When you visit online retail shops like Amazon, most of their products tend to be cheaper compared to their original prices due to discounts or coupon codes. In this way, a lot of customers will be swayed to purchase a certain product due to the lesser price. However, it looks like the feud between Amazon, one of America's most visited online shop, and Honey company, a browser extension that provides coupon codes, might totally erase this option for most consumers.
Amazon Calls Honey 'a Security Risk' That Needs to be Uninstalled
As reported via Wired, on Dec. 20, 2019, five days before ChristmasmAmazon had made a huge warning to all of its customers on the store.
The online store posted on their website a security warning telling all their customers to 'uninstall' the Honey browser extension for the safety of their personal information.
According to Amazon, "Honey's browser extension is a security risk. Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history and items saved, and can read or change any of your data on any website you visit," said on Amazon warning. "To keep your data private and secure, uninstall this extension immediately."
This warning became a huge issue for most Amazon users as the Honey browser extension was already part of Amazon since the beginning and questioned the credibility of Amazon into saying this warning only today.
However, when asked about the basis of this accusation, they only said, "Our goal is to warn customers about browser extensions that collect personal shopping data without their knowledge or consent."
Should You Be Worried on Honey?
Honey, developed in 2012 by a Los Angeles startup company, had have been the main browser extension of Amazon throughout the past years.
The company even claimed to already have 17 million users around the world, which Amazon made a huge contribution.
Honey's main goal as a browser extension is to provide customers reasonable and cheaper prices for their chosen products on online stores through their discount and Honey coupon codes.
However, since the fame of Honey became worldwide, Paypal-- a financial company formerly owned by eBay, an Amazon competitor-- decided to purchase Honey for the amount of $4 billion, which tends to be their largest deal.
After the said acquisition, Amazon is now claiming that Honey has security risks that customers must be warned about.
Amazon vs. Honey
The Los Angeles startup already made a statement regarding the accusation of Amazon that they contain security risks for their customers.
As they explained through Wired, "We only use data in ways that directly benefit Honey members-helping people save money and time and in ways they would expect. Our commitment is clearly spelled out in our privacy and security policy."
Honey also claimed that they are following the security measures needed for the safety of their users. "If ever an individual or independent researcher contacts us about a potential vulnerability, we engage with that person to understand and remedy the issue (if there is one)," added by them.
