In reply to a post by Pipexer:

Btw, I can totally take the joke, but once you get into the territory of joking about those 2 matters you inevitably wind someone up. It is just best to not go there.

While someone has every right to be offended I also have every right to free speech within the realms of this forum. Part of being grown up is dealing with things that may offend you and while it's wrong to set out to offend it's equally wrong to self-censor for fear of offending.

I stand by what I said both as being factually appropriate and having a bit of a rib behind it.

Well it's not factually correct is it? I have the right to worry about having my privacy invaded, and I do worry about having my privacy invaded, and I am not a pedophile or terrorist.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

Part of being grown up is dealing with things that may offend you and while it's wrong to set out to offend it's equally wrong to self-censor for fear of offending.

I agree, but the modern nanny state does not, and mud sticks so offhand comments of such a nature are (imo) best left unsaid. Would you say it to a stranger in a pub?

I wouldn't.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

How do you know the people running the Tor node, or the VPN system, or the operating system are not looking closely at what you are doing.

Tor I do not use for that reason, VPNs and OS software I at least initially trust (I'm not a Windows user, and tend to start off at the most secure basepoint feasible - *BSDs - I'm not a network engineer, more business applications software, but with a modicom of networking thrown in) - it would help though if I could get something in black and white out of an ISP on the subject to be able judge the situation properly - am I looking at the possibility of a wire tap here or not? If so what can be done?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If you are a high value target for the local thieves, then I would suggest retaining a full time computer security expert to advise you.

OK, but an ISP has to say exactly what security issues it is fit to deal with 'out-of-the-box', and what it is not.

In reply to a post by cerberus2:

am I looking at the possibility of a wire tap here or not? If so what can be done?

See my reply

Yes devices exist to transparently tap ADSL signals on the copper wire anywhere between your modem/router and the DSLAM in the exchange.

Just one example: http://www.etesters.com/listing/e814a379-1422-08df-a...

There are several others - wikileaks has some "liberated" documents on similar devices offered by other manufacturers that aren't publically advertised.

They are designed to be transparent when in use so you would see no indication of them being active on your circuit.

Just out of interest, who do you think your adversaries are in this scenario? (crooks, police, shadowy UK spooks, shadowy overseas spooks, some other nefarious religious or neo-political operation?)

This always gives me a chuckle: http://xkcd.com/538/

In this case I think (respectfully) cerberus2 has confused ISP traffic shaping with a wire tap... two totally different matters really.

Interesting links

Quite possibly. It's no surprise that a VPN connection to an overseas VPN endpoint is somewhat slower than direct internet access via their domestic ISP.

I got a little lost in all the talk of being a high profile target for criminals. law enforcement and spooks etc. Hence my question about who cerberus2 thinks the adversary is.

End of the day, if cerberus2 has something of enough value (financial / knowledge / influence) and the adversary has the resources and will - well cerberus2 is going to be awoken at gun point one night and made to hand whatever it is over.

On the other hand the concern may be about being monitored over time.

Very different problems that would require very different solutions (or in many cases attempted mitigation).

edit because: GCHQ probes modified my post as I submitted it causing several words to be omitted.

Edited by deleted (Mon 25-Feb-13 01:02:10)

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

confused ISP traffic shaping with a wire tap

I'd sort of ruled out ISP issues by observing that the problem was intermittent - not consistent - not likely to be an ISP policy.

AAISP looks good, not cheap though (but not too expensive).

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

Just out of interest, who do you think your adversaries are in this scenario?

If I were to hazard a guess (and it is no more than that) a skilled local crime gang. I'm not getting any data injection problems at the moment which is the main issue (accept the odd rogue webpage!).

Bandwidth shaping is never consistent, the algorithms are too complex to ascertain (but I have to say I am pretty good at identifying it).... it will be your ISP. I am 99.9% certain it lies with your ISP traffic shaping or their peering being over capacity.

I would strongly recommend AAISP, their culture on privacy fits right in with what you seem to want from your connection. Give them a call and discuss your concerns with them - I'm sure they will be happy to advise. I'd thoroughly recommend reading revk's blog, especially on "black boxes"

Odd rogue webpage - tell us more. There will be a logical explanation to this.