Cisco Walks Back ?Cloud? Service Default On Routers, Denies Update Blocks Porn Sites

By Joseph Orovic | July 08 2012 3:07 PM

Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO)has responded to a customer backlash against a default setting in routers that connected users to its Cloud Connect service, allegedly blocked their ability to check out porn sites and tracked their Internet usage.

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The Cisco logo is displayed at the technology company's campus in San Jose, California February 3, 2010.

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The technology behemoth undid firmware changes to its EA4500 and EA2700 routers released last month that automatically sent users to Cloud Connect when they tried to manage their devices rather than software on their machines.

Users became agitated when they noticed the terms of service that came with the update implied a dicey privacy policy -- and took away their right to check out porn.

We believe lack of clarity in our own terms of service has contributed to many of our customers' concerns, and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused, Cisco's Vice President of Networking Brett Wingo wrote in a blog post announcing the change. We take responsibility for that lack of clarity, and we are taking steps to make this right.

Cisco initially tried to address the problem by telling users to downgrade back to an earlier version of the routers' embedded software. Wingo said the firmware always had an opt out option that allowed users to disable Cloud Connect. The routers now use local software by default instead of the cloud.

Wingo also said the privacy concerns were overblown.

Cisco's Linksys routers do not track or store any personal information regarding customers' use of the Internet, he wrote.

Router owners were also particularly troubled by a section of the terms of service that explicitly forbade using Cloud Connect for obscene, pornographic or offensive purposes.

Wingo denied the porn-blocking rumors using very deliberate verbiage.

Cisco Connect Cloud and Cisco Linksys routers do not monitor or store information about how our customers are using the Internet and we do not arbitrarily disconnect customers from the Internet, he wrote in the blog post. The Cisco Connect Cloud service has never monitored customers' Internet usage, nor was it designed to do so, and we will clarify this in an update to the terms of service.

All of the troubling parts of Cisco's initial terms of service, such as the Cloud Connect default, are opt-in only.