Spyware – Brought to You by Kroger
Last night I was checking out the latest news on Swine Flu or Farah Fawcett or something and I saw at ad for Kroger. I seldom click on ads but this one was offering coupons and hey we shop at Kroger anyway so why not save some money (we’re not exactly pulling down rockstar salaries here in the independant computer repair business). In order to print the coupons, Kroger (and their partner coupons.com) force you to install some sort of printing software.
Hang on, I thought, why do I need special software to print a coupon? Kroger’s website claimed that it was in order to print the special bar code that their scanners require. Now, anyone who has flown in the last 5 years knows that you can print your own tickets and boarding passes at home now. These boarding passes have very elaborate bar codes on them that identify the holder the class of the ticket, its origin, etc. You’re telling me a 50-cent coupon for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese requires a more sophisticated system? I don’t think so.
Kroger’s download page states that the software doesn’t collect any personal information, however they’ve already lied to me about requiring it to print a coupon so why should I believe this? Moreover, my AntiVirus software is flagging the software as spyware this morning.
You can read more about this coupon software topic on DSLReports (including a message from the company’s Chief Marketing Officer) if you would like to see further discussion. I’ve written an email to Kroger about this. Will include their response (if any) here. In the meantime, to my customers, I would recommend not installing an “coupon printing” software from Kroger, Kraft or Coupons.com
