Leaked: Avast antivirus is selling highly sensitive web browsing data to the world's biggest companies

XLR8R

Level 4
Jan 20, 2020
168
I've read somewhere you can choose and Avast asks you if you want to participate in sharing data to Jumpsuit after installing avast and opening in first

Well, in my experience using AVG, yes it does, but it is made to look like your data is being used for security purposes, not advertising purposes. Most ordinary users wouldn't expect a security program to collect data for anything other than to improve security, and that is where this controversy begins IMHO.
 

Cortex

Level 26
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Aug 4, 2016
1,465
It was many months ago if not longer when Avast openly publicised incredibly detailed info about their users habits, as I remember Fabian said and this is just how I remember it - 'I wonder how they got that info'? - One thing that surprises me according ho the report Microsoft bought this info, why would Microsoft need such telemetry when they can get all they need?

Not good for Avast but unlikely it's just them? Avast don't really hide what they've been doing & openly publicise it, I wonder if they have ever visited the planet Earth?
 
Last edited:

Captain Awesome

Level 24
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 7, 2016
1,306
Official Avast statement on the recent news about privacy: Official statement on the recent news about privacy
In December 2019, we acted quickly to meet browser store standards and are now compliant with browser extension requirements for our online security extensions. At the same time, we completely discontinued the practice of using any data from the browser extensions for any other purpose than the core security engine, including sharing with our subsidiary Jumpshot.

We ensure that Jumpshot does not acquire personal identification information, including name, email address or contact details. Users have always had the ability to opt-out of sharing data with Jumpshot. As of July 2019, we had already begun implementing an explicit opt-in choice for all new downloads of our AV, and we are now also prompting our existing free users to make an opt-in or opt-out choice, a process which will be completed in February 2020.
Our Privacy Policy details the protections we put in place for all our users. Users can also choose to adjust their privacy levels using the broad range of settings available in our products, including control over any data sharing at any time. We voluntarily comply with the GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) privacy requirements across our entire global user base.
We have a long track record of protecting users’ devices and data against malware, and we understand and take seriously the responsibility to balance user privacy with the necessary use of data for our core security products.
 

Dex4Sure

Level 3
Verified
Well-known
May 14, 2019
116
Considering these kind of things happening to avast in the past, this isn't very surprising... Avast is definitely among the worst, if not the worst when it comes to privacy in AV industry.


 

Divine_Barakah

Level 33
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 10, 2019
2,289
Most of the techies, people need free free at the cost of pro
How would you expect an X to provide luxury for free that too without a single penny.
Acceptable and Fine ...
So concerned to pay and fear to use Free, switch to Linux
Not an excuse! The paid version of Avast does collect the same amount of data right? It is a matter of ethics and not anything else.

Edit

The use of the term "free" is even misleading. Tell your users that they are "the product". Tell them that you are going to sell their data. It was never free and will never be.
 

Mahesh Sudula

Level 17
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Sep 3, 2017
825
Not an excuse! The paid version of Avast does collect the same amount of data right? It is a matter of ethics and not anything else.

Edit

The use of the term "free" is even misleading. Tell your users that they are "the product". Tell them that you are going to sell their data. It was never free and will never be.
There is definetly an option to exclude from data participation / Cloud threat participation..i remember it..dig into settings
However avast is ridicilous... paid av vendors too collect however strictly limited to internal threat statistics , analysis and response
 

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