AIProtection and privacy concerns

[Dav3]

Hi Guys,

So I have a AX82U on the way but I got poking around and noticed a lot of concerns surrounding privacy in relation to the AIProtection features. It seems this is managed by TrendMicro and can basically record and send back everything you do, every site you visit, email you send and file you transfer.

I can't say I'm OK with that. Has there been any analysis done to see what it's collecting and if turning off this function actually stops the data collection?

 

[ColinTaylor]

This has been discussed ad nauseam. Read the existing posts and decide for yourself, no need to repeat it all again.

 

[Dav3]

Sorry, nothing really came up in the suggestions when I was entering the topic title.

Is there a general consensus?

 

[ColinTaylor]

Is there a general consensus?

Not really. It's like politics. It doesn't how many facts are presented or myths debunked people won't change their preconceived opinion.

Looks for posts by @RMerlin explaining what it does and doesn't do.

 

[Dav3]

Not really. It's like politics. It doesn't how many facts are presented or myths debunked people won't change their preconceived opinion.

Looks for posts by @RMerlin explaining what it does and doesn't do.

You wouldn't happen to have a link to a thready handy would you? Having trouble finding much, maybe I'm not looking in the right spot.

 

[BreakingDad]

384.6 Now sharing data to Trend Micro?

Yeah, on ya mate! True, our Government is full of hot wind and they don't even understand what they're doing, from the thing I hear and read. It's an embarrassment. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Just look at what they have said about the NBN and piracy with faster speeds, 99% of what...

www.snbforums.com

You have to weigh up security against privacy.

I use it, I feel safer using it. Trend Micro would soon lose their reputation if they were doing anything nefarious with your data. It picks up stuff regularly, over the whole network. It can even tell you if one of your phones is "infected"

End of the day the minute you switch your pc on you are not getting total privacy, even if you think you are. Your OS for example is reporting back to MS, when you go to a website it's reporting to your isp, or a DSN server or that website. Even if you have a VPN it's going through their servers.

Relax and remember you're not special enough to be of interest.

Global Privacy Notice | Trend Micro

Read Trend Micro's Global Privacy Notice.

www.trendmicro.com

They are also GDPR compliant.

BTW using a VPN would block trend micro when you want to look at "grown ups" sites.

 

[Dav3]

384.6 Now sharing data to Trend Micro?

Yeah, on ya mate! True, our Government is full of hot wind and they don't even understand what they're doing, from the thing I hear and read. It's an embarrassment. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro Just look at what they have said about the NBN and piracy with faster speeds, 99% of what...

www.snbforums.com

You have to weigh up security against privacy.

I use it, I feel safer using it. Trend Micro would soon lose their reputation if they were doing anything nefarious with your data. It picks up stuff regularly, over the whole network. It can even tell you if one of your phones is "infected"

End of the day the minute you switch your pc on you are not getting total privacy, even if you think you are. Your OS for example is reporting back to MS, when you go to a website it's reporting to your isp, or a DSN server or that website. Even if you have a VPN it's going through their servers.

Relax and remember you're not special enough to be of interest.

Global Privacy Notice | Trend Micro

Read Trend Micro's Global Privacy Notice.

www.trendmicro.com

They are also GDPR compliant.

BTW using a VPN would block trend micro when you want to look at "grown ups" sites.

Thank you for that, I appreciate the info.

I'm pretty privacy focused, not a fan of my personal data being viewed by anyone but myself plus privacy is sometimes important with the volunteer work I do. To that end I've gone out of my way to disable telemetry, tracking you name it on my PC and web browsers.

I do have a VPN as well, one of the reasons I grabbed this router is so I can do VPN right through the router but I'm guessing that wouldn't block TrendMicro, it would probably have to be running on the device, right?

I really wish Merlin would add support for this router. Theres some apps I'd really like to run on it, kinda bummed. But I like the looks of this router much more then the 86u, it fits my dark side style setup and it was nicer on the wallet so I don't really want to return it.

 

[RMerlin]

I really wish Merlin would add support for this router.

When is Merlin coming to the RT-AX82U

Will there ever be support for the RT-AX82U? If so, when?

www.snbforums.com

 

[Dav3]

When is Merlin coming to the RT-AX82U

Will there ever be support for the RT-AX82U? If so, when?

www.snbforums.com

Hi Merlin, thanks for the link, I did see that earlier. But it's by GNUton, right? I applaud him for taking up the torch on tthe 82u but I'm guessing this is like a fan release? If so I'm not expecting long term support so not sure whether to bother with it or not.

 

[L&LD]

@GNUton has been active for almost 3 years now. Even RMerlin was started as a fan release.

If nobody uses it, the end result will be at you now predict.

 

[Dav3]

@GNUton has been active for almost 3 years now. Even RMerlin was started as a fan release.

If nobody uses it, the end result will be at you now predict.

You're absolutely correct.

I really hope he keeps going with it, I think the 82u is a great little router and it deserves cfw support.

My hat's off to Merlin and GNUton, it's a lot of work to do all this, thank you guys for doing it.

 

[BreakingDad]

I do have a VPN as well, one of the reasons I grabbed this router is so I can do VPN right through the router but I'm guessing that wouldn't block TrendMicro, it would probably have to be running on the device, right?

I do not know if a router based vpn blocks trend, I guess if it did it would make trend redundant so possibly not. I use a client based vpn when torrenting etc.

 

[RMerlin]

Hi Merlin, thanks for the link, I did see that earlier. But it's by GNUton, right? I applaud him for taking up the torch on tthe 82u but I'm guessing this is like a fan release? If so I'm not expecting long term support so not sure whether to bother with it or not.

This is a fork. GNUton is also in contact with Asus just like me, so this isn't just a random short-term toy for him, he's definitely committed to this project.