Re: A Useful Android Advantage: GPS Spoofing.

sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

A Useful Android Advantage: GPS Spoofing.
 
Yesterday we were driving to San Francisco from Silicon Valley and I
told my son to get us on the wait list for a popular restaurant.
 
He tried, but the Yelp wait list app uses geofencing and you can't sign
up on the wait list unless you're within a certain distance from the
restaurant, apparently five miles, and we were about 15 miles away.
 
My son has an iPhone. I said to him "well on Android..." and he
interrupted me and said, "yes, I know what you're going to say, GPS
location spoofing."
 
This is the second instance I am aware of where GPS location spoofing
would be useful. The other is to try to get a two-day advance permit to
hike "The Wave:" "Two days before desired entry– Apply using your phone
or other mobile device between 6 AM and 6 PM Utah time two days before
the desired entry date on recreation.gov. You must be within the
designated geofenced area to apply."

After disabling location in Android settings, the Yelp app might not be
able to know your location.

Or, instead of using an app (a web-centric interface), use your web
browser to connect to the restaurant's web site to make a reservation.
In the web browser, first disable geolocation.  Can be done in Firefox:
about:config -> geo.enabled = false.

I have geolocation disabled in Firefox.  None of a site's business where
I am until *I* choose to tell them.  Well, they can try using my IP
address for regional location, but that's often a huge radius, like 50
miles.

However, if they cannot manage to finagle your geolocation
automatically, they may reject you outright.