“Users have always had the ability to opt out of sharing data with Jumpshot,” it said. The statement went on to describe the opt-in and opt-out choices available. “We ensure that Jumpshot does not acquire personal identification information, including name, e-mail address or contact details,” the statement said. In a statement, Avast said that it “acted quickly to meet browser store standards,” and in December completely discontinued the practice of using any data from the browser extensions for any other purpose than improving the core security engine. “Last week, months after it was spotted using its browser extensions to send data to Jumpshot, Avast began asking its existing free antivirus consumers to opt-in to data collection, according to an internal document,” Motherboard wrote. That data is then passed along to Jumpshot, those sources said, and from there to its corporate clients. But other sources alleged that it is instead collecting that same information from the Avast and AVG free antivirus programs. In the report, Avast told Motherboard/PCMag that data collected by the Avast browser extensions is no longer provided to Jumpshot. (Avast acquired Jumpshot in 2013, and a statement on the company’s website says that it “provides insights into consumers’ online journeys by measuring every search, click and buy across 1,600 categories from more than 150 sites, including Amazon, Google, Netflix, and Walmart”.) At the time, the news caused browser makers like Google to remove both from its Web store, though the extensions have since returned. Palant alleged that the information – which included a unique user ID, the page you visited, whether you’d visited that page before, and other information – could be provided to third parties, and suggested that Jumpshot could be a possible destination. The joint report by Vice’s Motherboard and PCMag build upon reports by Adblock Plus creator Wladimir Palant, who reported in October, 2019 that the Avast Online Security Extension as well as the AVG Secure Browser spy on users, harvesting their information. Avast and its subsidiary AVG, caught selling customer data to corporate clients last year, are at it again – this time using its free antivirus programs if you opt in to data collection, a new report said Monday.

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