Spyware

Around the same time as allegations were brought against its loyalty community, one of the users of Sears’ ManageMyHome Web site brought a lawsuit against the retailer, alleging that anyone could easily find a customer’s pur­chase history. Brathwaite explained that when users sign up for My SHC Community, the company in­cludes clear notice on the invi­tation, on the first signup page and in a welcome e-mail that is sent to anyone who becomes a member. In addition, the only mention of the soft­ware’s functionality, outside of the pri­vacy policy and user license agreement prior to installation, is one sentence of a six-paragraph introduction to the com­munity, which does not make clear it in­cludes sending personal data to Sears. The close timing of these two problems