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Thursday, January 03, 2008

Researcher Accuses Sears of Spreading Spyware

Sears and Kmart customers who sign up for a new marketing program may be giving up more private information than they'd bargained for, 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."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" Edelman said.

Sears says members can join the community with or without the tracking software and that less than 10 percent of the members have signed up for the tracking program.

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