Privacy and data being sent to Avast.

[REDACTED]

My question is rather simple, what data or information is sent to Avast if I opt out of the "Avast community" and "Data sharing" in the options and are there any exceptions to this, if so what are they?

Your honesty and frankness in this matter is appreciated.

[REDACTED]

Really, really suspicious Avast. Going to answer the question?

[Pondus]

Asked and answered many times. Info is also found in EULA

[REDACTED]

Asked and answered many times. Info is also found in EULA

"Avast community" and "data sharing" is not exactly a privacy definition. I want to know what is sent and stored, specifically. I have looked for the information.

They may collect the information under another definition, perhaps the common "user experience".

I am after a concrete confirmation as to what is sent and what is stored, whether it is shared with the community or not.

[Pondus]

See section #8    https://www.avast.com/eula-avast-consumer-products

[REDACTED]

See section #8    https://www.avast.com/eula-avast-consumer-products

That does NOT tell me if opting out of the "Avast community" and "Data sharing" disables the collection, does it?

So my original question stands.

Either the data is collected when I opt out, or it's not. I didn't ask if it may be collected.
I want to know whether they collect data when opted out or not. The EULA does not answer that specifically.

[bob3160]

Referred to Avast for a reply.

[REDACTED]

Referred to Avast for a reply.

Ah, thank you 

[bob3160]

Referred to Avast for a reply.

Ah, thank you 

Save those thanks till Avast replies.

[Alikhan]

Just a general question @SweetieBelle

Has any other anti-virus elaborated on data collection other than the tables you posted? i.e explained what happens when certain data collection settings are enabled/disabled?

[RejZoR]

You need to disable:
- Reputation services
- Enable CyberCapture
- Participate in the avast! community
- Participate in data sharing

In order to disable basically all communication with avast! that concerns privacy in any way. Be aware that in doing so, you are disabling a large portion of protection services.

Reputation services communicates with avast! servers about the file age where it gathers and transmits file metadata in order to ID it. CyberCapture submits unknown files to avast! servers for analysis. It was by design only for files from remote locations to avoid submission of local made programs by users themselves (programmers), participation in avast! community is actually a mix of many cloud services that provide protection in avast!, participation in data sharing is actually connected with their internal "partner" that they acquired like 2 years or so ago and they provide aggregated statistical data. Basically what that means is that avast! team tracks what malware was detected on what webpage, the amount of it, from what locations etc. This data is then stripped of personally identifiable elements (like ID strings on detection URL's like www.doman.com/id=437634673487574 to look like www.domain.com only). Then this aggregated statistical data can be sold to external 3rd parties or used internally for external purposes (for example those monthly popups about malware statistics avast! has gathered which are shown to users on desktop in a form of popup).

No one will explain exact specifics of these features, but that's what they are in a nutshell. If you want to shield yourself 100% from privacy data leaks, you'll have to destroy all your computers and phones and isolate yourself from people pretty much entirely.

And it's also a question of trust. Do you trust avast! enough or do you just hope you won't get infected by products bad guys make? It's a bit of a trade off here. You trade some potential privacy issues to get protected from huge privacy issues posed by malware. Antiviruses unfortunately have to operate this way in order to be efficient. No one wants antivirus that's bad at what it's designed for, detecting malware. With the rise of cloud systems, I think malware protection elevated itself significantly.

[bob3160]

Just to add to what RejZoR posted,
Even when you destroy all of your computers and other smart devices, there will still be a footprint since you've already been online.
True anonymity really isn't possible in today's society.

[REDACTED]

You need to disable:
- Reputation services
- Enable CyberCapture
- Participate in the avast! community
- Participate in data sharing
-snip-

Thanks for the information. Really simply, I am just after an antivirus. I don't need the reputation services and such, any malware scripts will not run on my machine without my permission, hopefully. 

I have been on both sides of the divide and no, I don't trust Avast. They may be run by the most honest people today and sold to a marketing company tomorrow. I can't help it not being sold, but I can help not sending my data to be archived and mined in the first place.

I am also building a new pc and want the absolute minimum of bloat.

I also have clients that handle sensitive information and they ask me what software is safe.
Once I have new equipment set up I will be able to record any data Avast sends, I just cannot do it at this juncture and wanted Avast's word on the matter. If they stand up for privacy and user choice then I am sure a lot of users would like to know that.

Just a general question @SweetieBelle

Has any other anti-virus elaborated on data collection other than the tables you posted? i.e explained what happens when certain data collection settings are enabled/disabled?

I looked up a few others and found specific information online in regards to their collection and storage, I haven't had to ask on any other forums. Two of them don't sell products anymore. One has limited their sales in the west and now sells primarily to Korea, but has excellent privacy protections, it only sends the version number for purposes of updates. People are signing up to their forums and website using Google translate just so they can get their hands on the antivirus that collects no data. It's definitely a selling point.
Most of the US based AV providers I would rate as "disgusting". They collected a lot of data and there was no option to opt-out.

All I want is an antivirus, no extra bells and whistles. My privacy is important to me.

I am intentionally not naming other software products.
I use two browser based products which offer script blocking and anti-malware. One simply collects no data and has no function for it, the other only collects data if you choose to create an account and sign in, which I have not done.

[Pondus]

I don't trust Avast.....

Then you should not install it. Even your OS / WinDefender collect data

All I want is an antivirus, no extra bells and whistles. My privacy is important to me.

Maybe ClamWin AV ?   You also need to install Clam Sentinel if you want realtime protection

[bob3160]

I don't trust Avast.....

Then you should not install it. Even your OS / WinDefender collect data

All I want is an antivirus, no extra bells and whistles. My privacy is important to me.

Maybe ClamWin AV ?   You also need to install Clam Sentinel if you want realtime protection

"ClamAV for Windows sends information about the files its scanning back to the cloud. This information is in the form of SHA hashes and file heuristics. Currently, this information is only collected for Windows PE files, or in other terms what most people refer to as executable files. No information is collected for other types of files, like Word, Excel, or PDF. Additionally, in some situations the entire PE file will be uploaded to the Cloud to determine if it is malicious."