As the NDR was able to uncover within the scope of the program Panorama, vendors of browser add-ons sell user data to big data analysts. This includes, for example, users of the popular add-on Web of Trust. The add-on, when activated, provides information about the trustworthiness of web pages. It is available for all popular browsers and has already been downloaded 140 million times.
The expansion is now among other add-ons strongly in the criticism. Panorama's reporters were able to reveal sensitive data using the add-on and then pass it on to third parties. To this end, the NDR reporters founded a mocking company and pretended to be active in the big data business. As a result, the licensee of the NDR received offers from several companies, which should contain web data from American Internet users. Also, a company has provided the evaluated data as a sample. The reporters were able to personally identify individual users in random samples. For this, for example, e-mail addresses or login names were used. With the data, for example, conclusions could be drawn about illnesses or possible drug consumption of the individual users.
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The Finnish company, which Web of Trust publishes, has so far no opinion on the subject. The users of the web service are however very disappointed. The users of the Google Chrome app store currently only give negative reviews and express themselves furiously in the comments. "If you're serious about it, I've been an add-on that I've been familiar with for years, now it's unveiled by NDR." Writes, for example, David S. in the Chrome App Store.
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