Google over the weekend yanked out of its web store two extensions for its Chrome browser, after receiving complaints that the extensions served ads.
Several users took to Internet message boards to complain about the ads by the “Add to Feedly” and “Tweet This Page” extensions, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The WSJ said the extensions were removed after it contacted Google about them.
It said many users were angered last weekend after learning that Amit Agrawal, the developer of “Add to Feedly,” described on his website how he sold the extension to an unknown buyer.
Agrawal was quoted in the WSJ report as saying the new owner added code that injected "invasive advertising."
On the other hand, the WSJ report cited an Ars Technica report that the other extension “Tweet This Page,” was similarly purchased and altered to serve ads.
Both extensions eventually saw their user reviews fall from five stars to one.
The WSJ report said some developers of extensions narrated they had been approached and asked to sell their work in exchange for user data or ad partnerships.
Not just Google
But the WSJ report said this practice may not be limited to Google, citing the case of the Firefox browser called “Autocopy” as written by Martin Brinkmann.
It quoted Brinkmann as saying the company added software that tracked users’ browsing habits. — TJD, GMA News
source: gmanetwork.com
