Retail giants caught stealing consumer confidential information in spyware debacle
Mikey 7 comments
Just when you would have hoped the big companies might have learned a lesson or two about invading peoples privacy with rootkits and other nastiness, retail giants Kmart and Sears have been caught red handed installing spyware on customers computers.
Last year Sears.com and Kmart.com asked users if they wanted to participate in a "community" online. A little after that, security researcher Benjamin Googins noticed the "community actually installed spyware, which transmitted information back to the mothership, including banking logins, email, and all other forms of Internet usage.
It gets better. Googins later noticed that the Sears display completely different privacy policies (at the same URL), depending on if your computer has been compromised by the spyware or not.
Other security experts are supporting Googin's findings. Full story here.
andrew
Tuesday 8th January 2008 | 03:47 PMwouldn't this be like bugging someones house or phone?
Joe Marco
Tuesday 8th January 2008 | 06:19 PMThose Bastards...They make me want to break things. If K-mart and Sears were actual real living people, (corporations incarnate) I'd take them on a field trip to the San Francisco Zoo and throw them to the tigers, not the lions.
Gilly
Tuesday 8th January 2008 | 11:12 PMWell? Are they not the real political force in the world. Plebs might vote but business dictates to the Politicians.
We are all just bank accounts to the man.
anonymous
Wednesday 9th January 2008 | 06:31 AMinteresting to note: Rob Harles, Vice President of My SHC Community appears to be a former executive at comScore.
Yeah they are pretty arrogant to be thinking they haven't done anything wrong. Bottom line though is they have clearly participated in deceptive practices - especially by display alternative privacy policies AT THE SAME URL for compromised/non-compromised machines.
Muzza
Tuesday 8th January 2008 | 12:12 PMWow! How do these companies think they will get away with this?