Privacy Notice inconsistency?

[Justinh]

Am I not comprehending or is there an actual contradiction/inconsistency in the ASUS Privacy Notice on the Admin > Policy tab?
It says if I withdraw "may result in the inability to update to the latest firmware version and unable to receive the most up-to-date protection". How can that be?
But, it then says "those upgrades will still be downloaded and installed automatically".
If it would interfere with me (or the built-in auto-update stuff) updating, then how would not not interfere with forced updates?

I also get this when I poke the blue policy link

Beautiful QA.

 

[bennor]

Might just be standard lawyer boilerplate. There is similar language on Asus-Merlin 3006.102.6 firmware (on a RT-AX86U Pro) as well:

* Please note: Clicking “Withdraw” here may result in the inability to update to the latest firmware version and unable to receive the most up-to-date protection on your ASUS Router; However, to protect the security of your router and ensure the compliance with laws, for upgrades addressing important security issues or meeting legal/regulatory requirements , those upgrades will still be downloaded and installed automatically.

 

[bbunge]

Am I not comprehending or is there an actual contradiction/inconsistency in the ASUS Privacy Notice on the Admin > Policy tab?
It says if I withdraw "may result in the inability to update to the latest firmware version and unable to receive the most up-to-date protection". How can that be?
But, it then says "those upgrades will still be downloaded and installed automatically".
If it would interfere with me (or the built-in auto-update stuff) updating, then how would not not interfere with forced updates?

View attachment 69693

I also get this when I poke the blue policy link
View attachment 69694

Beautiful QA.

Sorry, but I do not see a contradiction there. With two and maybe three kinds of upgrades, firmware, security and ???, it fits. You can turn off auto firmware upgrades and on some routers you can turn off security upgrades but this does not include AiProtection upgrades. And I believe there are other upgrades that, by regulation, Asus is required to do whether the user like it or not. And there have been cases where the firmware was upgraded even with auto upgrade disabled.
The bottom line is don't read so much. Relax and enjoy the security the router provides and do no go disabling the security protections.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Am I not comprehending or is there an actual contradiction/inconsistency in the ASUS Privacy Notice on the Admin > Policy tab?

The ASUSWRT Privacy terms are unclear and seem to be in flux these days as regulators move to regulate for consumer privacy (EU, not US) and ASUS responds by changing their Privacy policy... I had to login to my router's webUI to check for the latest terms.

If you Withdraw, then Adminstration\Firmware Upgrade\Security Upgrade will become disabled. Re-enabling Security Upgrade will require the user to agree to the terms:

ASUS PRIVACY NOTICE (for firmware/security upgrades)
Welcome to use ASUS router (“this router”)! Please read this Notice carefully:

1. In order to provide you with firmware and security upgrades on this router and to analyze user experience for the purpose of development and evaluation of new products and services of ASUS, by clicking “Agree” below, you agree to share your following data related to this router, including IP address, hashed MAC address, the country of manufacture, model name, firmware and software module version, manufacture date and version of hardware, firmware update data (such as execution method, time and numbers of firmware update), system status (such as usage status of fan, CPU, RAM, flash memory and voltage), numbers and time of boot-ups, the time and network you use to connect to this router, crash history, product name and code, login status of ASUS router app and the number of times of security events with ASUS.
2. Please kindly note: If you click “Disagree” below or disable the sharing of the above data with ASUS through “Administration” page, it may result in the inability to update to the latest firmware version and unable to receive the most up-to-date security protection on this router; However, to protect the security of your router and ensure the compliance with laws, for upgrades addressing important security issues or meeting legal/regulatory requirements, those upgrades will still be downloaded and installed automatically. In this case, ASUS will collect your IP address, hashed MAC address, the country of manufacture, model name, firmware and software module version, which is necessary data for ASUS to deliver these important upgrades to your router.
3. ASUS is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy; you may visit “Administration->Firmware Upgrade/ Privacy” page to enable/disable the sharing of your above data with ASUS at all times. To know more about how ASUS protects your privacy, please visit ASUS’ Privacy Policy. (ASUS’ Privacy Policy)

As I read the terms, the router data being shared is not very consequential and ASUS will access it anyway to force critical security updates. So, I accept the minor data sharing and enable Security Upgrades... and call it done until the regulators and/or ASUS change their terms again.

My router configuration preference is:
Auto Firmware Upgrade disabled
Security Upgrade enabled

OE

 

[bennor]

Please kindly note: If you click “Disagree” below or disable the sharing of the above data with ASUS through “Administration” page, it may result in the inability to update to the latest firmware version and unable to receive the most up-to-date security protection on this router; However, to protect the security of your router and ensure the compliance with laws, for upgrades addressing important security issues or meeting legal/regulatory requirements, those upgrades will still be downloaded and installed automatically. In this case, ASUS will collect your IP address, hashed MAC address, the country of manufacture, model name, firmware and software module version, which is necessary data for ASUS to deliver these important upgrades to your router.

Asus makes it clear they'll still upgrade the router if they feel it's warranted even if one selects the Disagree button on the notice agreement. Similar language is posted in the Asus-Merlin firmware notice quoted above. Some will find that questionable due to past instances where Asus pushed auto updates to the router that caused issues.