Ziggy77
join:2009-04-05
| Can park manager view search logs
Hi,
Hope this isn't too stupid of a question.
I live in a very rural RV/MFH park, and we have a commercial wireless ISP run by the park manager.
We are organizing for tenants rights, and are wondering if the manager can see our site searches, as everything is run through her office. We know that she can see whether we're logged on, and the normal admin stuff. It's been interesting that as soon as some of us began looking a landlord/tenant legal/organizing sites, things started to be repaired at those specific tenant's lots, things that had been promised for over a year. So...what can she see?
Hopefully,
Just paranoidly yours (but not wishing to be evicted). |
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docrice
join:2008-03-31
Fremont, CA
| In general, the vast majority of "web" related traffic is unencrypted. So to overly-simplistically answer the question, whoever has control of the access gateway can technically see all data contents passing through in plain text. However, consumer gateways / routers don't always provide in-depth logging that shows such details, but assuming the manager has the know-how, packet-level inspection (equivalent to a wiretap) is trivial to do and isolate who sent what messages. |
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Ziggy77
join:2009-04-05 | Thanks for the quick reply. Another stupid question. Is this legal? Would there then be logs of her activity, assuming that she has performed said packet-level inspection? |
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docrice
join:2008-03-31
Fremont, CA
| reply to Ziggy77
I don't know the technical legalities of your arrangement with the manager, but at least for large ISPs who provide general connectivity to the Internet (AT&T, Comcast, etc.) they're probably free to do whatever. Since the protocols are by their nature designed to be plain text, it could probably be argued that transmissions utilizing them shouldn't be considered private. This is probably analogous to not expecting any physical privacy in public locations.
There could possibly be logs which indicate that she examined the traffic, but if she's in control of the gateway which allows visibility into the trace, then she can also erase the audit trail.
You're better off using encrypted forms of transmissions such as SSL (assuming the other end supports it). Or use a VPN service, or Tor (which is free, but generally slow due to its nature). |
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Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| reply to Ziggy77
Unless your particular wireless ISP administrator is especially paranoid and is actively sniffing all internet traffic (which in and of itself must be violating some FCC laws), it's unlikely.
The thing to take away is that yes, it definitely is possible to sniff plaintext traffic and extract what you're searching on google, e.t.c., but it's highly unlikely.
If you're really worried enough to care, you should try the local coffee shop for searches or activity you find sensitive. That's what I'd recommend. That, or you can use TOR.
--
"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn
I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB. |
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Ziggy77
join:2009-04-05 | Thanks to you all for your sound advice.  |
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Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| No problem. I'd say try Tor first, it's really good for this kind of stuff: »www.torproject.org/
It isn't perfect, mind you, the same snooping frequently happens at the endpoints of the routing (a lot of people have raised some concerns), but if you're concerned about the link inbetween, Tor can be a lifesaver.
There's a firefox derivative which has Tor built in which was used to be called Torpark, as well: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XeroBank_Browser
--
"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn
I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB. |
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jeisenberg
New Year's Eve
join:2001-07-06
Windsor, ON
 ·Cogeco Cable
 ·Cogeco Voip
| reply to Nerdtalker
said by Nerdtalker  :If you're really worried enough to care, you should try the local coffee shop for searches or activity you find sensitive. That's what I'd recommend. That, or you can use TOR. I agree that using a coffee shop might be a good strategy if you're trying to hide information from the party that supplies your usual internet connection, but TOR isn't going to help the situation where the traffic analysis is being done at the very point where you connect to the internet. All traffic you generate/receive goes through that end point, so unless it's encrypted, it can be seen by someone who really wants to see it. |
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docrice
join:2008-03-31
Fremont, CA
| Why wouldn't it? Tor traffic goes out of your interface encrypted. The major drawback is if someone controls both the entrance and exit nodes and is able to scan all traffic passing through and correlate which ingress and egress connections are in the same "state." |
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Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs:
| reply to jeisenberg
If he's using ToR locally, though, it means that all traffic leaving him (over the internet) and out to the exit node is encrypted.
User --> Tor (ENCRYPT) ==> Park Manager ==> "Internet" ==> Exit Node (DECRYPT) --> Internet
To the park manager WISP, that traffic is encrypted, and thus completely indecipherable.
The traffic out at the exit node re-emerges unencrypted and back out onto the internet, yes, but at the hop which he's worried about, it is encrypted.
--
"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn
I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB. |
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jeisenberg
New Year's Eve
join:2001-07-06
Windsor, ON | I stand corrected. I was under the impression TOR was an anonymizer application, not an encrypted tunneling app. |
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Nerdtalker
Working Hard, Or Hardly Working?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-02-18
Tucson, AZ
clubs: | Not a problem 
It does both, and technically, you're still right since the traffic is back unencrypted at the exit node. |
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ineedatech
join:2002-07-10
Fort Washakie, WY
| reply to Ziggy77
If you can find a search engine with encryption you will be fine. Other than that the manager may be able to see your traffic. This forum may help you »www.wilderssecurity.com/showthre···?t=87114
»www.ineedatech911.com |
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