[kbenson]

I think that's splitting hairs, and focusing on the wrong aspect of it. Avast gives clickstream data to a digital marketing company. That company happens to be a subsidiary, so Avast is a digital marketing company. The problem becomes one not of a company sharing your private information with another so it can me monetized, but the initial company monetizing it itself. If you have a problem with your data being used for marketing by your AV vendor, whether it's shared to make it happen is likely of little consequence to you.

[mirimir]

Exactly.

And there are other risks to users. Once that data has been collected, others may access it, and use it in far more damaging ways. Users in China or Saudi Arabia, for example, may end up in jail, or worse.