Wal-Mart has been granted a gag order against former employee, Bruce Gabbard. Apparently Gabbard has been gabbing to the Wall Street Journal. See The Consumerist for the saucy details. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart might be getting a call from the feds regarding the in-house surveillance program that Mr. Gabbard participated in while working for the mega-retailer.

-- MDT

Labels: Bruce Gabbard, surveillance, The Consumerist, Wal-Mart

From Harpers's January issue...just snippits but worth revisiting.

Always be careful what you put in an email, Mr. Hunsaker (HP's "I shouldn't have asked" ethics director).

Hat tip to The Consumerist.

-- MDT

Labels: Harpers, HP, Kona II, pretexting, The Consumerist

TJX, home to such retail chains as Bob's Stores, HomeGoods, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and A.J. Wright announced this week that in December 2006 the company discovered a massive data breach. The overall damage is still uncertain but hacker-thieves have almost certainly obtained credit and debit card numbers from TJX transactions from across North America. TJX is already working with law enforcement to resolve the situation. Meanwhile as many as 10 Massacusetts banks have already reported illegal account access. Mor on the aftermath of the TJX breach here. (Via The Consumerist)

-- MDT

Labels: data breach, The Consumerist, TJX