FTC Orders Kmart and Sears to Abolish Spyware-Based Program

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has snapped a weird set of spyware purveyors - Sears and Kmart, US retailing giants.

Previously, Sears Holding Management Company decided that it could in fact put higher volume of marketing data into use, in order to boost its decision-making process. So, the company started offering visitors to kmart.com and sears.com a special invite that urged them to sign up for "My SHC Community", download a fragment of some research software. And for this, visitors will be able to earn US$ 10.

The next step was collecting complete details of each and every Internet browsing session that took place on a participant's PC, along with the non-Web-related details about the PC itself.

Allegedly, besides collecting traffic data, Sears' software gathered personal information as well as bank account details. The extent of the electronic surveillance had been talked of in the middle of a 54-page license agreement, which is against the rules laid down by the FTC that demands clear and unavoidable disclosure and express consent from the customers.

In the meantime, FTC has ordered the company to demolish the entire data acquired from "My SHC Community", and stop all the transmissions recieved from the spyware made available by Sears, presently installed in the wild. Warning was raised in context of the program in early 2008, when security researchers declared that Sears was seeking for more than what was originally mentioned in the user agreement.

Sears has been charged by the FTC of not mentioning about the scope of its tracking software's data accumulation in a clear manner.

As per the terms of settlement, Sears has to destroy all the data that it has collected through the program alongwith providing assistance to all the participants who want to get rid of the tracking software.

Moreover, it's true that Walmart has given tough competition to old retail chains like Sears and Kmart. These old retain chains are struggling hard to survive, shutting down stores at some locations, and giving a new look to current stores, in order to match the level of America's leading retail giant. However, Sears and Kmart are now being criticized for obtaining marketing data through spyware that appears quite surprising.

Related article: FTC Reaches Million-Dollar Settlement For Spyware

» SPAMfighter News - 10/6/2009