Home Depot
| Basic information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1978 |
| Legal Structure | Public |
| Industry | Retail, Hardware, Home Improvement |
| Also known as | |
| Official website | https://www.homedepot.com |
The Home Depot, Inc. is an American hardware store founded in 1978 by businessmen Bernard Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, Pat Farrah, and Ken Langone.[1][2] The company's business model from the beginning was to construct hardware superstores of an unprecedented size where customers could find any home improvement product or service that they needed.
Consumer-impact summary
[edit | edit source]Consumer privacy
[edit | edit source]Parking lot surveillance via Flock
[edit | edit source]Customers of Home Depot are tracked by the Flock Safety surveillance network due to a private contract between the two companies that puts its ALPR cameras in its parking lots. Because the Flock Safety surveillance network is entirely centralized, consumer presence in any of such lots carries all of the risks equally true for traversal of public roads where the cameras may also be present.[3]
Identification via CLEAR for rentals
[edit | edit source]Home Depot expects all customers to use Clear Secure before renting vehicles or tools. This entails provision of a government-issued identification as well as a photo of the customer.[4][5]
Incidents
[edit | edit source]This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Home Depot category.
CLEAR CEO named to board of directors (2022)
[edit | edit source]In a February 2022 press release, The Home Depot announced that it had appointed Caryn Seidman-Becker, the Chief Executive Officer of Clear Secure, to its board of directors.[6] In the following years, The Home Depot began to require that customers identify through CLEAR as part of the approval process for tool and vehicle rentals.[4][5]
Use of Flock Cameras in parking lots (2025—Present)
[edit | edit source]Since 2025, Home Depot has been partnered with Flock Safety, and has shared data resulting from this partnership with law enforcement.[7]
In Home Depot's "Privacy and Security Statement" (as equivalent to a privacy policy), the company does not mention Flock by name, but merely refers to the cameras in their parking lots as ALPRs, which can be misleading to consumers, as the two are not one and the same. The statement claims that the reason for the presence of the "ALPR System" is to collect information "for fraud prevention, security, and asset protection purposes."[3]
Data privacy class-action lawsuit (2026)
[edit | edit source]On July 1, 2026, plaintiff William E. Wright filed a class-action lawsuit against the Home Depot in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The lawsuit alleges that The Home Depot sold customer data to third parties without proper legal notice.[8]
Products
[edit | edit source]- Hand tools
- Power tools
- Rental services
- Home Renovation services
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ "Our History". Home Depot Corporate. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ "The Home Is Where Our Story Begins". Home Depot Corporate. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Home Depot, Inc. Privacy & Security Statement". Home Depot. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Tool Rental FAQs". Home Depot. Archived from the original on 19 Apr 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jacob Willeford (14 July 2026). "Fury as Home Depot customers face ADDED step under airport-style screening to rent certain items". The US Sun. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ "The Home Depot Names Paula Santilli and Caryn Seidman-Becker to its Board of Directors". Home Depot. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ Jason Koebler (6 Aug 2025). "Home Depot and Lowe's Share Data From Hundreds of AI Cameras With Cops". 404 Media. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.
- ↑ "Home Depot faces privacy class action over alleged sale of customer data". 404 Media. 30 July 2026. Archived from the original on 2 Sep 2026. Retrieved 2 Sep 2026.