Avast, the cybersecurity software company, is facing a $16.5 million fine after it was caught storing and selling customer information without their consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced the fine on Thursday and said that it’s banning Avast from selling user data for advertising purposes.
They definitely made more than that selling data what a fucking joke
F*C fines are just protection money payments.
If the software is free, but not open source, it’s harvesting your data. How else do you think these companies stay in business?
Free my ass! Avast charges money for that service. Hell they make you subscribe to use any service outside basic virus scan. So customers paid to have their data stolen and sold.
I dislike this sentiment. Just because something is FOSS or open source, doesn’t mean it’s not harvesting your data or doing something nefarious.
$16.5 million is not even a slap on the wrist
Five years ago, I posted on Reddit about how Avast had installed a browser without my consent and set it as default while I was out of town and away from my computer. That post has had comments added to it several times a year ever since, meaning that they’re still trying that nonsense. They stole my data without my consent by importing all of my browser data, and now it’s come out that they blatantly sold it without my consent as well.
I said it then, and I say it now: If you install something without my knowledge or consent, you’re a virus, plain and simple.
Cybersec company ❌
Advertisement/Data mining ✔️
Jesus Christ.
Remember when Google’s Motto was “Don’t be Evil” It was supposed to be a jab at Microsoft, but it feels like every year tech companies find news ways to just be fucking evil.
PS. Google kind of fails to live up to that motto too, I don’t even know if it’s still an official motto.
Corporations have no soul to damn and no body to incarcerate.
I’m all for crapping on large publicly traded companies but lumping Google in with companies that sell your data isn’t honest. Google does not and never has sold user data. They sure as hell use your data for their own ad network but they do not sell that data wholesale. Meta and other data brokers sell your data and this Avast company sells your data through a product they claimed stopped tracking. I’m not pro-Google but to compare their business model (which is very transparent about how it handles your data and how it’s never sold) to Avast’s business model (which is to completely lie to the end user while literally selling everything that user does) is not an honest comparison.
This is a careful reminder to be VERY SCEPTICAL about not only “anti-viruses” (like bro, Windows defender is good enough), but also browsers. There is a high probability that the company is either a data broker or fintech… looking at you, Opera.
Do we know how much money they made on it? If it was more than $16.5 then it was still a good step on their balance sheet.
This stuff needs to be fined at the full income they made from the tool plus some penalty. Corporations only care about their balance sheets.
Cost of doing business
Jesus christ right!! I’m curious how much they made off that data.
They should be put out of business and those responsible jailed
Is there a class action lawsuit?
I wonder what other uses there are to sell data that is not for advertising? My second thought goes to what is in place to stop a middleman from saying that they would not sell information for advertising purposes, but selling the data for “quality control of data acquisition” purposes. If you are getting a service for free, you are the product.
Political campaigns? A political candidate may want to know his opponent’s supporters and may think he can do a more targeted wooing. 1 may say it’s advertising too.
Also, he can send bots to the political discussions that folks participate in. The bots can start nasty political arguments.
A greedy religious figure may want to encourage more to join his religion. More members, more cash.
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And people still think they can trust password managers lmao
Yeah, those. Thanks for the example.
So is your problem with using a password manager at all, or just the companies/sources of them?
Any company trying to get my data, really, and my passwords are the most sensitive of my data. Even if I coded one myself, and kept it completely local, my passwords are all in one place if that device gets compromised.
I can remember my passwords, so why take the gamble?
Well, you do you, but I’m happier with complex unique password locked behind a 2FA open source self hosted encrypted vault than I am remembering a few passwords shared amongst services. I have 400+ entries in it, and if I get hit by a bus, my wife has access to it with her yubikey.
You do you as well, one of the amazing things about all the technology we have available to us lol.
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Why? What’s wrong with Keepass?
Who knows? I just keep track of my own passwords so when the rest of you find out I won’t be a part of it lol. Everyone on lemmy is so anti Google and anti Microsoft because of what they do with your data, that it’s actually hilarious that so many just freely give EVERY SINGLE PASSWORD for their accounts to password management apps, like nothing bad could ever come from it.
If you can keep track of your passwords yourself, why take such a massive gamble?
You’re smarter than the collective wisdom of the entire cybersecurity community, I see. Researchers who have been doing this for decades have nothing on you. People with peer-reviewed studies and bucketloads of data are like pawns in the face of your vast intellect. When FOSS password managers fall, you’ll be the only one left standing and the world will bow at your feet. Certainly you are the first person to have ever thought of this.
Be a sarcastic ass all you want, at least I can remember a password without relying on some random company lol. You keep giving all your passwords away though, no skin off my back
One password. Yes, that’s the problem. Thank you for so eloquently disassembling your own inane point.
I’m sorry you can’t even remember one. Maybe work on reading comprehension first. Have a great life!
You said “a password.” That’s one. I think my reading comprehension is just fine, but I admire your commitment to misunderstanding the point at every turn. It solidly explains why you’re against password managers when literally everyone who knows anything about Internet security is for them.
Oh, I can remember far more than one. But I can’t remember the 687 that I have currently stored in Bitwarden. Can you? Can you accurately and correctly remember six hundred and eighty-seven unique and distinct passwords? 687 unique and distinct passwords that are long and complex enough to be difficult to guess? Can you constantly monitor all 687 accounts for when they show up in data breaches? Can you recognize all 687 login screens for when they’re spoofed for a phishing attack? Remember, some of those are banks! You’ve probably given a couple of them your SSN! There are 687 potential land mines out there. Good luck!
That works great when you’re young, kid, bit when you get older, you’re going to be forgetting and resetting a lot of those passwords.
I don’t think anyone on lemmy is under 30 lol
