With that kind of money being offered (assuming it is in the ballpark of true)... I wonder how many popular free extensions already have some of that junk in it and nobody's noticed. Maybe many of them? I could see a lot of devs who started out writing an extension as a non-paying hobby, having trouble turning down the free money.
I feel like this is another prong in the story about threats to sustainability of open source done the way it used to/has been done previously.
Some years ago I applied at a "data analytics" startup founded by a locally famous founder. Their official purpose was something something search something social media. Not in the US, but he was featured on our local version of Shark Tank at some point.
During interview it became clear that their "product" was actually bundled malware that replaced google's and other ads in the browser. Evidently hot founder guy was using this startup as cash cow for his other ventures.
There was some noise in the press about it a couple years later and founder guy defended himself saying he sold the company and wasn't responsible, except it was already malware when I interviewed and he was still owner so I know it's bullshit.
What makes ad replacement malware? Presumably the users don’t care as long as the replacement ads aren’t of horrible quality. It’s definitely a bit cheeky, but malicious? I don’t think so.
This seems like a fairly benign monetization scheme, it’ll hurt some sites that depend on ad revenue but not any more than adblockers.
I feel like this is another prong in the story about threats to sustainability of open source done the way it used to/has been done previously.