“How do you know if a log of sites visited is being kept somewhere?”

A log of activity is always kept somewhere. The question is where.

”I use Macs”   The type of computer you use is irrelevant


“At home I use airport and Verizon DSL”


Not sure what you mean by “airport”, but if you are using Verizon DSL at home, and this is your personal account, that you pay for, then the only thing you need to worry about is your SO (if you have one). Any internet service provider can tell what sites you’ve visited. But they don’t care. ISP’s are not the moral police. Engaging in child porn might be an exception to this—and I’m not suggesting you are---but some ISPs do actively monitor for this type of traffic and will contact LE to set-up an introduction for you. Other than that, whatever you do online is your personal business.

One exception there---if you’re using a company laptop, on your personal internet connection, stop doing this. If the laptop is configured with an automatic VPN connection then it doesn’t matter how you get connected to the Internet.  That traffic will always be routed through your employers network. Even if that is not the case, when you use next use that laptop on the company network, a log-in script is probably grabbing your browser history.

“ and at work I use UBS cable to a router and then verizon dsl there are two other PC computers on the router”

If you’re using your employers network, regardless of how you connect to it (wired connection to a router, WiFi, Wireless modem, DSL, cable modem etc..), always assume your activity is being monitored.

Some employers never look at this stuff unless they have a reason. Some employers make a point of reviewing this information on a regular basis. But the data is always there.


Even if they don’t look at the activity logs regularly, they will eventually, and your employer does care. From their perspective, they pay you money in exchange for a service---they do not pay you to surf TER and set-up apts with escorts.  So *when* (and that is not *if*) they catch you at it they will be more than happy to help you clear your schedule for web surfing all day long

Just adding a few more things ...

Can't give you any info on Macs, but if it were a PC there would be cookies, history, etc on your PC that need to be cleaned out.  When surfing from home, this is the most serious vulnerability.  Google is your friend.

As far as the "airport," I don't know the specifics.  A few higher end home routers can be set up to keep logs.  You need to know what you are doing to set it up.  Go to the configuration screen of your router and see if it is an option (unlikely).  If your SO is a network engineer, be very scared

and reiterating what hotplants said (and there was a previous thread as well) ... NEVER surf from work.  The risk is huge.  If you are a small company and really only have three PCs on a router going DIRECTLY to Verizon, (no internal network) the risk may be low.  Verizon knows where you go, but they won't know which PC it was (since your router probably uses NAT).  And with a setup that small it's unlikely to be monitored by the workplace.  Still, DON'T SURF FROM WORK unless you are the network administrator and know how everything is set up and exactly what services are being purchased from the ISP.