I would like to see the Norton Crypto feature (only available in the US, UK, Canada, Switzerland and Italy as of 18-Jan-2022) removed from all NortonLifeLock security products.
Cryptomining is not a core function of any antivirus product and adds nothing to the security of a user's system, and there is a growing concern from the general public about the high electricity costs of using cryptocurrency. The 08-Jan-2022 PC Magazine article What Is the Environmental Impact of Cryptocurrency? notes that:
"The most obvious environmental impact of crypto is the electricity required for the mining process, which is how new digital coins are created. ...the fewer units there are available to mine, and the more computational power it takes to mint new ones... The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that Bitcoin mining uses more power globally per year than some countries, including the Netherlands and Pakistan....
... And it isn’t just mining that uses lots of power — a single Bitcoin transaction is estimated to burn 2,292.5 kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to power a typical US household for over 78 days."
Security experts are also raising their concerns about Norton Crypto. For example, Susan Bradley's 10-Jan-2022 Computerworld article Windows Security in ’22 — You Need More Than Just Antivirus Software commented about the Ethereum cryptominers in Norton and Avira (note that NortonLifeLock acquired Avira in January 2021) and stated:
"Recently, Krebs on Security noted that both Norton Antivirus and Avira have told users that versions of their respective software now include a cryptominer. While it’s not enabled by default, it still gives me pause; antivirus is supposed to protect us from such potentially unwanted software, and these two vendors are now including it in their wares...."
Aside from environmental and security concerns, early testing of Norton Crypto would also indicate that there is little (if any) actual profit for users and that NortonLifeLock is simply using Norton Crypto for generating revenue above and beyond what users are already paying for their annual Norton subscription. The 20-Jul-2021 product announcement Introducing Norton Crypto! states that "there are coin mining fees as well as transaction costs to transfer Ethereum. The coin mining fee is currently 15% of the crypto allocated to the miner", and test results in the 07-Jan-2022 article Here’s the Truth About the Crypto Miner That Comes With Norton Antivirus showed that "In real numbers, a night of mining on an RTX 3060 Ti netted $0.66 cents worth of Ethereum and cost $0.66 in off-peak electricity. Norton took all the profit".
I used legacy Norton antivirus products like Norton Security Deluxe v22.15.x on my older computers for over a decade, but I have allowed my subscription to expire and will not be installing Norton 360 on my newer machines as long as NortonLifeLock continues to add unnecessary features like Norton Crypto to their products and ignore their corporate social responsibility.