One of the biggest US retailers has agreed to settle charges brought by federal authorities that it snuck privacy-stealing software from ComScore onto customers' machines. Sears Holding Corporation, owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Kmart, has agreed to delete all the information harvested by the software, which pried into customers' most intimate web habits. The company also agreed to be more upfront about any information it may collect in the future. The agreement by Sears came in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission in which the company didn't admit it violated any laws. As privacy advocates documented early last year, Sears sent emails to people shortly after they provided their address at Sears.com inviting them to join an "exciting online community." In fact, it was a pitch to install software from web research outfit ComScore that monitored their every online move.
