[directory-discuss] Web of Trust, MyWOT/WOT: Website Reputation Rating -- should we keep it blacklisted?

[David Hedlund]

On November 1, 2016, German public broadcasting station NDR reported the results of an investigation by in-house journalists, showing that WOT collected, recorded, analyzed and sold user-related data to third parties.^[12][13][14] The data obtained was traceable to WOT and could be assigned to specific individuals, despite WOT's claim that user data was anonymized.^[15][16] The NDR investigative journalism report was based on freely available sample data, and revealed that sensitive private information of more than 50 users could be retrieved.^[13] The information included websites visited, account names and email addresses, potentially revealing user illnesses, sexual preferences and drug consumption. The journalists also reconstructed a media company's confidential revenue data, and details about an ongoing police investigation.^[12]

German media contacted WOT with the results of the investigation prior to publication of the report. WOT declined to comment on the findings.^[12][13]

A few days after the news story aired, Mozilla removed the browser add-on from the Firefox add-on store.^[17][18] WOT subsequently removed its browsing tool for other browsers, including Chrome and Opera.^[19][11][20] The WOT "Mobile Security & Protection" mobile app was removed from Google Play, approximately one week after the extension was removed from the Google Chrome extension store.

In a blog post published on December 19, 2016, WOT Services stated that they had upgraded their browser extension, and released it in the Google Chrome extension gallery. The upgraded version included "several major code updates in order to protect our users privacy and an opt-out option from the user Settings, for users who do not wish to share data with us but still want to have easy access to WOT."^[21] In February 2017, Mozilla reinstated the WOT browsing tool in the Firefox add-on store.^[22]

Should we keep WOT black listed on the FSD?: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Blacklist/Web_of_Trust_-_WOT