Nearly 1 million browsers have been turned into website scraping bots through 245 browser extensions that override security protections, according to researcher John Tuckner. These extensions, which serve various functions, incorporate the MellowTel-js library to monetize their use by scraping websites for paying clients, including AI startups, while raising concerns about user privacy and security.
browser-extensions ✓
web-scraping ✓
security ✓
monetization ✓
+ privacy