The Secretive Market for Your Web Browsing Data

[labbe5]

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdk ... estigation
An Avast antivirus subsidiary sells 'Every search. Every click. Every buy. On every site.' Its clients have included Home Depot, Google, Microsoft, Pepsi, and McKinsey.

The documents, from a subsidiary of the antivirus giant Avast called Jumpshot, shine new light on the secretive sale and supply chain of peoples' internet browsing histories. They show that the Avast antivirus program installed on a person's computer collects data, and that Jumpshot repackages it into various different products that are then sold to many of the largest companies in the world. Some past, present, and potential clients include Google, Yelp, Microsoft, McKinsey, Pepsi, Home Depot, Condé Nast, Intuit, and many others. Some clients paid millions of dollars for products that include a so-called "All Clicks Feed," which can track user behavior, clicks, and movement across websites in highly precise detail.

Further reading :
Avast's broken data anonymization approach
https://palant.de/2020/01/27/avasts-bro ... -approach/

[rufwoof]

Under UK law they are in breach of Human Rights (right to privacy ... disclosure of private facts). Lacking are prosecutions. But when they do start to flow one would hope parent companies (actions by subsidiaries) would be accounted in the penalties.