Cisco Tried to Prohibit Users from Watching Adult Movies Using its Home Routers

Cisco Systems learned the hard way that you don't get between people and their porn. The maker of popular networking products amended its term of service to say that customers could not use its routers to access porn, among other things. 

This all came to light after Cisco issued a firmware upgrade for two of its home wireless routers, the EA4500 (pictured above) and the EA2700, that moved the devices to its "Cisco Connect Cloud." Once apart of the "Cloud," users could adjust the settings of their router via any Internet-connected computer, instead of using a computer connected directly to the router. 

The drama came when Cisco changed the Connect Cloud's TOS to forbid the accessing of porn, sending spam, or "encourage any conduct" that would be deemed illegal. How would Cisco know what sites you were visiting? By keeping tracking of your moves. 

ExtremeTech.com discovered that following paragraph from the Cloud Connect's privacy statement was later omitted: 

If you have a Cisco EA4500 or EA2700 model router and want to revert back to the old firmware, Cisco has decided that it no longer wants people to think it's spying on its customers and has outlined how to go back. 

[via Business Insider]