I am pretty tech illiterate; I come hat-in-hand.
I'm onboarding for a short-term, remote project, which nonetheless requires me to work from home only from a particular location. I'd rather not be so restricted.
Can I (and if so, how can I) create the digital impression that I am working exclusively from a certain location, while not doing so?
From what I understand about the technical side of the project, I'll be working from my personal computer (rather than a work computer conveyed to me by my employer), running Citrix Workspace. I'll also need to use my phone for some kind of two-factor authentication (presumably this will be required to access Citrix, but perhaps authentication is required in a different capacity (some application w/in Citrix?)). To my knowledge, I will not be required to use or download any other monitoring or tracking apps.
I'm running Windows 10 and using an android phone.
If it matters, I would be planning to use a modem which has other people/devices connecting to it, none of which would be taking any of the precautions I'm planning to attempt below.
I'm not entirely sure all the ways my location could be tracked, but here are some concerns, and possible solutions:
Employer can identify my location by my IP address
I could run a VPN on phone used for authentication
I could run a VPN on computer running Citrix
WRT the VPNs, I have access to servers which are fairly close to my purported working location. And I don't think I'm that concerned with employer even coming to assume that I use a VPN -- I could have additional privacy concerns on my personal computer that don't need to imply I'm trying to insulate myself from the employer.
Employer can identify my actual location given my GPS/ location data on my phone and/or computer
On my computer, I could set make my default location to a static, dummy location with default Windows 10 privacy settings
On my phone, I could create a static, dummy location using something like GPS Joystick/Fake GPS
Or is the solution here as simple as turning off GPS on my phone/deny apps permission to use location data w/ default Windows privacy settings?
Are these sensible solutions? Are there other methods by which my employer could glean my location, which I need to address? Are other people/devices "insecurely" using the same modem a cause for concern?
Appreciate your solidarity and any advice.
This is an incredible answer, I ended up not needing to do it, but really thanks so much for thoroughly addressing my question.
Glad you were able to find a solution :fidel-salute-big: