Consent and the Value Exchange
Sharing bandwidth can be a genuinely good trade. It is only a good trade when the person making it knows they are making it.
Bandwidth, not data.
Companies pay to read public web pages from a home connection instead of a data center. Software can route that traffic through a little of your spare connection while you are not using it.
This is what pays for the tool, instead of ads, tracking, or a subscription you forget to cancel.
Told up front and nothing pre-ticked.
The request appears at install, on its own screen, before anything is running and not as a clause inside a license agreement. Nothing is ticked on your behalf, and the installer will not continue until you tick it yourself.
A switch you can reach.
The sharing has an on/off switch in the app's own settings, where you can find it without asking anyone for permission.
A clean uninstall.
Uninstalling the app removes the sharing with it. No separate uninstaller, no leftover service, nothing running afterwards.
Four things to check.
Each of the four has a familiar way of being skipped. Recognising the skip is the whole skill.
Up front
Its own screen at install. Not a clause on page nine of a license agreement.
Not pre-ticked
An empty box you tick yourself. Not one already ticked, and not a Continue button that quietly means yes.
Reachable
A switch in the app's settings. Not an email to support, and not a setting that only exists on the website.
Clean exit
Uninstall removes the sharing with it. Not a service that keeps running after the app is gone.
Still not sure? Good.
You can read what you would be saying yes to first.