Tracking internet usage on wifi devices

Discussions about Internet service providers (ISPs), the Meetinghouse Firewall, wired and wireless networking, usage, management, and support of Meetinghouse Internet
Ripsy2k
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Tracking internet usage on wifi devices

#1

Post by Ripsy2k »

I received a request from my stake today to begin to track and monitor wifi that is being used in my buildings and give a report of that activity to the Stake President. I have 5 wifi devices installed over 2 buildings and they want all devices secured and reporting. I know that I can send an email log out but does the church Firewall allow smtp traffic out so that I can send that log info directly to an offsite email? Also does the church monitor website activity and give a log to the stake? That report may be easier get for the Stake President if the church does supply that information.
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

Ripsy2k wrote:I know that I can send an email log out but does the church Firewall allow smtp traffic out so that I can send that log info directly to an offsite email?
Probably easier to try and find out.
Ripsy2k wrote:Also does the church monitor website activity and give a log to the stake? That report may be easier get for the Stake President if the church does supply that information.

Not that I know of, but you might want to call Global Service Desk
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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jdlessley
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#3

Post by jdlessley »

Ripsy2k wrote:Also does the church monitor website activity and give a log to the stake?
I posed this very question a couple of years ago to the GSD. Their response then was that technically they could; but to commit resources to doing so would not be feasible unless there was a significantly important reason to do so. I was investigating unauthorized and inappropriate use of FHC computers on the internet then and my stake president felt it was significantly important. At that time our short term need for monitoring (3 hours each Sunday for a month) was not significantly important enough.

Things may be different now. It would not hurt to ask.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
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Mikerowaved
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#4

Post by Mikerowaved »

This topic came up a few years ago in the forum HERE. Several options were offered and discussed, but none were very easy to implement.
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Spydyee
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tracking internet usage via openDNS

#5

Post by Spydyee »

You could add a means of doing this. We are able to track because we have added DNS filtering through openDNS and it logs website traffic. We did this to be able to track the usage of FHC computers also. This allowed us to block certain sites that the church firewall did not block that we wanted blocked such as certain gaming sites like MSN Zone. We will soon be implementing our own Linux server with tracking capabilities in the stake but the easy way we found to do it was to use openDNS. The Linux server is going to have other functions but tracking is one of the benefits of having it.
Ripsy2k
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I will report on what I find in the next few days

#6

Post by Ripsy2k »

I really do not want to view the activity of members. I know that if they are going through that church firewall they are only allowed certain sites. I think that the main concern for the Stake is that they have seen from the chapel several people using wifi devices in Sacrament meetings. They are just concerned that the above activity is due to the overall installation of wifi devices. I will test several of the ideas presented and report on this later in the week. Thanks for all of the good input and ideas.
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#7

Post by RossEvans »

Ripsy2k wrote:I really do not want to view the activity of members. I know that if they are going through that church firewall they are only allowed certain sites. I think that the main concern for the Stake is that they have seen from the chapel several people using wifi devices in Sacrament meetings. They are just concerned that the above activity is due to the overall installation of wifi devices. I will test several of the ideas presented and report on this later in the week. Thanks for all of the good input and ideas.
Why are you assuming that users of handheld devices in Sacrament meeting are likely using WiFi? Ubiquitous smartphones usually have moderately fast cell-data connections as well as WiFi. Or perhaps the members are running local scripture or hymnal apps, which typically require no network connectivity at all. (Then again, maybe they are playing Angry Birds to stay awake :cool: . Is this happening mostly on High Council Sundays.)

As far as WiFi goes, does your stake even allow general access to WiFi by rank-and-file members? In my stake, only a handful of leaders have WiFi access.
russellhltn
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#8

Post by russellhltn »

And even if they are running WiFi, it might just be because it's faster then their data connection. Since they have an alternate, turning it off WiFi may not fix anything.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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Mikerowaved
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#9

Post by Mikerowaved »

Ripsy2k wrote:I think that the main concern for the Stake is that they have seen from the chapel several people using wifi devices in Sacrament meetings.
In a recent Priesthood Session of conference that my brother and I attended at a local stake center, I was banging away on my smart-phone during much of the meeting. When we returned home and gave our usual synopsis to our families, my brother was surprised when I pulled out my phone and showed him notes and thoughts on every talk given. He (and I'm sure a few others around me) just assumed I was busy texting the whole time. Just something to think about.
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JamesAnderson
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#10

Post by JamesAnderson »

Smartphones, tablets, etc., are becoming commplace note-taking devices exactly in the way you described. In fact, my HPGL has a small laptop-like computer, don't know what brand, etc., that he uses in teaching or other active matters in meetings, mainly to read from PDFs of conference talks, lesson manuals, and last night, refer to the newly updated http://consultant.familysearch.org/ in a family history meeting. (That has some great new content by the way).

My bishop is an iPhone user, and one counselor just got a Win7 Phone, and the bishop said he saw two members in the hall one Sunday, they were texting each other. Probably just trading notes on something, maybe an activity or other thing, he had no way of knowing the subject.
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