Is there any way you can find out what sites someone has been to or
how many email address someone has if you do not have access to their
computer?

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Request for Question Clarification by mvguy-ga on 27 Sep 2002 07:08 PDT

Hi,

Are you someone

a) who wants to find out what someone you know has been up to while
using a computer, OR

b) someone who wants to know what law enforcement, advertisers and
other third parties can find out about you?

The answer would be different, because a private individual normally
can't access information that might be obtainable through a court
order or through the use of cookies and referrer logs.

Thanks!

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Clarification of Question by sissy123-ga on 27 Sep 2002 08:34 PDT

I would like to know what someone I know has been up to on the
computer or how many e-mail addresses they have.

Hi,

I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the basic answer is that you can't
find out much without access to the person's computer.  If you had
access to the computer you could find out quite a bit as long as the
person isn't taking steps to hide his or her tracks. But without the
computer, there's very little you can find out. There are no
centralized records kept anywhere of what e-mail addresses are issued
to people (they're very easy to get from hundreds of places, and many
people have legitimate reasons for using several), and most web sites
(other than those that are for subscribers or registered users only)
don't know the identities of the people who view them.

Probably the only way you could find out some of the information is
with a court order (which might give you access to the computer
anyway).  Internet service providers may have limited relevant
information in their logs, and it certainly is technologically
feasible to install a "tap" on someone's Internet access to get
records of the person's Internet activity.  If the computer is on a
network and you're a network administrator, it also would be fairly
easy to track which sites a person accesses.  There also are ways that
a hacker can sometimes "get into" a computer connected to the
Internet, but any such effort would almost certainly be illegal.

The only thing I can suggest (assuming that a court order is out of
the question) is to contact the Internet service provider of the
person and see what information the ISP will provide.  Chances are
almost certain that the ISP won't tell you anything, but it may be
worth a try.  If you're concerned that the person is visiting
particular web sites, you could contact the owner of that site and
ask, but again you'll probably be told that disclosing anything would
violate the site's privacy policy.

The following page shows the information you can get if you have
access to the computer. This is just one sample among many:

Secretly Record All Chat, Email, Web Sites
http://www.privacy-control.com/

Here is a another interesting article, but again you need access to
the computer:

How to Find Out What Your Spouse Is Doing on the Internet
http://familyinternet.about.com/library/weekly/aa050802a.htm

I wish I could give you something more helpful.  But without access to
the person's computer you're extremely limited in your options (the
legal ones, anyway).

mvguy




Google search term: internet spy
://www.google.com/search?num=25&hl=es&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=internet+spy

ISPs will not release any information without a subpeona. Most won't
even tell you if the person is a client of theirs. Unless a crime is
committed, investigators and police will have no interest in helping
you out.