Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Sears downloads spyware

Sears and Kmart customers who sign up for a new marketing program <A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/31/Researcher-says-Sears-downloads-spyware_1.html">may be giving up more private information than they'd bargained for,</A> a prominent anti-spyware researcher claims. According to Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ben Edelman, Sears Holdings' My SHC Community program falls short of U.S. Federal Trade Commission standards by failing to notify users exactly what happens when they download the company's marketing software.

And given the invasive nature of the product, Sears has an obligation to make its behavior clearer to users. "The software is not something you'd want on your computer or the computer of anyone you care about," Edelman said in an interview. "It tracks every site you go to, every search you make, every product you buy, and every product you look at but don't buy. It's just spooky."

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