Can universities look at your laptops? ?

Question

just out of curiosity, since the internet is provided by the universities, can they look at what you're doing in real time?

Answer 1

Can they?  -  Yes

A University of any size will have an IT group that has the equipment and software needed to see what anyone is doing, any time.

Will They? - Not likely unless you pop up on their screens trying to get around the blocks they have set up, or hog a huge amount of bandwidth doing massive MP3 downloads, or visit sites that they have on their watch list.

No matter how you access the internet, be it at home, at school or at work, you will be using someones network to get there. Which means someone always has an opportunity to see what you are doing.

(And to make you are really paranoid - Remember - the NSA never sleeps)

Best rule - never do anything on line that is illegal or that you would be ashamed of if the world found out.  

Answer 2

They can monitor traffic and applications you use.  Company networks can and do this too.  You do not own the network connection, they do.