I think your answers may be misleading, depending on the root of the question & cause for privacy. Consider the following circumstances:
1) One wants to send an anonymous message to an email address. One wants the recipient to read the message, but one does NOT want the recipient of the message to know the ACTUAL identity of the email sender.
2) One opens up a ‘fictitious’ email account & than sends the message to the recipient’s email address.
If the MAC number is assigned by the manufacturer to the hardware from which one is sending the message, & if one paid for one’s hardware (computer, router, etc.) WITH A CREDIT CARD OR A DEBIT CARD (anything other than cash), the manufacturer & the retailer (collectively) of the hardware, possess the information revealing the name of the purchaser of the hardware.
Consequently, if the recipient of one’s ‘anonymous’ email, from one’s ‘fictitious’ email account, wanted to pursue the identity of the message sender, the recipient COULD theoretically do so if he knew the sender’s MAC address (hardware address).
In Gmail, as an example, if one left-clicks on the ‘down arrow’ ‘drop-down-menu’, located to the right of the ‘Reply’ button, & than ‘left-clicks’ on choice ‘Show Original’… a myriad of data is displayed showing the path of the incoming email. If that data contains the MAC number, or a way of retrieving it, than the recipient has a way of tracking down the name of the sender.
Yes, the authorities may have to be involved, but it would appear that it CAN be accomplished.
One does not have to be involved in anything illegal in order to prompt authority involvement. Let’s say one wanted to send an anonymous tip about a crime to the IRS, FBI, or some such, & feels safe that one will remain anonymous by using the abovementioned premise, & doesn’t want any involvement beyond sending a ‘tip’.
If one’s MAC number can be established, & if one purchased one’s hardware with anything other than cash, than one’s identity can be discovered & one is no longer anonymous.
I wrote this just so that readers don’t lull themselves into a false sense of security, as it relates to their MAC.
Furthermore, if one purchased a new NIC card, WITH CASH, one WOULD have total anonymity because the manufacturer & the retailer would not have the name of the purchaser.
Please feel free to ‘poke holes’ in what I’ve written.
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21-Jan-2012