this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2025
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It wasn't "uncovered" though. This is their business model. I've told every person I know using Honey for years that it's a shady extension and they should stop using it. Unfortunately I don't have a huge following to offset Honey's massive ad spend.
I'm not calling anyone stupid, but stop treating this like it's new information. Your browser warned you this might happen when you installed the extension:
Lol, "access your data" is a little different from "overwrite cookies, now sending all promised creator revenue to Honey". Also, it found discounts, but stores had full control over how much, and even if it didn't give you a discount, it still claimed all referral revenue... Don't act like that was all obvious, intuitive, and known by you, it wasn't.
I'm not claiming that it was "intuitive", just that the browser did tell the user exactly what the add-on was allowed to do. Sure, Chrome and Firefox deserve some blame for not making the warning more explicit/dire, but they did make an attempt. Overwriting cookies and rewriting affiliate links are subsets of "access your data".
Also, I'm not claiming that I knew exactly what Honey was doing, just that I suspected it was shady and recommended no one use it.