There have been several articles recently published in The Cavalier Daily about ITC monitoring student Internet use. Unfortunately, the articles seem to indicate that students are helpless in this situation, forced to deal with the policy and only able to protest or send letters to the administration about their privacy concerns. But students have another recourse: technology that protects online privacy and anonymity.
The particular technology that comes to mind for dealing with a situation where Internet use is being monitored is "onion routing," and the particular software that comes to mind is Tor (the onion router). Tor is a research project started by the Navy, and now maintained by researchers and volunteers around the world, with the goal of developing a system that thwarts attempts to monitor and track Internet use. The concept is straightforward: Instead of having computers communicate directly (to open a website, for example, a computer must communicate with the computer that hosts the website, known as the web server), computers using Tor will have their communications forwarded through several other computers, and thus tracking a person's Internet use would require the capability of monitoring the entire Internet, a capability which only intelligence agencies like the National Security Agency are believed to have.
Tor is not difficult to configure, even if you are not an expert in computers or computer security. Installation files are available for all major operating systems. Once you have installed Tor, you only need to change a few settings in your web browser detailed on the Tor project's webpage, and your web browsing will automatically get routed through Tor. You can also connect other programs to Tor - instant messengers, for example - although doing so may require more work.
It is important to remember, however, that Tor only protects you from certain forms of monitoring. Even if you use Tor, ITC can still determine when you connect to the Internet, for how long you are connected, and even which building you are in when you connect. Tor cannot protect you from spyware that is installed on your computer, nor can Tor prevent viruses from being installed. Tor will not prevent websites from tracking your online activities if you log in (e.g. to Facebook) or if you allow "cookies" (which are allowed by default). If you enable Javascript and Flash in your browser, as most UVA students do, there are methods that can be used to subvert Tor, which may be silently employed by UVA on its website. In general, it is advised that when using Tor, you disable Javascript and all plugins, including Flash; there are Firefox extensions that will do this automatically.
Information about Tor, and the Tor software itself, can be found at the project's website:
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