Earlier this week, Vice Motherboard and PCMag published the results of their investigation and talked about how Avast collects and sells user data to the third party through its subsidiary Jumpshot. Now Avast closes Jumpshot company.
If earlier this happened with the help of browser extensions, now this functionality has migrated to the antivirus itself. Jumpshot is a subsidiary of the Avast’s Data Selling Division, and offers its customers access to user traffic from 100,000,000 devices, including computers and smartphones.Jumpshot was acquired in 2013 and started working under the auspices of Avast as a PC cleaning tool. However, in 2015, a subsidiary changed its profile to analytics, and its focus was on marketing analytics based on an analysis of online consumer spending and shopping models”, – write Vice Motherboard and PCMag reporters.
Although journalists acknowledged that collected by Avast data is not tied to a specific person’s name, email address or IP address, so it is de jure impersonal, it was emphasized that each user is still assigned a unique ID, called a device identifier, which remains until the user removes the Avast antivirus product from device.
Moreover, it is very easy for Jumpshot client companies to compare comprehensive data about Avast users with information from other sources, so that in the end they can create a detailed profile of a completely specific person.
Today, on January 30, 2020, Avast representatives announced that in the nearest future company will stop providing data to its subsidiary Jumpshot and begin its liquidation.
Avast’s main goal is to ensure the security of its users on the network and provide control over their privacy. Any actions that jeopardize user confidentiality are not acceptable to Avast. The privacy of our users is our top priority, so we decided to act promptly. We decided to close Jumpshot after it became apparent that some users questioned whether provision of data to the Jumpshot is consistent with our mission and principles. We regret the impact our decision will have on Jumpshot employees; we value their input. We will try to smooth out the consequences of this decision for them”, — writes Ondrej Vlcek, Avast CEO.
The company’s blog also emphasizes that Jumpshot, even as a subsidiary of Avast, has always acted as an independent company with its own management and board of directors.
Avast promised that the rest of the company’s products will continue to work as usual, and users will not notice any changes.
