Avast Accused of selling search data

[KMFJD]

Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data

An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.

www.vice.com

An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.


When it's free you're the product right?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Half the reason why I dropped out of antivirus software. Either pay for it and deal with then perpetually trying to up-sell you or use something free and hope all goes well
Other half is all antivirus software slows your machine down over time for reasons I don’t understand.

 

[IvanP]

Leaked Documents Expose the Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data

An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.

www.vice.com

An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.


When it's free you're the product right?

This is really a cautionary tale for end users. Before downloading a “free” program one should spend some time to ponder what strings are attached to the free stuff.
Indeed, one should understand that vendors providing services or products free of charge ought to recoup the investment somehow. However, it is often understood that the free version is just a marketing tool to entice the consumer to purchase the paid version, but as we can see on the example of Avast there could be much more to it.
Hopefully, this revelation will contribute to a process that will help address issues with unclear or misleading terms of (free) products and services. I believe the vendors should be obliged to be more forthcoming and transparent in regard of what the end user signs into.

 

[balloonshark]

This also looks like it is opt in now. Always do a custom install of any software as it may give you a hidden option to opt out. Pay attention to any data collection prompts when installing. Dig into the settings of any program you install for any opt outs. Also re-check those settings after any program updates since data collection opt ins can be changed. I had this happen to me during a firefox update in the past.