The controversy lies in how Norton takes a 15% cut of the crypto that's generated through mining — and on top of that, users need to pay transaction fees.
The antivirus giant Norton is facing a fresh wave of criticism over a feature that allows subscribers to mine crypto when their computer is idle.
First unveiled last summer, Norton Crypto enables users to participate in a pool that's designed to uncover brand-new Ether.
Not everyone can benefit from this tool. Computers need to be equipped with Nvidia graphics cards that have at least 6GB of memory, and the service isn't compatible with Macs.
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The controversy lies in how Norton takes a 15% cut of the crypto that's generated through mining — and on top of that, users need to pay transaction fees if they want to transfer funds to a Coinbase wallet. Congestion issues on the Ethereum blockchain mean these fees can get especially hefty.
Critics also claim that the Norton Crypto feature can be particularly tricky to uninstall — and even if a user is interested in it, there are fears that the cost of the additional energy used may outweigh the value of the ETH that's mined.
Those with a subscription to Norton 360 can easily toggle the feature on or off — and in any case, it might not be possible to mine ETH for long.
The Ethereum blockchain is currently in the process of moving to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism that'll make miners obsolete.
