RFC 9724: State of Affairs for Randomized and Changing Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses

Internet users are becoming more aware that their activity over the Internet leaves a vast digital footprint, that communications might not always be properly secured, and that their location and actions can be tracked. One of the main factors that eases tracking of Internet users is the wide use of long-lasting, and sometimes persistent, identifiers at various protocol layers. This document focuses on Media Access Control (MAC) addresses. There have been several initiatives within the IETF and the IEEE 802 standards committees to address some of the privacy issues involved. This document provides an overview of these activities to help coordinate standardization activities in these bodies.