JavaScript is enabled for all websites by default in Safari.
To manage your cookie preferences in Google Chrome, refer to the instructions under Change your cookie settings in the following article from Google Chrome Help: This means that all webpages with a web address beginning (such as allow JavaScript.
"As of July 2019, we had already begun implementing an explicit opt-in choice for all new downloads of our AV, and we are now also prompting our existing free users to make an opt-in or opt-out choice, a process which will be completed in February 2020," said the spokeswoman, adding that the company understands and takes seriously "the responsibility to balance user privacy with the necessary use of data for our core security products."Īvast reportedly asks users to opt in to data collection via a pop-up message in the antivirus software. In an emailed statement Monday, a spokeswoman for Avast said Jumpshot doesn't acquire "personal identification information, including name, email address or contact details," and that users have always had the option to opt out of sharing data with Jumpshot.
The collected data is then reportedly repackaged and sold by Jumpshot, which says on its website that it's able to deliver data on users actions behind "the Internet's most valuable walled gardens." Some past and present Jumpshot customers, as well as potential clients, include Google, Yelp, Microsoft, Pepsi, Home Depot, Intuit and others, according to the report, which cites "leaked user data, contracts and other company documents."
The software appears to track users clicks and movements across the web, and collects data on things like searches on Google and Google Maps, as well as visits to specific LinkedIn pages, YouTube vids and porn websites, according to an investigation published Monday by Motherboard and PCMag. Avast says it has more than 400 million users around the globe.Īvast, which makes free antivirus software that's used by millions of people around the world, is reportedly selling "highly sensitive" web browsing data via a subsidiary company called Jumpshot.