IEEE Standard for Information Technology--Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks--Specific Requirements - Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications A

Abstract

This amendment specifies modifications to the IEEE Std 802.11 medium access control (MAC) sublayer mechanisms to preserve the existing services that might otherwise be restricted in environments where STAs in extended service set (ESS) use randomized or changing MAC addresses, without affecting the privacy of the users corresponding to the STAs. User privacy includes exposure of trackable information to third parties or exposure of an individual’s presence of behavior. This amendment introduces mechanisms to enable session continuity in the absence of unique MAC address-to-STA mapping. For STAs in an ESS that use randomized or changing MAC addresses, this amendment preserves the ability to provide customer support, conduct network diagnostics and troubleshooting, and detect device arrival in a trusted environment.