I don't opt in to anything like this (as far as I know). Looking at the preferences, I don't see something that sounds like it maps to the consent above. So ... I'm not really sure.
This is why their marketing campaigns are so aggressive. They completely rely on the unsophisticated masses, to whom a computer is a magical box of fairy dust that plays Netflix shows.
And that’s perfectly fine - computers are a tool, enabling valuable usecases for everyone.
Of course. But the arbitrage of that knowledge leaves open all kinds of profitable businesses, including shady VPNs.
However, I also think this is the only way to bypass streaming sites blocking VPNs - the whole reason for using such a service in the first place.
IMHO the shadiness is only around consent and not the means. Unfortunate, but such is reality.
Since oxylabs allows selecting a proxy at a very granular location, it should be possible for researchers to get a bunch of these dodgy browser extensions and correlate which are forwarding oxylabs traffic.
"Consenting and fully aware individuals become a part of a residential proxy network in return for a financial reward or some other benefit. When they choose to participate in our suppliers’ pools, they consent that a part of their internet traffic and a small amount of the device’s hardware resources will be used for a variety of business cases."
Does anyone that uses NordVPN know how explicit this is in their client/agreement? If they are even using it...