Mozilla Removes Avast and AVG Extensions From Add-on Portal Over Snooping Claims

'Mozilla today removed four Firefox extensions made by Avast and its
subsidiary AVG after receiving credible reports that the extensions
were harvesting user data and browsing histories. From a report:

The four extensions are Avast Online Security, AVG Online Security,
Avast SafePrice, and AVG SafePrice. The first two are extensions that
show warnings when navigating to known malicious or suspicious sites,
while the last two are extensions for online shoppers, showing price
comparisons, deals, and available coupons. Mozilla removed the four
extensions from its add-ons portal after receiving a report from
Wladimir Palant, the creator of the AdBlock Plus ad-blocking
extension. Palant analyzed the Avast Online Security and AVG Online
Security extensions in late October and found that the two were
collecting much more data than they needed to work -- including
detailed user browsing history, a practice prohibited by both Mozilla
and Google.'

-- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/19/12/03/1559248

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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