Given the huge amount of resources that is used for Crypto mining and the use of crypto assets for money laubdering, how would you explain the new and unnecessary product feature is in line with Norton‘s ESG strategy?
The Crypto supplementary agreement confirms that -
"Running the Norton Crypto mining software on your personal computer will cause your computer to consume a significant amount of electricity, which will increase your electric utility costs. Continued use of your computer for crypto-mining may cause computer parts, particularly mechanical parts (like cooling fans) to wear out faster and require more frequent maintenance. It is possible to spend more money on electricity and computer hardware than you earn in cryptocurrency mining."
Increase CO2 emissions and burn up your computer more quickly - how very eco-friendly (not)!
I wonder if Norton's CSR / Sustainability people are aware of this?!
If you don't see the green tile at the top of your Norton 360 dashboard, then your GPU is not viable to mine and therefore does not even show the option to "opt-in." You are opted-out by default regardless of whether you have a GPU capable of mining or not.
...As I have an Nvidia Titan-X that is why I am concerned I just want to know where the controls to opt in/out are. I see nothing on my settings and just want to make sure it is turned off.
Why on Earth would a security company include the functionality to mine crypto within its security software, regardless of whether it's switched on or off?
It's totally bizarre and has zero to do with security. It adds unnecessary complexity to the software, and potential exploits as well as more risk of bugs.
It's merely a way to earn money from customer's GPUs whilst they pay for the extra power used. And we all pay for the extra CO2 emissions generated. My subscriptions will not be renewed, and software containing this mining garbage will be uninstalled.
@kyotokid, this is an opt-in feature, and not all GPUs are viable for mining; this is your decision to mine or not
...just read about this in a CG forum I'm on. I had no idea this was included with Norton. I've used Norton for years and always had a clean system with very few issues, even BSODs. This has me concerned as I have zero interest in crypto (perturbed that miners have once again been buying up GPU cards, forcing prices to skyrocket) and don't need anything taking resources away from graphics production and rendering.
I agree, it's a shocking decision by the marketing / product people to introduce this product for the reasons that you state.
Not only that, Norton is a highly reputable computer security company. Now its reputation has been damaged as a consequence of going down this idiotic route. I can personally no longer take it seriously as a security vendor and I certainly will not be recommending it to other professionals and end-users any longer.
What's their next bright idea?
Norton Botnet 2022 "share in the revenue generated from our state of the art botnet".
Norton Ransomware 365 "share in the revenue from our ransomware partners in Russia."
In my opinion, those people responsible in product / marketing need firing for this debacle, damaging Norton's once-fine security reputation.