curious - am I the only one that, when they looked at the title of this thread, wondered how their woodworking tool could be sharing info?

[Eyesa Horg]

7 minutes ago, Alpo said:

Curious - am I the only one that, when they looked at the title of this thread, wondered how their woodworking tool could be sharing info?

That was my reaction until I got to the word sharing!!

[watab kid]

ours have always been password p[rotectedand not a password someone might guess but any more im not certain of anything as our phones are constantly listening , y heart monitor is on my phone so its always on my person or really close , i know they are listening 

[WD Farren]

IoT is a scary nightmare.

I do not need an internet connected fridge so I can log in, turn on the light to see if I need eggs or milk,

 

These IoT boxes are subject to hacking, same as IoT security systems.

[Stump Water]

On 1/15/2026 at 12:07 PM, WD Farren said:

IoT is a scary nightmare.

I do not need an internet connected fridge so I can log in, turn on the light to see if I need eggs or milk,

 

These IoT boxes are subject to hacking, same as IoT security systems.

 

Yup.

[Jim Brown]

I was talking to someone and he relayed this story.

He and his wife were sitting at the table discussing some item (I do not remember what it was) but shortly after that they started getting pop up adds for whatever it was.  So remember they are all listening.