Cisco Rethinks 'Cloud' Service After Customer Outcry

Last month, the company updated embedded software on the two routers so that users were automatically shuttled to Cloud Connect — as opposed to local software — when they tried to manage the devices. Some users objected because the tool’s terms of service seemed to step on not only their privacy, nevertheless their right to look at porn on the internet.

This little tempest in a teacup was a nice metaphor for Cisco’s efforts to stay relevant in the age of cloud computing.

“We believe lack of clarity in our own terms of service has contributed to many of our clients' concerns, and we apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused,” reads a blog post from Brett Wingo, Cisco’s vice president of networking. “We take responsibility for that lack of clarity, and we are taking steps to make this right.”

The routers pushed users to Cloud Connect

Wingo says that though the routers pushed users to Cloud Connect, they always could always opt out of the service. And he says that Cisco Connect Cloud and its routers “do not monitor or store information about how our clients are using the Internet,” that the company does not arbitrarily disconnect clients from the internet, and that the Connect Cloud service has “never monitored clients' Internet usage, nor was it designed to do so.”