How To Prevent Your ISP From Spying On You

HTTPS - SSL/TLS Encryption

SSL/TLS (HTTPS) Is HTTP Secure. It encrypts all data on that website that is sent to and from your computer, and then decrypts it once it arrives at its destined location. When using HTTPS, your ISP cannot see what you are browsing.

Below, you will find a better definition of HTTPS;

http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget....tion/HTTPS Wrote:HTTPS (HTTP over SSL or HTTP Secure) is the use of Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) as a sublayer under regular HTTP application layering. HTTPS encrypts and decrypts user page requests as well as the pages that are returned by the Web server. The use of HTTPS protects against eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. HTTPS was developed by Netscape.

There are many applications for Web Browsers that will automatically use HTTPS versions of websites when available, a common one for Chrome is 'Prefer HTTPS'

Highly Encrypted VPNs

VPNs that have strong encryption between you and their servers are an excellent method to prevent ISPs from monitoring you traffic. When using one of these services, your ISP is left completely in the dark, but be wary, for now the VPN service that protects you from your ISP can monitor your traffic just as easily if they desire.

If you are looking for a free way to encrypt traffic and prevent your ISP from viewing it, check out SpotFlux (Link below) but be sure to read their privacy policy first.

Spotflux: http://www.spotflux.com
Spotflux's Privacy Policy: http://launch.spotflux.com/privacy.htm

Keep in mind, any encrypted VPN will work for hiding your activity from a noisy ISP, but in terms on anonymity, a no-log VPN is required, and preferably off-shore (Russia would be your best option).

Encrypt Your Bit-Torrent Traffic

This is a fairly simple thing to do. If you are using a Bit-Torrent client such as uTorrent or BitTorrent, simply follow these steps;

1. Start your client, and click on 'Options'
2. Click on 'Preferences'
3. Click on the 'BitTorrent' tab
4. Set 'Outgoing' to 'Forced'
5. Uncheck 'Allow incoming legacy connections'

(Please note: Following the above steps may cause your torrenting speed to suffer.)

Proxies

Definition of a proxy:

Wikipedia Wrote:a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server. The proxy server evaluates the request as a way to simplify and control their complexity. Today, most proxies are web proxies, facilitating access to content on the World Wide Web.

Encrypted proxies hide your activity from your ISP.

SSH Tunneling

Definition of SSH (Secure Shell):

Wikipedia Wrote:A secure shell (SSH) tunnel consists of an encrypted tunnel created through a SSH protocol connection. Users may set up SSH tunnels to transfer unencrypted traffic over a network through an encrypted channel. For example, Microsoft Windows machines can share files using the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, a non-encrypted protocol. If one were to mount a Microsoft Windows file-system remotely through the Internet, someone snooping on the connection could see transferred files. To mount the Windows file-system securely, one can establish a SSH tunnel that routes all SMB traffic to the remote fileserver through an encrypted channel. Even though the SMB protocol itself contains no encryption, the encrypted SSH channel through which it travels offers security.

If you are not familiar with Secure Shell Tunneling already, I recommend you use something a bit easier to deal with, such as a VPN.

Tor

Tor is a very common internet protocal service which encrypts all traffic by relaying it through multiple nodes.

Definition of Tor:

Tor Wrote:Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis

Tor is a highly secure option for hiding your internet usage from your ISP (NOTE: I said highly secure for hiding from activity from your ISP, not highly secure in general.), but it suffers from slow speeds. I have linked two DIFFERENT working methods to increasing Tor speed below (I HIGHLY recommend you read BOTH.)