Avast sold privacy software, then sold users' web browsing data, FTC alleges [View all]
Source: CBS News
February 23, 2024 / 11:46 AM EST
After promising that its software would shield internet users from third-party tracking, Avast allegedly harvested and sold customers' online browsing data, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The maker of antivirus software deceived customers by claiming it would protect their privacy, while not making clear it would collect and sell their "detailed, re-identifiable browsing data," the agency announced Thursday.
"Avast promised users that its products would protect the privacy of their browsing data but delivered the opposite," Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. "Avast's bait-and-switch surveillance tactics compromised consumers' privacy and broke the law."
U.K.-based Avast, through a Czech subsidiary, from 2014 to January 2020 stored and sold customer data collected through browser extensions and antivirus software installed on computers and mobile devices, according to the FTC's complaint.
That information, culled from users' online searches and the websites they visited, included their religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, location and financial status, and was sold to more than 100 third parties through an Avast subsidiary called Jumpshot, according to the agency.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ftc-avast-browsing-data-privacy/
Link to FTC PRESS RELEASE - FTC Order Will Ban Avast from Selling Browsing Data for Advertising Purposes, Require It to Pay $16.5 Million Over Charges the Firm Sold Browsing Data After Claiming Its Products Would Block Online Tracking
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