This is nearly beyond belief.

Visiting Sears.com (and Kmart.com) a few weeks ago, I was offered a chance to join My SHC Community, for free, but what I received was, from a privacy perspective, very costly.  Sears.com is distributing spyware that tracks all your Internet usage - including banking logins, email, and all other forms of Internet usage - all in the name of "community participation." ...

Here is a summary of what the software does and how it is used. The proxy:

• 1. Monitors and transmits a copy of all Internet traffic going from and coming to the compromised system.
• 2. Monitors secure sessions (websites beginning with ‘https'), which may include shopping or banking sites.
• 3. Records and transmits "the pace and style with which you enter information online..."
• 4. Parses the header section of personal emails.
• 5. May combine any data intercepted with additional information like "select credit bureau information" and other sources like "consumer preference reporting companies or credit reporting agencies".

 In addition, My SHC Community requires a variety of personal information during registration - like name, email, address, city, state, and age.  All of this information can be correlated with intercepted data to create a comprehensive profile.

Cool, huh? (via)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 07:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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