[privacy] Sears Exposes Customer Purchase History in Violation of Its Privacy Policy

[Dude VanWinkle]

On Jan 7, 2008 6:31 PM, Juha-Matti Laurio <juha-matti.laurio at netti.fi> wrote:
> >From Ben Edelman's Web site:
<snip>
> 1) Go to the Sears "Manage My Home" site, www.managemyhome.com . Create an account and sign in. [Screenshot.]
> 2) On the Home menu, choose Home Profile. In the Search Purchase History section, choose Find Your Products. [Screenshot.]
> 3) Enter the name, phone number, and street address of the customer whose purchases you wish to view. Press Find Products. [Screenshot.]
> Sears then displays all purchases its database associates with the specific customer -- typically major appliances and other large purchases."
> ---clip--
> Later on Friday the post was updated
> 'Update (January 4, 5pm): Sears has disabled the search feature described above.'
> ---clip--
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/07/sears_privacy_classaction/


Its nice to know that idiocy, when not involved with government, can
actually have repercussions.

Thanks "Yoo Ha",

-JP