Network equipment manufacturer Netgear has changed its data collection policy for its Nighthawk R7000 router. The company collects data via the router, such as the IP address, MAC address and serial number.
In a post on its support page, which was updated last week, the manufacturer writes that “technical data about the use and functioning of the router makes it possible to quickly identify technical problems and improve the router’s performance.” Other data that the manufacturer collects includes the number of connected devices, the type of connections and technical data about the use of the router and the Wi-Fi network.
Apart from the above statement, the manufacturer does not give reasons for collecting the data. In addition, the wording of the article makes it unclear whether the change only applies to the R7000 model. The link on the right side of the page seems to suggest this. In addition, Netgear has published a support page with instructions to disable data collection.
Update, 16:10: As tweaker Crazy Harry points out, a thread on the Netgear support forum shows that the data collection was introduced in firmware version 1.0.8.34. A screenshot shows the new feature as part of the firmware update. The release notes are not yet online, according to information from the thread, that has yet to happen.