Apple and Google are no friends of environmentalists, in part because:
- Apple demonstrates contempt for #rightToRepair.
- Google uses AI to help Total Energy find new places to drill for oil.
Including “_optout” in your SSID expresses your non-consent for Apple to keep track of your wi-fi access point. Including “_nomap” in your SSID expresses your non-consent for Google to keep track of your wi-fi access point for streetmap purposes. I believe “_nomap” must be at the very end, but Apple supposedly treats “_optout” appearing at the end OR penultimate position in order to not force mutual exclusivity with Google’s string.
Anything we can do to avoid feeding Google and Apple are a form of individual climate action – however minuscule in effect.
Unfortunately many services ignore these Tags.
The tags are only intended for two services specifically: Google maps and Apple. If you catch Google or Apple not properly treating these tags in Europe, please report it as a GDPR violation under articles 5¶1(a) and 6¶1.
Outside of Europe, you could probably still take some civil action if you can dig up the privacy policy whereby Google or Apple agree to honor the tags. For Google, this may be sufficient.