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Better to settle with the FTC than get your company's reputation as consumer-friendly (deserved or not) dragged through the court of public opinion.

Sears Holdings has agreed to settle allegations it collected personal data from customers without adequate disclosures, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday. The FTC had accused Sears Holdings, created in 2005 with the merger of Sears and Kmart, of paying online customers $10 to allow the company to track their online browsing. But the FTC said Sears also collected information on non-Sears sites, such as online bank statements, drug prescription records and emails. "The software would also track some computer activities that were not related to the Internet," the FTC said in a statement. Sears did disclose all it would monitor in a lengthy user license agreement, but the FTC argued it was not enough. "The complaint charges that Sears' failure to adequately disclose the scope of the tracking software's data collection was deceptive and violates the FTC Act," the FTC said in a statement. Sears did not immediately reply to two telephone calls and one email seeking a comment. Under the settlement, Sears is required to destroy the data collected and make future disclosures more prominent.

Another report on Sears getting slapped on the wrist for questionable data collection. Gee, why don't businesses take information law seriously? Maybe because it is more profitable to ignore it and pay a small fine? Not impressed by Obama's enforcement of privacy law.

Sears today agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it failed to disclose the depth of consumers' personal information it collected via a downloadable software application. The settlement calls for Sears to stop collecting data from the consumers who downloaded the software and to destroy all data it had previously collected. If Sears advertises or disseminates any tracking software in the future, it must clearly and prominently disclose the types of data the software will monitor, record, or transmit, the FTC stated. Sears must also disclose whether any of the data will be used by a third party, the FTC said.