The owners or managers of WiFi certainly have full control over various activities on the network.
However, can the WiFi owner see the history of the access that has been done by the users?
The public internet network is basically an unsafe place to use. There are many dangerous loopholes that can be exploited by criminals to carry out various kinds of actions.
In a number of cases that I have heard of, many users have experienced losses such as losing their accounts or personal data when accessing internet services using the network.
These various kinds of risks often trigger new fears. Including concerns that the owner or manager of the service will peek at the internet browsing history which should be private.
Can WiFi Owners View Users’ History?
Ordinary Owner Level
Viewing the internet browsing history of WiFi users is indeed very possible, moreover, a number of router devices support a log system that allows administrators to know various activities on the network.
It’s just that to do this, each router device has different capabilities and settings. Some of them even require additional equipment in the form of applications, custom firmware, or proxy servers.
Fortunately, at the lowest level of use, owners of places that provide WiFi networks generally will not pay much attention to this, especially for use in private homes.
The option to protect users from banned sites will usually be done by blocking the page directly using basic settings in the router, instead of monitoring user activity around the clock.
ISP Level
Meanwhile, at the ISP (Internet Service Provider) level such as IndiHome, MyRepublic, to Biznet, service managers will of course also collect a list of the browsing history of sites visited by users to improve their network.
Even so, users need not worry. Modern websites generally have implemented the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) cryptographic protocol which can ensure the security of communication over computer networks.
With the cryptographic protocol, ISPs and WiFi owners who want to see the browsing history of users will not be able to find out the specific information on the page even though they already know the site address.
So simply, they will not be able to peek at personal information such as accounts, passwords, comments written, to the part of the page that is being read by users.
Websites that implement the SSL protocol will usually be marked with an HTTPS prefix. Therefore, users should be a little careful when they need to access legacy pages with HTTP addresses only.
How to Hide Browsing History
Using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) is certainly the right option that I often recommend when users need to access internet services via public WiFi networks.
This is because a VPN will simply create a secret path that serves to hide the flow of data communication on a public network so that later all personal information including browsing history will be safer.
But to be really safe, avoid using a VPN that is not trusted because some services often take advantage of their data communication lines.