Can my employer monitor my browsing history when I use their wifi on my laptop?

Question

I work at a hotel and I bring my personal laptop to use on my breaks since we have free wifi throughout the building. I started wondering if they might be recording my browsing history and personal information which I may have transmitted while using the hotel's wifi. It seems like an invasion of privacy but I'm not sure since it's the hotel's wifi that I'm using.

Answer 1

Yes, if they use monitoring software. lol

Answer 2

It depends on 1: whether or not your laptop connects to the company server, or 2: whether the server is configured to log all network activity. Logging or tracking employee use of company resources, as with the WiFi, is not an invasion of privacy. Companies own the infrastructure employees use for access and pay the ISP subscription. They have lawful rights to guard against certain activities while an employee uses any network connection. The company also is legally at risk if any employee unlawfully accesses and uses private and sensitive data, such as customer names, addresses, telephone numbers, and credit card details to name a few.



Many corporations and companies use Group Policy to ensure employees cannot access certain areas on the intranet and internet, and also can easily prohibit use of removable devices and OS programs and features. These Group Policies are updated each time an employee logs onto a computer that connects via the company servers.



Whether or not your company uses Best Practices in securing their network will determine what they do not allow and how much, if anything, they monitor while you use your computer on their network. It is also possible company policy prohibits use of the customer WiFi service. To stay out of trouble you might want to read the work place manual and ascertain whether or not you are allowed such use of the network.

Answer 3

Yes they can because WiFi in their building means they can monitor it, even being able to access your info. Using VPN seems the only safe option but it is a paid service so it may defeat the whole purpose of wanting to use free WiFi. The call is yours.

Answer 4

some companies are not only collecting data from your browsing history they are selling it to google and facebook as well. Ever wonder why all these companies are setting up free WIFI for their employees out side of their normal networks??

Answer 5

If they are tech savvy at all then yes they could see what you are browsing if you are using their wifi, but it is not realistically possible to determine that it is your history and not some random Joe's.