The companies say they have consent because saying "yeah we'll give you access to a botnet" is illegal.

https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/dis...

>These SDKs, which are offered to developers across multiple mobile and desktop platforms, surreptitiously enroll user devices into the IPIDEA network.

If I install an app with a big ToS and buried in there is "we use third-party monetization SDKs" and buried in there is "welcome to our botnet" they do not actually have my consent.