The US government's consumer protection agency is moving to ban anti-malware software vendor Avast from selling customer web browsing data to third-party advertising companies.
The agency also plans to slap Avast with a $16.5 million fine and an order to stop selling or licensing any web browsing data for advertising purposes.
In its complaint, the FTC also charges the Czech company deceived users by claiming that the software would protect consumers' privacy by blocking third party tracking, but failed to adequately inform consumers that it would sell their detailed, re-identifiable browsing data.
The complaint alleges that Avast sold that data to more than 100 third parties through its Jumpshot subsidiary.
The FTC said the browsing data, collected and resold since at least 2014, included information about users' web searches and the web pages they visited - revealing consumers' religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, location, financial status, visits to child-directed content and other sensitive information.
The commission said Avast acquired rival Jumpshot and rebranded the firm as an analytics play that sold browsing information that Avast had collected to advertising, marketing and data analytics companies and data brokers.
Despite Avast claims that it used special tools to remove identifying information before transferring the data to its clients, the watchdog agency said the company failed to sufficiently anonymize consumers' browsing information that it sold in non-aggregate form through various products.
This Cyber News was published on www.securityweek.com. Publication date: Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:43:06 +0000