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Mozilla removes all Avast Firefox extensions


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Mozilla removes all Avast Firefox extensions

If you search for Avast or AVG on the official Mozilla Add-ons website, you may notice that no results by these companies are returned. Neither Avast Online Security or SafePrice, nor AVG Online Security or SafePrice, are returned by the Store currently even though these extensions exist.

 

It appears that Mozilla removed these extensions from its Store. When you try to open one of the Store URLs of Avast or AVG extensions you get a "Oops! We can't find that page" error message.

 

avast avg firefox add-ons removed

 

The extensions are not blacklisted by Mozilla. Blacklisted extensions are put on a blocklist -- which is publicly available here -- and removed from user browsers as a consequence.

 

Avast and AVG extensions have been removed but are not blocked which means that the extensions remain installed in Firefox browsers for the time being.

 

Mozilla added several dozen extensions for Firefox to the blocklist on December 2, 2019 which collected user data without disclosure or consent, but Avast's extensions are not on the list.

 

What happened?

 

Wladimir Palant, creator of AdBlock Plus, published an analysis of Avast extensions in late October 2018 on his personal site. He discovered that Avast's extension transmitted data to Avast that provided Avast with browsing history information.  The data that the extension submits exceeded what is necessary to function according to Palant.

 

The extensions include the full address of the page, the page title, referer, and other data in the request. Data is submitted when pages are opened but also when tabs are switched. On search pages, every single link on the page is submitted as well.

The data collected here goes far beyond merely exposing the sites that you visit and your search history. Tracking tab and window identifiers as well as your actions allows Avast to create a nearly precise reconstruction of your browsing behavior: how many tabs do you have open, what websites do you visit and when, how much time do you spend reading/watching the contents, what do you click there and when do you switch to another tab. All that is connected to a number of attributes allowing Avast to recognize you reliably, even a unique user identifier.

Palant concluded that the collecting of data was not an oversight. The company states in its privacy policy that it uses anonymized Clickstream Data for "cross-product direct marketing, cross-product development, and third-party trend analytics.

 

Mozilla is in talks with Avast currently according to Wladimir Palant. Possible scenarios are that Mozilla will add the extensions to the blocklist that it maintains or will request that Avast makes changes to the extensions before they are reinstated.

 

The extensions are still available for Google Chrome at the time of writing.

 

 

Source: Mozilla removes all Avast Firefox extensions (gHacks - Martin Brinkmann)

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17 hours ago, ner0 said:

Well... Just one more reason not to use this program.

Avast tries hard to make people hate him.

Adblock Plus  and Firefox collects user data too.   Also Firefox use Google safe browsing  and it does the same thing as what Avast and WOT does  . Both Adblock  Plus and Mozilla take money from Google . Firefox and ABP bakes in Google spyware . So there hypocrites to say the least . I  opt out of safe browsing since 2011  and I dont use ABP since 2014 .

Sources

https://adblockplus.org/faq-privacy

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/faq/

 

Plus I would never use addons from a security company after what happen before with what WOT done with there  addon . There is no Opt out for addons most of the time collecting data .  Avast the Antivirus software has a opt out .

 

Most Antivirus  spy on you too  most dont give  and opt out like avast does even ,  some sell user data , decrypt encrypted web traffic , Most free ones come with PUP opt in and many  cooperate  with governments and law enforcement .

 

 

Quote

An AVG spokesperson explained that any non-personal data it collected and potentially sold to advertisers would be cleaned and anonymised, making it impossible to link it back to individual users. "Many companies do this type of collection every day and do not tell their users," the spokesperson said.

 AVG told users about this and was upfront about  it and  a few years latter Facebook got  caught selling user data of  billions of people  without telling no one . and then hackers hacked them and stole user data after the fact and still they have billions of users  .

 

Sources

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/avg-privacy-policy-browser-search-data

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/04/kaspersky_fixing_serious_certificate_slip/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-and-mozillas-message-to-av-and-security-firms-stop-trashing-https/

https://blog.emsisoft.com/en/11550/has-the-antivirus-industry-gone-mad/

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/office-depot-best-buy-pull-kaspersky-products-from-shelves/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42202191

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47671346

https://www.ghacks.net/2016/11/05/mozilla-and-google-remove-wot-extension/

 

There not many good ones out there  you can trust  Emsisoft has a good rep for protecting user privacy  and ClamAV is another privacy-friendly option that is completely open source.,  People just install stuff and never read there privacy policies and some companies are not transparent about what there doing  and people been doing that since the internet existed  spyware is  not a new game only  some of  the names have changed and now the Antivirus is onboard Not using Avast wont help you  escape  it if you just install something else  that dont have a opt out even .

 

There is adware that you can see  ads  maybe you can block it PUP installed  most the time opt in then there is data harvesting  that is spyware  that you can't see   .Windows use to have opt out in Windows 7 and 8.1 tell they back port it from Windows 10  also they make ads and Google is ad company plus harvest data  as in adware and spyware  but most companies are  guilty of something now days  the internet dont run off air  .Ether they take donations , use adware or spyware or charge a set price  .  Some but not all use more than  one of these methods to make a profit      ..  :lmao:

 

The masses all have accepted our spyware problem in order to get stuff for free  . After all that happen  all the articles don't make any difference . Google  is the 4th biggest contributor  to the EU Goverment from antitrust  they pave there roads and pay for there Govt funded programs  and still it dont change them .Fining them does no good.:rofl:

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Mozilla and Opera remove Avast extensions from their add-on stores, what will Google do?

 

A month ago I wrote about Avast browser extensions being essentially spyware. While this article only names Avast Online Security and AVG Online Security extensions, the browser extensions Avast SafePrice and AVG SafePrice show the same behavior: they upload detailed browsing profiles of their users to uib.ff.avast.com. The amount of data collected here exceeds by far what would be considered necessary or appropriate even for the security extensions, for the shopping helpers this functionality isn’t justifiable at all.

 

After I published my article I got the hint to look at Jumpshot, a company acquired by Avast in 2013. And indeed, that suddenly made perfect sense. On their website, Jumpshot praises its “clickstream data” product:

Incredibly detailed clickstream data from 100 million global online shoppers and 20 million global app users. Analyze it however you want: track what users searched for, how they interacted with a particular brand or product, and what they bought. Look into any category, country, or domain.

That sounds exactly like the data that Avast collects from their SafePrice and Online Security users. Yes, you are the product – even if you paid for that antivirus.

 

Spying on your users is clearly a violation of the terms that both Google and Mozilla make extension developers sign. So yesterday I reported these four extensions to Mozilla and Google. Mozilla immediately disabled the extension listings, so that these extensions can no longer be found on the Mozilla Add-ons site. Mozilla didn’t blacklist the extensions however, stating that they are still talking to Avast. So for existing users these extensions will still be active and continue spying on the users.

 

Update (2019-12-04): I also reported these extensions to Opera. 16 hours later I received a response from Opera:

Thanks for reporting it to us. We unpublished these extensions from our store.

And what about Google? Google Chrome is where the overwhelming majority of these users are. The only official way to report an extension here is the “report abuse” link. I used that one of course, but previous experience shows that it never has any effect. Extensions have only ever been removed from the Chrome Web Store after considerable news coverage. Or does anybody have a contact at Google who would be able to help?

 

Update (2019-12-03): This article initially stated incorrectly that Google removed these extensions as well. This isn’t currently the case, somehow I didn’t look them up correctly.

 

Source

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3 hours ago, steven36 said:

Adblock Plus  and Firefox collects user data too.   Also Firefox use Google safe browsing  and it does the same thing as what Avast and WOT does  . Both Adblock  Plus and Mozilla take money from Google . Firefox and ABP bakes in Google spyware . So there hypocrites to say the least . I  opt out of safe browsing since 2011  and I dont use ABP since 2014 .

Sources

https://adblockplus.org/faq-privacy

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/faq/

 

Yeah, that's right.

I think the point is not the collection of user data itself, but how transparent it is with what it collects and for what use it will be.

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3 hours ago, ner0 said:

Yeah, that's right.

I think the point is not the collection of user data itself, but how transparent it is with what it collects and for what use it will be.

 

Firefox got busted  doing same thing with recommended addons

Firefox is spyware (extension recommendation scandal)

https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/anxfz8/firefox_is_spyware_extension_recommendation/

 

Data going  over https cant be seen so you don't know what they do with  it once it goes to them unless there transparent about it and admit it and Google was even caught lying  about what they done with theirs  by Brave .  When they not transparent than people make like it's fine. Palant   dont tell nothing here i didn't already know about Avast Addon the point is why did Firefox even allow this addon  in AMO  to begin with?  Before it use to install itself when installed there AV  i thought that why they got signed addons !  What good do it do when they dont vet them properly themselves ?  Firefox has always had a spyware problem  with free vpn addons and things  most free  web protection security addons going to collect user data just like free VPN ones do .

 

Warning: Your Browser Extensions Are Spying On You January 20, 2014

https://www.howtogeek.com/180175/warning-your-browser-extensions-are-spying-on-you/

 

I wonder will Google block  them?  1.safe browsing and Avast do the same thing  2. Avast and Google were partners   they help  put Google Chrome on top when you installed Avast Free  it installed  Google chrome if your was not careful . That the reason Google became the most used browser they had better advertising  than everyone else .

 

Avast partners with Google to promote Chrome

https://www.geek.com/news/avast-partners-with-google-to-promote-chrome-1009521/

 

Now  they partner with  one of  Google's sister companies

  Chronicle, a new Alphabet Company, Partners with Avast

https://blog.avast.com/chronicle-security-and-avast-partnership

 

I know chrome always had the standalone Avast  and others like it. Firefox didn't have it in there store . them having it in there store is something  they allowed since they switched to web addons . That why i wonder why they allowed it ?

 

Avast  is no longer the powerhouse they use to be anyway 50%  of Windows  users use Windows defender now

https://www.ghacks.net/2019/08/03/windows-defender-has-a-market-share-of-50/

 

the not baked in ones Avast is down in 6th  after being #1 for years

https://www.zdnet.com/article/symantec-eset-mcafee-rank-first-in-windows-anti-malware-market-share/

 

If you count windows defender Avast most likely only have like  a 3% market share now  .  So do Firefox and opera have small market-shares Google supports both browsers with money from using there services .    

 

Avast  has  a long history with them spying on people with there addons  :tooth:

 

Avast Antivirus Was Spying On You with Adware  January 15, 2015

https://www.howtogeek.com/199829/avast-antivirus-was-spying-on-you-with-adware-until-this-week/

https://old.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/2lnyzi/avast_automatically_adding_a_chrome_extension/

 

 

But it always speculation

 

Avast Hits Back at Howtogeek.com

https://securitygladiators.com/avast-hits-back-howtogeek/

 

 the OP is speculation

 

Martin Brinkmann reported that when searching the official Mozilla Add-ons website for Avast or AVG, no results were found. Neither Avast Online Security nor SafePrice nor AVG Online Security or SafePrice are currently offered as extensions in the shop. Whoever knows the direct links of the addons and calls them will get an error message “Oops! We can’t find this page”. Mozilla has removed these extensions from its store.

 

Since the extensions did not end up on a black list through Mozilla, the question arises as to the background. Brinkmann and heise suspect that it might have to do with an article by Wladimir Palant. Palant is the founder of Adblock-Plus. He had documented in October 2019 that AVAST antivirus products were spying on users.

 

It’s still all speculation, because there’s no official statement. But the following links show that AVAST caused some additional trouble with Firefox. Maybe there were several reasons to take the extensions out of the store.

Avast claim, that the addons  will be back soon.

 

source

https://borncity.com/win/2019/12/04/mozilla-removed-firefox-addons-from-avg-avast/

 

If Mozilla was being transparent about the reasons why  the addons  are removed from there store they would  be no room for  speculation  articles .

 

Wladimir Palant, the man behind the AdBlock Plus extension for Firefox.

 

His findings suggest that the Avast extensions are guzzling up user data, including browsing histories, for no relevant purpose.

 

Avast told ZDNet they are working with Mozilla "to resolve the issue."

 

"The Avast Online Security extension is a security tool that protects users online, including from infected websites and phishing attacks," an Avast spokesperson told ZDNet. "It is necessary for this service to collect the URL history to deliver its expected functionality. Avast does this without collecting or storing a user's identification.

 

"We have already implemented some of Mozilla's new requirements and will release further updated versions that are fully compliant and transparent per the new requirements," the Avast spokesperson said. "These will be available as usual on the Mozilla store in the near future."

 

source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/mozilla-removes-avast-and-avg-extensions-from-add-on-portal-over-snooping-claims/

 

 

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