Open source location spoofing as a privacy/security measure?

Questions
1

Just want to stress that I’m using Mullvad all the time on all of my devices. However, I’m wondering if using location spoofing software can help enhance my privacy and security?

Are there an open source solutions for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows?

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What exactly are you envisioning such a location spoofing software to do instead of what a VPN does?

Also, spoofing from whom? I think the simplest is to keep using a VPN but also change the time zone on your device to your VPN location.

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3

VPN only shows a different IP, right? Not sure what other data could be gathered from my devices, so that’s why I’m thinking of location spoofing.

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4

What are you trying to spoof your location from?

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5

Still not sure what or how you mean to do this

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OK, I always find discussions on Location Spoofing to lack the details needed to discuss anything meaningful. So let’s define some stuff

Location spoofing: falsifying your location on a software tool that requests your location. This is usually achieved by feeding false data into a location service

Location services: one of many different techniques used to pair a device with a coordinate. ‘Location spoofing’ is really a compilation of different techniques for fooling each different location service

Common location services:

  • GNSS: traditional satellite-based location. Requires a dedicated GNSS L-band chip, a LOS with the sky & a local constellation map
  • WiFi Positioning: compares the list of visible WiFi access points to a known database of SSIDs & MAC addresses to estimate location. Requires an active 802.11 chip. Increasingly used to augment GNSS on cell phones
  • Cellular Positioning: carrier-based triangulation, positions cell users within a few meters by their signal strength measured from all detectable cell towers. Requires cellular network antennas, i.e. GSM/CDMA/LTE/5G/etc. Often used by emergency services & governments
  • BLE Mesh Networks: a large mesh network uses Bluetooth signals to detect a device & share its location to a central server with a secondary location service. Requires a BLE chip. Used by Apple FindMy network, Tile, and whatever Samsung’s tracking service is called
  • IP Geolocation: similar to WiFi Positioning, but instead compares your device’s IP address against known databases to estimate location

So, depending on your hardware, software, goals, and threat model, ‘location spoofing’ can define completely different techniques. Let’s get specific - what are we trying to spoof?

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7

Mullvad is based on firefox, right

Try this method:

  1. Go to about:config
  2. Look up geo.enabled and make sure it is set to true
  3. Replace the value of geo.provider.network.url with data:application/json,{"location": {"lat": 40.7590, "lng": -73.9845}, "accuracy": 27000.0} (open your neighborhood on Google Maps to copy the right coordinates from the address bar)
  4. Set geo.provider.testing to true (create it as a Boolean preference if it doesn’t exist)
  5. Set geo.provider.use_geoclue to false
  6. Open a Google website again, click on the padlock next to the address bar, and Clear cookies and site data
  7. Restart Firefox

I did not test this recently, but it used to work.

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8

Never modify settings on Mulvad Browser. To quote PG’s Mulvad Browser recommendation:

…Mullvad Browser is designed to prevent fingerprinting by making your browser fingerprint identical to all other Mullvad Browser users…

…Therefore, it is imperative that you do not modify the browser at all outside adjusting the default security levels…

…Modifications other than adjusting this setting would make your fingerprint unique, defeating the purpose of using this browser

Besides - I suspect OP meant MulvadVPN, not Mulvad Browser

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Location spoofing: falsifying your location on a software tool that requests your location. This is usually achieved by feeding false data into a location service

That’s what I’m trying to do.

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10

Mullvad VPN.

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That’s a challenge, because if your WIFI is active, it could use neighbour WIFI networks to locate you.

So you would need to use a wired connection to be 100% sure.

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12

Yes, and for Tor, it enhances your anonymity as well.

Yes for the Tor Browser:

The Tor Project do not have an official Tor Browser for iOS, but instead encourages the Onion Browser, which is also open-source: