It recently came to light that a number of apps in the mac App Store were collecting data about users' browsing histories and uploading them to a remote server. Included in this list were several apps from security firm Trend Micro.

Apple responded by kicking the offending apps out of the App Store, and Trend Micro started an investigation into the privacy concerns raised about Dr Cleaner, Dr Cleaner Pro, Dr Antivirus, Dr Unarchiver, Dr Battery and Duplicate Finder. Confirming that these apps did in fact collect and upload browser data, the company at first defended the activity, but then went on to cease data collection.

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Trend Micro's initial investigation confirmed data collection by a number of its apps, but the company tried to play down the significance of this. In a blog post, the company said that the apps "collected and uploaded a small snapshot of the browser history on a one-time basis, covering the 24 hours prior to installation". It goes on to try to suggest that this was nothing to worry about as it "was a one-time data collection, done for security purposes", offering the justification that it was "to analyze whether a user had recently encountered adware or other threats, and thus to improve the product and service".

Trend Micro also points out that "the potential collection and use of browser history data was explicitly disclosed in the applicable EULAs and data collection disclosures accepted by users for each product at installation" and that "the browser history data was uploaded to a US-based server hosted by AWS and managed/controlled by Trend Micro".

But in an update to its original post about the matter, Trend Micro offers an apology to users and says that it has now ceased data collection: