Antivirus they steal? Avast collects the browsing history of its users and sells them data to third parties, according to joint research of PCMag and Vice. This is the latest example of a free antivirus software that collects data. Of course this free antivirus should also save some money.
Are you using Avast antivirus? By default, Avast collects activity tourς ιστού και την προσφέρει στους εμπόρους μέσω μιας θυγατρικής με την επωνυμία jumpshot. Οι εταιρείες που αγοράζουν τα δεδομένα που συλλέγει η application Avast μπορούν να δουν τα πλήρη στοιχεία “clickstream” για να εντοπίσουν τι κάνουν οι χρήστες της Avast online.
Here's how Michael Kan presents it at PCMag:
The data collected is so detailed that customers can see the individual clicks that users make during their browsing periods, including up to a millisecond. And while the data collected is never associated with an individual's name, email, or IP address, each user history is assigned an identifier called a device ID.
Avast, on the other hand, says the data is "anonymous", but PCMag and Motherboard say they have been able to link it to individuals. For example, if you know which Amazon user purchased a particular product in a given second on a given date, you can identify the "anonymous" person and then check more browsing history.
Αν έχετε εγκαταστήσει το Avast με τις προεπιλεγμένες settings, το ιστορικό περιήγησής σας πωλείται στους διαφημιζόμενους μέσω της Jumpshot. Αυτά τα δεδομένα δεν συλλέγονται μέσω της επέκτασης του προletterτος περιήγησης της Avast, αλλά μέσω της κύριας εφαρμογής του Avast antivirus.
When you install Avast, you will see a question asking if you want to share your data. Most people who click on "Agree" probably did not realize that they agreed with the behavior described above.
If you have Avast installed, open the application and follow the path in the menu Settings - General - Privacy. From there you can control what data is collected and shared by the application, and of course you can turn off data sharing options.
In October 2019, the creator of the Adblock Plus extension, Wladimir Palant, described how many Avast browser extensions collect and transmit data from the browsing history. The expansion of the AVG app did the same thing - and this should come as no surprise, since Avast bought AVG a few years ago.
Google and Mozilla immediately removed the browser extensions from the Chrome Web Store and Mozilla Addons, respectively, until Avast made the necessary changes. Add-ons are still available and Avast seems to be more "transparent" in its privacy policy.
(Google is trying to protect its users from third party data collection, the joke of the day).
Free antivirus software should be profitable, so it should come as no surprise that companies like Avast have turned to collecting and generating revenue from their customers' data.
Free antivirus software isn't “free” anymore. Many antivirus companies change the default machineς αναζήτησης, αλλάζοντας την αρχική σελίδα του προγράμματος περιήγησης και ενσωματώνοντας πρόσθετες “προσφορές” λογισμικού στους εγκαταστάτες τους. Σήμερα, πολλές άλλες εφαρμογές προστασίας από ιούς μπορεί να σας παρακολουθούν και πιθανώς, να πωλούν αυτά τα δεδομένα.
Αν δεν σας αρέσουν αυτά χρησιμοποιήστε το antivirus των Windows, αλλά και πάλι μην είστε σίγουροι ότι δεν φεύγουν δεδομένα από τον υπολογιστή σας.
