Sears: Bringing You The Softer Side of Spyware

A friend, Lisbeth, sent me the link to a very interesting post at the Ars Technica blog by Jacqui Cheng about Sears and Kmart:

"Sears and Kmart are places you might go when you need a new air conditioner filter or a lawnmower; they're not generally thought of as havens for spyware. But that's what the two stores have become, at least online, where their web sites were found to be installing software to track users' every online move—all without their knowledge. Security researchers are now hammering Sears (the owner of both Sears.com and Kmart.com) for the move, despite Sears' claims that users were notified adequately beforehand."

Cheng's post is a must-read, whether or not you shop at Sears or Kmart. Cheng describes in detail how the Sears.com and Kmart.com sites install spyware on community users' computers without their permission; and how Sears.com presents duplicitous privacy policy information. While the privacy policy should be consistent for all users, the web site presents different policies to different users... all without any upfront and clear warnings.

In many ways this may be worse than the Facebook Beacon program debacle since the spyware tracks all computer usage, and not just usage at Sears.com and Kmart.com sites. It's another example of how companies are not honest, direct, and clear about how they collect, archive, and protect customer information online. In my opinion, senior managers at Sears should go to jail as a result.

I also checked the TRUSTe.org site to see if Sears was listed there. It wasn't listed -- and shouldn't be listed since TRUSTe.org maintains a list of companies that properly handle and disclose to consumers their company's and web site's data privacy and opt-in methods.

When companies like Sears treat consumers and customers in this manner, it ensures that I won't shop there. And I hope that you won't shop there either. Or even better: write to Sears and tell them you won't shop there until they stop this practice. I did.

Comments

[Bergen Commercial freezer repair]

excellent moral lesson " Dont buy air conditioner from sears and k mart"