Checking out websites at work, but hiding addresses from employer

[Koxinga]

I'd like to check out my local paper's online classifieds without my employer getting wise. They tell me that they do track web sites visited, so if I could somehow open a page within another page, like with Google cacheing, or mask the address in some other way that would be great. Any ideas?

[Bill H.]

If you're a unix kinda person, you can ssh to a remote host, and lynx what you're looking for from there. That's text-only, though. You'll need to have an excuse for why you're ssh-ing to the hop machine, but noone will know what you're actually doing through that tunnel.

[friedo]

Instead of pissing off your employer, why don't you just do your personal browsing at home?

[Koxinga]

Instead of pissing off your employer, why don't you just do your personal browsing at home?

Instead of making uninvited editorial comments, why don't you just bite me?

Jeez, it's not like I'm asking for suggestions on how to embezzle. :rolleyes:

[Mr. Slant]

Assuming you're doing this solely for mental health reasons and not to hide immoral, unprofessional or criminal activity from your employer, www.anonymizer.com would meet your needs.

[Koxinga]

If you're a unix kinda person, you can ssh to a remote host, and lynx what you're looking for from there. That's text-only, though. You'll need to have an excuse for why you're ssh-ing to the hop machine, but noone will know what you're actually doing through that tunnel.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not much good beyond a Windows environment, though.

[Koxinga]

Assuming you're doing this solely for mental health reasons and not to hide immoral, unprofessional or criminal activity from your employer, www.anonymizer.com would meet your needs.

Thanks! The reasons I'd use it--and I'm not really sure that I will in any case--would be just as I stated in the OP. Finding a way to get out of this job might qualify as mental health reasons, I guess.

[Dog80]

Assuming you're doing this solely for mental health reasons and not to hide immoral, unprofessional or criminal activity from your employer, www.anonymizer.com would meet your needs.

The anonymiser (or similar products) might not work. AFAIK, these software packages work by connecting to anonymous proxies. This is very good for a stand alone computer, but won't work if your company monitors the connections at low- level or even worse, if they are logging keystrokes.

[Dog80]

BTW, a list of proxies can be found here: http://www.samair.ru/proxy/content/view/12/27/

[t-bonham@scc.net]

Jeez, it's not like I'm asking for suggestions on how to embezzle. Really? Aren't you spending time that this employer is paying you for to instead look for another job? And asking ofr suggestions on how to do it without being caught? Isn't that "embezzling" part of your paycheck?

Yeah, I know we've all occasionally done personal tasks on work time.
But most of us don't act snotty and get on some ethical high horse when called on it.

[Eleusis]

The anonymiser (or similar products) might not work. AFAIK, these software packages work by connecting to anonymous proxies. This is very good for a stand alone computer, but won't work if your company monitors the connections at low- level or even worse, if they are logging keystrokes.
Not to mention the fact that anonymizer.com will show up in the logs every time you used it, and your boss would probably assume something much worse than the truth.

One nitpick though, the service does encrypt everything using https, so low level packet intercepts would not be a problem.

[Ludicrous]

Really? Aren't you spending time that this employer is paying you for to instead look for another job? And asking ofr suggestions on how to do it without being caught? Isn't that "embezzling" part of your paycheck?

Yeah, I know we've all occasionally done personal tasks on work time.
But most of us don't act snotty and get on some ethical high horse when called on it.


/gets on his high horse to look the others in the eye.

So what if he does it during break or on lunch? Does he just need to reimburse for electricity and call it even? I really don't think he's looking for a moral debate, just a straight answer that does not violate any state or federal laws.

How soon do you plan to switch jobs? I don't think that kind of info would get back to your manager for at least several weeks. And you could always give some lame excuse if questioned. "oh, i'm helping a friend out who doesn't have net access."

[mhendo]

Yeah, I know we've all occasionally done personal tasks on work time.
But most of us don't act snotty and get on some ethical high horse when called on it.And the rest of us "don't act snotty and get on some ethical high horse" by slagging off people for doing "personal tasks on work time."

We just try to answer the GQ, as is appropriate to the forum.

[Cerowyn]

I really don't think he's looking for a moral debate, just a straight answer that does not violate any state or federal laws.It is not likely that he can accomplish this. In every jusidiction that I'm aware of, you may not use an employer's computers for activity not condoned by them. The company owns the machine, they supply the electricity, the environment, and bear the liability for your actions (to an extent).

Some places (such as Ontario, Canada) have laws that require an employer to disclose if they monitor surfing habits or email, but I've never heard of anywhere (at least in North America) that outright prohibits an employer from safeguarding the use of their systems, through policy or technology.

[mhendo]

It is not likely that he can accomplish this. In every jusidiction that I'm aware of, you may not use an employer's computers for activity not condoned by them. The company owns the machine, they supply the electricity, the environment, and bear the liability for your actions (to an extent).
But surely the legislation (if, indeed, it exists--do you have a cite?) would not simply forbid activity "not condoned by" the employers. Rather, it is much more likely that it would bar employees from using their employers' computers for any activity specifically disallowed by the employer. Computers have so many potential uses that companies would have to have a fairly specific policy about what is and is not acceptable use of company computers.

Also, your whole post fails to distinguish between "something the OP doesn't want the company to know about" and "something the OP's company disallows." The two are not necessarily the same thing.

[county]

GQ is starting to sound like "the Pit" for wimps.

[Canadjun]

But surely the legislation (if, indeed, it exists--do you have a cite?) would not simply forbid activity "not condoned by" the employers. Rather, it is much more likely that it would bar employees from using their employers' computers for any activity specifically disallowed by the employer. Computers have so many potential uses that companies would have to have a fairly specific policy about what is and is not acceptable use of company computers.

Sorry, I don't have cites (how do all you people manage to come up with cites for everything so fast? :) ), but I have read numerous places that you have no legal expectation of privacy in e-mail or web-surfing at work. It's not a specific law, just the fact that you are at work, presumed to be doing your job, and using your employer's property and resources. I don't think a company would have to have a particularly specific policy about acceptable use of computers (although they might choose to do so to save legal hassles) - acceptable use of company computers would be whatever your job entails.

[leenmi]

The anonymizer might look suspicious.

I don't know anything about your environment, but if it is like most places, they warn that internet usage is monitored and they have the right to parse the logs, but do they have the manpower?

Automated software, generally, doesn't flag classified listings. Heck, it doesn't, generally, flag sites like monster.com. It can be configured to watch for these, but probably isn't. So, there is little chance that the automated software, if it exists in your environment, will flag a visit to classified ads. It will flag visits to anonymizer.com. There are damned few legitimate reasons to use anonymizer.com for business related purposes. Actually, I can't think of one.

Still, there might be an IT person looking through the logs for some other reason. I doubt he or she would twitch on classified ads. They just don't jump out.

If you have been warned not to use the internet connection for anything other than business purposes, which is so rare it's ridiculous, then don't do it.

If you have just been told that they monitor usage, then they are most likely looking for porn, games, viruses and gross time-wasting (like the latest meme game that was too cute to stop playing).

Don't panic. Big brother wants to watch you, but he doesn't have the time or money to do it constantly.

[Iteki]

www.ghostzilla.com

Please do pay attention to their little disclaimer asking you not to use it if the reason you arent supposed to be surfing is because you are in charge of a nuclear reactor or something.

[xash]

Please keep this thread factual.

Please use other forums for opinions, debates or flames. Thank you.

-xash
General Questions Moderator

[Quartz]

Bluntly, you can't. You'll always be at risk from screen-snooping, either from something like VNC or from the boss physically walking up behind you. And using an anonymiser would likely get you flagged up PDQ.

[MaryEFoo]

Can you get the numeric IP and type than in the header, rather than the URL? Does the software look for that?

[Koxinga]

Sorry if I got "snotty" earlier. As someone said, it's not like I don't have a lot of downtime on this job, and it's not as if the supevisor herself doesn't surf the web all the time anyway.

FTR, I decided the best thing to do would be to find job postings at home and then forward them to my web mail address--the only thing that would show up on any logs, as far as I know, would be the same web mail service that half the people in the company use already.

Thanks for the replies,

DHR

[Cerowyn]

Setting computer use policy for the company I work for is part of my job. With regard to the request for cites: The Internet Law Journal (http://tilj.com/content/ecomarticle12260001.htm)Although the case law is very murky in this area, employers generally are given wide discretion on how to regulate their Internet and e-mail services. In recent cases, state courts have ruled that, even without notice, employers have a right to search e-mail.Smyth v. Pillsbury is the largest case to date pertaining to e-mail privacy. A United States District Court in Pennsylvania ruled that the Pillsbury Company did not have to notify Mr. Smyth that his e-mails would be examined. The court reasoned that since it was Pillsbury’s equipment, the company was entitled to examine its contents. This link (http://www.lectlaw.com/files/emp41.htm) describes the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and some of the aspects that have been used to find in favour of employers monitoring computer use. The Rights (and Wrongs) of Online Privacy (http://www.optimizemag.com/issue/005/law.htm) provides some statistics: While most individuals access the Internet at work, much of that usage is not for official business. It's not surprising that 45% of U.S. companies monitor their employees' electronic communications, including e-mail, according to a 2001 survey conducted by the American Management Association.A note more directly associated with the OP mentionsAt least one law firm reportedly monitors its associates' e-mail correspondence to alert the managing partner whenever an associate contemplates seeking employment elsewhere.
With a bit of effort, I could certainly drum up a few dozen more if these aren't convincing.

[Markxxx]

My last job was in a major hotel corp. We used "SpyWare." Realistically no one is gonna care. One day I used "proxify.com" and it worked pretty good at keeping info hidden. However I found, as another poster said, we did have the ability to monitor keystrokes. When I enabled this, it rendered that pretty much useless. Interestingly enough, we had the latest equipment but our MIS person was only 1 day a week at each hotel. I did the system admin by default.

Now let's talk realism. We only ever used that in the case of suspected "sexual harrassment." Even then we had to wade thru mounds of data.

We monitored every email...Well we could...We didn't. There are many other ways of catching you, better ways like looking over your shoulder. Coming up suddenly. Checking cookies. (no one seems to EVER clear these and newspapers leave cookies) Also the IE Fill in the blank automatcally.

If you are smart enough to clear your cookies and do enable the IE fill in auto, you have a 90% chance of NOT getting caught.

They could catch you but they don't care. Most jobs do not need a reason to fire you. Any decent manager can make your life so miserable you quit, so if he even THINKS you want to look he will.

Finally our company made everyone sign a policy stating you could be discharged for personal use of internet or email. Everyone was guilty of this. Who HASN'T sent a personal email from work. So they have enough to fire you for that probably.

People who get caught do so for stupid reason and even then everyone understands. Our credit manger emailed her resume and cover letter to THE ENTIRE GLOBAL STAFF. To Everyone in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia...Things happen.

What was her punishment..Don't do it again. Not even a note in her H/R File. BTW she got the job and quit anyway.

[Rex Fenestrarum]

Still, there might be an IT person looking through the logs for some other reason. I doubt he or she would twitch on classified ads. They just don't jump out.

Oh please. Job sites SCREAM out at us! "Hey, wonder who's looking for a job???" And back when I worked for a small (~70 person) company, I had all their (static) IPs memorized, so I'd know in a second who was looking for a job, who was looking at goat porn, etc.