Louise Matsakis, Wired:

Days before Christmas, at the height of the last-minute holiday shopping rush, an ominous message appeared on Amazon.com. It warned shoppers who used a popular browser extension called Honey that the service, which promises to track prices and discount codes, was “a security risk.”

“Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history and items saved, and can read or change any of your data on any website you visit,” the message read. “To keep your data private and secure, uninstall this extension immediately.”

If you’ve logged into PayPal lately, you’ve no doubt seen heavy duty marketing for the Honey plug-in. It’s a nice idea, looking out for coupons and discount codes for things you are buying.

Amazon flagged it as a security risk. Genuine concern for your safety?

Amazon has a browser extension of its own called Amazon Assistant. It also tracks prices, just like Honey, and allows you to compare items on other retailers to those on Amazon.

Reading the article, seems like this is more about thwarting competition on Amazon’s part, not at all about safety.