Aaron's Rent-To-Own Chain Settles FTC Charges That it Enabled Computer Spying by Franchisees

Aaron’s, a rent-to-own retailer, has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it knowingly played a direct and vital role in its franchisees’ installation and use of software on rental computers that secretly monitored consumers including by taking webcam pictures of them in their homes.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Aaron’s franchisees used the software, which surreptitiously tracked consumers’ locations, captured images through the computers’ webcams -- including those of adults engaged in intimate activities -- and activated keyloggers that captured users’ login credentials for e-mail accounts and financial and social media sites.

Under the terms of the proposed consent agreement with the FTC, Aaron’s will be:

• Prohibited from using monitoring technology that captures keystrokes or screenshots, or activates the camera or microphone on a consumer’s computer, except to provide technical support requested by the consumer.
• Required to give clear notice and obtain express consent from consumers at the time of rental in order to install technology that allows location tracking of a rented product. For computer rentals, the company will have to give notice to consumers not only when it initially rents the product, but also at the time the tracking technology is activated, unless the product has been reported by the consumer as lost or stolen.
• Prohibited from deceptively gathering consumer information.
• Prevented from using any information it obtained through improper means in connection with the collection of any debt, money or property as part of a rent-to-own transaction.
• Required to delete or destroy any information it has improperly collected and transmit in an encrypted format any location or tracking data it collects properly. Required to conduct annual monitoring and oversight of its franchisees and hold them to the requirements in the agreement that apply to Aaron’s and its corporate stores, and to terminate the franchise agreements of franchises that do not meet those requirements.