WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission has reached an agreement with seven rent-to-own companies and a software design firm to settle charges the companies spied on consumers who rented their computers.
The settlements bar the companies from using location-tracking software without the consumer's consent, and from deceptively collecting and disclosing information about consumers.
The seven RTO companies reaching the settlement include two Aaron's Inc. franchisees, two ColorTyme franchisees, two franchisees of Premier Rental Purchase, and one independent RTO company.
The FTC said the companies used the software to take screenshots of personal information, track computer keystrokes, and in some cases, take webcam pictures of people in their homes.
"An agreement to rent a computer doesn't give a company license to access consumers' private emails, bank account information and medical records, or even worse, webcam photos of people in the privacy of their own homes," said Jon Leibowitz, FTC chairman. "The FTC orders will put an end to their cyber spying."
Settlements were made with Aspen Way Enterprises, a Billings, Mont., company that operates 17 Aaron's stores in six states; B. Stamper Enterprises, which operates one Premier Rental Purchase store in Indiana; CALM Ventures, which operates a Premier store in Tennessee; JAG Rents Inc., which operates two ColorTyme stores in Florida; Red Zone Investment Group, which operates one ColorTyme store in Texas; Showplace Inc., which operates 15 Showplace Rent-To-Own stores in Ohio; and Watershed Development Corp., which operates eight Aaron's stores in Illinois.