Avg has recently updated it's privacy policy for AVG Free (not sure about the paid version) to allow it to capture and sell all sorts of personal data around your browsing activities online. They claim your really personal stuff is stripped out, but common sense will tell you that's not true. Log In Unfortunately it appears some of the other free antivirus applications such as McAfee and Avast have been doing this as well for some time now. Log In So not only are these programs largely useless, they are compromising our privacy - the very thing they should be protecting! And wasting our bandwidth behind our backs!
There is no such thing as a free lunch. I am sure most companies that ask for an email address keep it for some reason, marketing or otherwise. Now selling it is another matter, to be honest most people don't know that companies sell on details. I worked for a non-profit in the office and on all the records there was a box to tick 'to sell information' and I know on their forms, there was never an opt out clause. Even when I left I made sure I ticked that box and they still sent stuff until I told them to stop, and I knew they had ignored the tick box.
Yep, no surprise at all. I know it costs money to keep this stuff up-to-date, but how are you going to instil confidence in your product if you start committing some of the same shady practices that your program is supposed to defend against? The whole selling details racket is kind of scary, actually. I'm sure even local stores know way more about their customers than their customers could ever imagine.
Why should they lie about the anti-virus software being free when they know they make those who use their software "pay" in some way? This unethical practice probably can't be stopped because when you download them programs and install them maybe they've got something in their terms and conditions [which you must accept] that gives them the right to spy on you and sell some data to marketers. Good thing for me is, it's been a while since I used any anti-virus software.
That data is worth a lot! They can strip your personal details out, that isn't actually worth much (unless we are talking identity theft.) Companies are interested in how you spend money online, they don't need your personal information to get the info they want. As long as they have a snapshot (IP, what sites you visit, where you spend money, which adds you click on, what time you go online, how often you go online ect ect ect) they can sell that data. Nothing in this life is free. To be honest AVG is a good product, that's a small price to pay to keep your computer safe. If you are worried then just go to a paid anti-virus program.
I don't see it as being that much different from any other site we use nowadays, personally. Personally, I understand it to some extent because they have to make money off of their product somehow, and offering it for free and collecting the data to be sold just seems like the logical step. There should really be some standards put in place, though, just to make sure people are aware of what they are getting into and also to keep the companies in check as to what their limitations should be.
Now don't be surprised if the email that you used to sign up at AVG is now being bombarded with spam, they are now disclosing our personal browsing data. I used AVG since 2006, and I never switched to any antivirus since I preferred them over the ones that I've tried like Avast, but if they will do that as "payment" for the service that we use then I guess it's time to switch, unless I can't find any better free antivirus than AVG.
Yea, they're probably selling on your personal details. I strongly believe that many establishment actually work together to swap some of these details. It seems everyone is at it because I've even heard of the government doing this, and I thought it was bang out of order. That's why we sometimes get unsolicited email from places we've never been or had dealings with.
