How Do Our ISPs Watch Us?

by Long Beach Nathan

Posted: 10 years ago 8 replies

OFF TOPIC

There's so many sites that get visited every day. Apparently ISPs see where we go and what we do online, but how is it possible for them to watch everyone? I could understand them being able to keep everything in a registry and go back to it, but I don't see how it could be done live as it happens.

Also, what do they see? For example, they know I go to Facebook, but can they see what I post on my wall?

Anyone know how all this stuff works?

seasoned 10 years ago

Well, unless they go to a lot of trouble, or use a proxy, ISPs will NOT see the CONTENT of transmissions tat use SSL. That means that SSH, SFTP, HTTPS, and other such protocols are generally safe for CONTENT! Unsafe protocols include TELNET, FTP, HTTP, EMAIL, and most others. EVEN PASSWORDS are sent "PLAIN TEXT" in the NON SSL protocols.

So why do I mention the CONTENT as I did? At least the base metadata for ANYTHING is openly available. So they an tell WHEN you went to a place, how long you were there, how you got there, etc...

And YEP, they can't watch everyone "real time". It would be too complicated and exhausting. But they CAN put a WATCH on it, and they CAN use one of the companies that facilitates such things. MOST big corporations, internally, have proxies AND use one of the above companies.

So what does THAT mean? You can go to an odd and obscure site that they don't know about to do something and maybe they deal in porn or something. THEY don't know this. Maybe YOU merely mistyped the name, and YOU don't know it. But the OTHER company has gone to trouble collecting such info, and directs you to a page saying you can't go there because they violate company policies. So WHO ends up doing all that work? COMPUTERS! Of course, they may report such incidents to someone at the company. They could be sleeping, get up, check the email, and contact you the next day to ask why you went to a porn site!

Hopefully that helps you. I won't openly say how to defeat some things, but I could certainly go farther.

Steve
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Long Beach Nathan

10 years ago

Thanks for your response. I think that clears some things up. Basically, from what I understand, they can look at what you're doing, but probably wouldn't unless they had a reason to. I've wondered about that for a long time.

I didn't know the ISP would hire out a 3rd party company but that does make a lot of sense. They wouldn't have the internal resources for that, or it would be too costly.

For example, if someone was visiting a bunch of freedom related/conspiracy sites (from their home PC, by the way, not from a company computer), if the ISP had a reason they wanted to keep an eye on someone (maybe they thought they were a potential threat for some reason), then they'd hire out a third party company to watch what sites that person went to, for how long, etc. Still, I wonder what would tip them off in the first place.

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Joe Mobley 10 years ago

Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan

Basically, from what I understand, they can look at what you're doing, but probably wouldn't unless they had a reason to.

Let me suggest that is not a safe nor reasonable assumption.

Also, VPN is a wonderful thing.

Joe Mobley
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seasoned

10 years ago

Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan

I didn't know the ISP would hire out a 3rd party company but that does make a lot of sense. They wouldn't have the internal resources for that, or it would be too costly.

For example, if someone was visiting a bunch of freedom related/conspiracy sites (from their home PC, by the way, not from a company computer), if the ISP had a reason they wanted to keep an eye on someone (maybe they thought they were a potential threat for some reason), then they'd hire out a third party company to watch what sites that person went to, for how long, etc. Still, I wonder what would tip them off in the first place.

The 3rd parties I was talking about would be almost like a spam assassin for the TCP/IP connection. Spam assassin works ALMOST like a proxy for email, and makes sure email follows certain patterns and volume, and doesn't use certain words or phrases. It ALSO validates incoming messages to make sure they don't come from problematic sites, etc... AND, though it is often local, a third party updates things like known spam formats.

On a per user basis is it simpler, and actually cheaper, to use a third party.

Steve

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Long Beach Nathan 10 years ago

You're probably right.
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- seasoned 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Long Beach Nathan
  
  You're probably right.
  
  With a FULL, client based, VPN, all the business could depend on seeing is the fact that you used it to hit a given site.
  
  As for people checking only if you were suspicious, that isn't how it works. OH, if you use a certain IP, access a certain period of the day, do certain things, a person MAY actually watch! A system admin once caught a government spy in that manner, and wrote a book about it! The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze...
  But USUALLY, they check the DESTINATION URL! So if you were say a "white supremacist", and NOBODY knew, some group might INSTANTLY peg you as a suspect if you visited a site they would visit. If you visited a cluster, or stayed too long, or revisited, you may be placed on some list.
  
  Steve
  
  Thanks
  
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workoutstuff1

10 years ago

If you are using Google Chrome, then you are DEFINITELY being tracked. I'm not sure that I would let it bother you though. You still have the final decision as to whether or not you buy something that is advertised to you based off your web surfing history.