FTC Settles With Rent-to-Own Firm It Says Rented Out Laptops Running Spyware
Posted in: Uncategorized
Rent-a-Big Brother, anyone? The Federal Trade Commission has settled a case against rent-to-own firm Aaron’s after alleging that company enabled its franchisees to gather more than 100,000 webcam images, keystroke logs and screenshots from laptops they rented to consumers.
The agency claimed franchisees employed surveillance software made by DesignerWare called PC Rental Agent, setting it to “Detective Mode” between 2009 and January 2012. In addition to capturing images — which in some cases revealed home visitors, kids, nudity and intimate moments — the software tracked physical locations of the rented computers.
In 2012, the commission announced a related settlement with DesignerWare itself, along with seven rent-to-own franchisees of Aaron’s, ColorTyme and Premier Rental Purchase.
Post a Comment