GekeVenn: CISCO

Cisco Systems is a technology conglomerate based in San Jose's Silicon Valley. One area of focus for the company is the controversial “internet of things,” or the network connection of various devices such as home appliances, phones, and vehicles.

Cisco was founded by Leonard Bosack and his wife, Sandra Lerner. While working in Stanford's Computer Science department, Bosack was a central contributor to the Defense Department's ARPAnet.

In 2014, Glenn Greenwald detailed how the National Security Agency (NSA) planted backdoor surveillance tools in Cisco routers without the company's knowledge.

The company has actively lobbied for NAFTA in an effort to avoid international tariffs on technology goods. Cisco also kept billions of dollars “parked” overseas to avoid the 35 percent US tax it would pay if it repatriated those funds. As such, the company aggressively lobbied the Trump administration on lowering corporate and repatriation taxes.

In 2016, Cisco was investigated for Russian bribery but neither the SEC or the Justice Department brought any enforcement actions against the company. The government had requested that Cisco internally investigate its discounting practices in its business dealings in Russia, and the internal investigation satisfied both government agencies. Note that two Cisco employees a former employees of the Justice Department.