Please explain SSID "optout" enforced by Microsoft (and _nomap by Google)?

Microsoft had the brilliant idea that ms-windows 10 would store all wifi settings, including passwords online and then share those with your friends automatically. If you had one wifi which you didn't want to share this way, you had to add the optout to the wifi SSID name.

For example your SSID is mightyInternet, this would have been stored in the cloud, but changing it to mightyInternet_opout then it wouldn't.

The _nomap works kind of the same way, except google don't store passwords. The wifi is gathered by the google street view cars and used as reference points in apps like google maps.

The Sophos article is from a year ago. Wifi Sense changed May 2016.

"Other items of note

We have removed the Wi-Fi Sense feature that allows you to share Wi-Fi networks with your contacts and to be automatically connected to networks shared by your contacts. The cost of updating the code to keep this feature working combined with low usage and low demand made this not worth further investment.

Wi-Fi Sense, if enabled, will continue to get you connected to open Wi-Fi hotspots that it knows about through crowdsourcing. "

The article here suggests an opt-in is needed to actually share with someone. But the article doesn't say whether the software scoops up the password anyway (with a zero-length sharing list). Now that the feature is turned off, my guess is it stops scooping up passwords. You should not need the _optout name change to the SSID.

HTH, Paul

Also android phones can gather this data. Ie, anyone with an android phone and GPS active collects and send location information about the WiFi access points it finds.

Also I understand that what is interesting for the database is the location of the access points, not who is connected to them. I don't think that information is collected, because it changes fast.