Hiding from Actiontec

dcole6 · Apr 22, 2007

I don't know much about wireless internet or networking, so I don't really know how to ask this question but I'll try my best. We have a wireless router from Actiontec and as you surf the internet it records all websites you access. Recently viewed websites are listed on a page (local host or something?) for anyone on the network to see. Does anyone know how to make it so that it does NOT record the sites I visit?

Indochine · Apr 23, 2007

Actiontec advertises this as a “feature” (you know, so that you can keep an eye on what your kids/husband/dog are doing on the internet). But clearly this is not something we want.

See here for the full article

http://kristagrothoff.wordpress.com...ble-the-actiontec-dsl-modem-web-activity-log/

I have copied the instructions below.

You need to use telnet from the command prompt, and you need to know the adminstrative username and password.

Open a command prompt box and type telnet 192.168.0.1 to connect to your router.

First, you’ll need to telnet in to your modem with your administrative username and password. If you don’t remember it, it can be changed from your browser on the modem’s web page under Advanced Utilities > Admin Username & Password. In general, unless you’ve done something fancy, your modem (and its web interface) is at 192.168.0.1. If not, you probably know where it is. Anyway, telnet to wherever it is:

> telnet 192.168.0.1
Trying 192.168.0.1...
Connected to 192.168.0.1.
Escape character is '^]'.

BusyBox on (none) login: youradminusername
Password:

BusyBox v0.61.pre (2006.02.18-05:21+0000) Built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

#

Ok, so now you’re in. You’ll want to change to the directory where the log is hidden:

# cd /var/tmp

The file you’re looking for is log_web_activity. First, you’ll have to remove the file so that we can make it point to something harmless:

# rm log_web_activity

Now, and this is important, in order to prevent the log from being written to, you need to create a symbolic link from the old file name to /dev/null (if you know nothing about Linux/Unix/whatever, think of it as a lovely black hole to which you’ll be shipping your data). If none of that made any sense to you, fear not. Just type what I tell you to type. Afterwards, that pesky file should disappear for good!

# ln -s /dev/null log_web_activity

Now log out of the modem, and you’re home free:

# exit
Connection closed by foreign host.
>

(type q to exit telnet)

Note that you’ll have to do this anytime the router reboots. Since /var is a partition in RAM (and thus it - and your symlink - get hosed on shutdown) and the startup scripts can’t be edited since they’re all in read-only memory, you can’t do anything about it permanently unless you’re industrious enough to build a new ROM image.

In short, anytime your modem loses power or reboots, you’ll have to go through the steps above again.

That should be it.
Click to expand...

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Hiding from Actiontec

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