FTC forces Sears, Kmart out of the spyware business(arstechnica.com)
arstechnica.com
FTC forces Sears, Kmart out of the spyware business
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/09/ftc-forces-sears-kmart-out-of-the-spyware-business.ars
3 comments
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What I want to know is:
1. Why did they think that pulling data from participants' secure shopping carts was a good idea?
2. Why did they even need to look at participants' webmail information?
3. Why did anyone at Sears/K-Mart think that this was a good idea at all?
Pulling all of that extra customer data increases their business risk. If that information was to leak somehow and damage a customer financially it would be bad legally and publicity-wise for both companies. And let's face it, K-Mart and Sears don't exactly need bad publicity at this point in the game.
1. Why did they think that pulling data from participants' secure shopping carts was a good idea?
2. Why did they even need to look at participants' webmail information?
3. Why did anyone at Sears/K-Mart think that this was a good idea at all?
Pulling all of that extra customer data increases their business risk. If that information was to leak somehow and damage a customer financially it would be bad legally and publicity-wise for both companies. And let's face it, K-Mart and Sears don't exactly need bad publicity at this point in the game.
Even with all that data, they still suck at marketing.
The thing that bothers me about this whole thing is that any company can do whatever they want and in the end the worst that can happen is that they have to destroy and not repeat it.