If you’ve ditched your ISPs router and got a great Wi-Fi router in your home, you’ve removed one way that your internet traffic can be tracked. Maybe you’ve gone one step further, and installed a VPN onto your router so that even your ISP’s servers don’t know what your browsing habits are. After all, many ISPs aggregate and anonymize browsing data that they collect, then sell it to data brokers for advertising use. Now you might be wondering if your router also keeps logs of browsing history, and how to access it. That’s a common worry, especially for those who aren’t in charge of the Wi-Fi router, so here’s what to know.
Why your router specs matter
Routers are essential to getting multiple devices online using the same internet connection and the specs determine how fast that connection is.
Is your router tracking your website history?
The answer might surprise you
Let’s deal with the elephant in the room first. The vast majority of consumer routers do not track your browsing habits, and do not store your browsing history. They simply don’t have enough memory to spare on keeping logs of every website that users visit. That’s even true for many routers that have parental controls, which work by blocking access to websites or services, so there’s no browsing history to show. A few routers with parental controls do keep track of browsing history, so parents can block sites they feel are inappropriate for their children to access.
Here’s the most common consumer routers, a link to their privacy page, and the relevant quoted passage about browsing history:
Google Nest: The privacy page for Google Nest Wifi devices says “the Google Wifi app, Wifi features of the Google Home app, and your Google Wifi and Nest Wifi devices do not track the websites you visit or collect the content of any traffic on your network.”
Amazon eero: The privacy page for all eero devices says “eero Networks do not track where you go on the internet.”
CommScope (Arris): While the Arris privacy policy doesn’t definitively say, a spokesperson told Cnet that “its products don’t collect a user’s browsing history.”
D-Link: The privacy policy for D-Link mentions tracking browsing only when it’s on D-Link’s own websites.
ASUS:ASUS’s privacy policy doesn’t track browsing history unless you’re on their own website. The company also told Cnet that “Asus routers do not track what the user is browsing.”
Netgear: Netgear’s privacy policy also states it doesn’t collect browsing history, except for new Netgear routers with Netgear Smart Parental Controls when the feature is enabled.
TP-Link:TP-Link’s privacy policy states that it only collects browsing history when the Parental Controls feature on Deco Products is on, to “better monitor the device which is under control.”
How to log in to your router
Looking to change some settings or just to see which devices are using your network? You’ll need the right login info to get connected.
Some routers do collect system logs
But only at places where you won’t be able to access them
While the vast majority of consumer routers don’t store any logs of browsing history, there are a few notable exceptions. If you’re using the router that your ISP supplied when you got your internet service hooked up, that might be sending your browsing history to the ISP to use for marketing purposes. Also, if you’re using Wi-Fi at a business, school, or anywhere that’s likely to have professional networking equipment, expect your browsing data to be logged for security purposes. That doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get to your data and remove it either, so be careful what you browse for on those networks.
How to change a router’s name to impress your neighbors
Custom router names are way cooler than generic SSIDs, but you need to customize them if you want to show them off.
#check #browsing #history #router
source: https://www.xda-developers.com/can-you-check-browsing-history-router/
