Using wi-fi on someone elses ISP

[ovation1]

Greetings one and all. It's good to be back in the community on what I hope will be a regular basis again. It's been a long time since I've had internet access on a regular basis using my own laptop - which really sucks - but now I have - yipeeeeeeeee!

I do have a slight dilemma though. I am getting access through a wireless card on my laptop, no problems there, but I am concerned about who can see what I am looking at on the net i.e. this wonderful community🙂 Nobody uses my laptop, but I'm not the billpayer on the ISP and I wondered if the said bill payer can see what I've been viewing through their own computer or the ISP itself will? (Hope this all makes sense?) Basically, I just want to make sure that my viewing is private and that no one else can see where I've been on my laptop through their own computer?

Does anyone know anything about this? Sorry If I'm sounding a bit redundant!

 

[the_jimmy_james]

Only if they request a full report. But that requires paperwork and lots of phone calls and quite a bit of red tape to get through.

Honestly, not a lot to worry about. I don't believe that most routers keep a detailed log by default. Not enough storage is available for that.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

You'd need to connect to the internet via some secure protocol like SSL in order to be truly secure. Most any router can be fiddled with to allow a central authority to view the activity of its users. The ISP will, of course, be able to record and view all activity occurring on its network if it wants to; SSL may make that more difficult but they can probably judge at least where you're connecting to even if the encryption prohibits them from seeing exact content. So no, you cannot easily be secure. I doubt, however, that you are being spied upon specifically.

 

[ovation1]

Thanks for the info guys, I couldn't imagine the main computer would be keeping a record of my surfing but I had to ask.

So what's this SSL thing then?

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Ever seen "https" instead of "http" in the address bar? Usually happens when ordering from a reputable site or logging in to an online banking account, among other places. That "s" heralds a secure, encrypted connection with the server the site you are accessing, usually through Secure Socket Layer, or SSL. SSL is also used with many VPN (Virtual Private Network) clients or connections, a situation where you securely log on to, say, an internal network at your place of employ from home.

 

[ovation1]

Dude, you certainly know yer stuff! Thanks for taking the time and effort to reply, it is appreciated