Are There Laws About This?

[Gayowulf]

I recently went into my ISP to ask about a few things. I noticed it looked like it could easily be a front for something else.

After my inquiry, i asked the owner how many users he services; he claimed not to know. he also says he knows all his costomer's full names as soon as you show him their username. He knows when and how often i log on. what else would he have access to, and are there laws preventing him from getting, or using this info?

That visit made me uncomfortable.

 

[bigperm]

That sounds quite shady. That is not good business either. I would ditch them.

 

[jm4n]

I don't think you would have any recourse on this; unfortunately, the fact of the matter is, any unencrypted communications on the 'net are subject to being intercepted.

Conceivably an ISP or webhost could read your email, track every website you visit, and much more. Any informaiton your computer sends out goes through your and a number of other locations.

That's why we have encryption. SSL for secure web transactions, SSH for secure shell (like telnet).

If you've ever used:

- Telnet
- POP (check your mail)
- FTP

Then anyone at your ISP could have obtained your passwords quite easily. If you've ever seen a packet sniffer in action, you'd immediately ditch FTP, Telnet, and POP in favor of more secure alternatives. And you'd never give a credit card number or password via unencrypted email or non-SSL website.

Now that you've perhaps learned something about your ISP, while I still recommend finding a more professional ISP, you should always keep this in mind and use it as a lesson learned. Treat all of your web transactions as though someone were observing them -- because you never know when this might be true.

Also note that your better web hosts and ISPs have strict policies against employees doint this (us included), but the potential is always there -- and again, your communications pass through many points on the way.

Grim, but true...

 

[Gayowulf]

Thanks for that. I know next to nothing about the operations of an ISP and how everything works. this is what i see when i walk in:

a rack full of 28.8 and 33.6 modems with the lights blinkng; recieving connections, I assume. they are dusty.

there are 2 "public access" computers against the other wall there are boxes of this and that lying about, with no real retail items. all the main servers appear to be in the back. It is in a small building. Both the proprietors smoke. On a top shelf against another wall there are a bunch of commodore 64s and apple ][s

Not sure what to make of it all. I am probably paying too much too.

 

[Webdude]

You have to remember that even if encrypted, a host or ISP can still read it while it sits on their servers. I would say that if this guy is sitting around doing this, then he must be very bored and have nothing else to do.

Most hosts/isp's do allow monitoring under certain conditions in the case of suspect illegal activities, but I think this guy has gone far beyond that.

 

[meow]

Huh? What has he done more than log access? Don't all ISPs do this? I thought they were supposed to.

 

[jm4n]

You have to remember that even if encrypted, a host or ISP can still read it while it sits on their servers.

Not if the email itself is encrypted (ala PGP). However, if you are using (for example) SSH port forwarding, then yes, the message itself isn't encrypted, just the transmission.

What has he done more than log access? Don't all ISPs do this? I thought they were supposed to.

Logging access is one thing. Making odd remarks such as the original poster quotes, that would make me uneasy. It's not that the person said anything we don't all know to be true, it's the fact that he said this to a customer for (assuming) no reason...

OTOH, if you were asking questions ("what kind of info do you guys log?" or "Can I be traced if I do something illegal"), then I would say the responses were appropriate for the situation, as he may have become suspicious of you... but if the person just said these things with no reason, that's like the drive through kid saying "you know, if I wanted to I could have spit in your drink"...

And yes, all ISPs log access and probably any traffic going through their network, as they should.

The original poster didn't say they were reading his email, but in answer to his question, they could very easily do so -- even mail not stored on their server (again, anything that passes through their network).