A national rent-to-own chain, Aaron’s, is being accused of spying on customers without their knowledge. Apparently, they’ve been using rented computer’s webcams to take pictures of people and a keylogger to snap screenshots of what they were doing. Um, that’s kind of creepy.
The store is being accused of using software called “PC Rental Agent” as a way to keep track of customers and shut down the machine for customers who don’t pay their dues. Aaron’s has been doing this in secret too, a couple was wrongfully accused of still using a computer (they paid it off in full, but Aaron’s didn’t recognise it because of an accounting error) and shown a picture of them on the machine, taken with the webcam, as proof. Ruh rohs.
The couple called the police and an investigation concluded that Aaron’s was using PC Rental Agent and was taking pictures of customers. That’s some seedy shit, man. The couple wants to change their lawsuit to a class action lawsuit and with 1,500 Aaron’s stores across the US and Canada, there’s bound to be people questioning the company. [Ars Technica]