Avast owns AVG so what does that mean for us?

Hello Georges. To further answer your question, Jumpshot was an independent subsidiary of Avast that provided marketing insights to brands based on trends in the browsing habits of a de-identified panel of web users.

Specifically, Jumpshot data was clickstream URLs, after disconnecting identifiers and a Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stripping process to remove other identifiers. When data sharing was enabled, URLs of sites visited were passed from Avast to Jumpshot.

Thank you for the explanation.

What do we make of the fact that Avast owns AVG and reportedly sold user information to other companies?

Avast reportedly sold user web browsing data | TechRadar

Hello Georges. My apologies for the delayed response.

We understand and take seriously the responsibility to balance user privacy with the necessary use of data for our core security products. Avast/AVG collects and analyzes only the information necessary for our security products to protect customers and to improve product performance.

We want to assure our customers that we are committed to our core mission of protecting consumer security and privacy. Our products policy provides more detail about which data we collect and why: https://www.avg.com/en-us/products-policy

But the fact that Avast/AVG terminated Jumpshot data collection doesn't answer my question as to what was being sold in the first place and for what purpose. I feel like you're being evasive about that particular point.

Hello George. We understand the recent news about Jumpshot raised a number of questions. As protecting people is Avast/AVG’s top priority, and must be embedded in everything we do, in our business and in our products, we terminated the Jumpshot data collection and closed Jumpshot’s operations on January 30, 2020. There is no action you need to take with your product. Data sent to Jumpshot will be deleted once the wind-down process is completed.

But the fact that Avast/AVG terminated Jumpshot data collection doesn't answer my question as to what was being sold in the first place and for what purpose. I feel like you're being evasive about that particular point.

Our pleasure!

Thank you for choosing AVG.

Hello Georges. To further answer your question, Jumpshot was an independent subsidiary of Avast that provided marketing insights to brands based on trends in the browsing habits of a de-identified panel of web users.

Specifically, Jumpshot data was clickstream URLs, after disconnecting identifiers and a Personally Identifiable Information (PII) stripping process to remove other identifiers. When data sharing was enabled, URLs of sites visited were passed from Avast to Jumpshot.

Hello George. We understand the recent news about Jumpshot raised a number of questions. As protecting people is Avast/AVG’s top priority, and must be embedded in everything we do, in our business and in our products, we terminated the Jumpshot data collection and closed Jumpshot’s operations on January 30, 2020. There is no action you need to take with your product. Data sent to Jumpshot will be deleted once the wind-down process is completed.

Hello Georges. My apologies for the delayed response.

We understand and take seriously the responsibility to balance user privacy with the necessary use of data for our core security products. Avast/AVG collects and analyzes only the information necessary for our security products to protect customers and to improve product performance.

We want to assure our customers that we are committed to our core mission of protecting consumer security and privacy. Our products policy provides more detail about which data we collect and why: https://www.avg.com/en-us/products-policy

Thanks for the response Shawn,

The article doesnt mention anything about Avast/Agv collecting information for security and improving performance. It specifically speaks to user data being sold. Sold to whom? Why would they need to sell that information if they're only collecting it for what you mentioned?