NOW READ THIS
("Security Advisory")
Submitted by: Bill Hickey
NCVA List Master
NRT-0359 Sears Pushes Spyware App to Consumers:
Harvard researcher Ben Edelman has accused Sears Holding Corporation (SHC), owner
of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart, of installing spyware on unsuspecting users'
computers. Sears make the pitch for its ComScore application in an email sent to
people shortly after they provide their address at Sears.com. Clicking the "Join"
button invokes a dialog that requests the person's name, address, and household
size before installing ComScore spyware that monitors every site visited on the
computer. Although Sears notifies users that ComScore "monitors all of the internet
behavior that occurs on the computer on which you install the application, including
... filling a shopping basket, completing an application form, or checking your ...
personal financial or health information," it reportedly does so on page 10 of a 54
page privacy statement that is 2,971 words long.
Edelman said the Sears document fails to meet standards established by the Federal
Trade Commission when it settled with Direct Revenue and Zango over the lack of
disclosure about the extent of their spyware. "The limited SHC disclosure provided
by email lacks the required specificity as to the nature, purpose, and effects of the
ComScore software," he writes. Sears has vigorously defended the practice, according
to the article, saying the retailer "goes to great lengths to describe the tracking
aspect" of the software.
(www.theregister.co.uk 03JAN08)