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Aaron Computer Rental Firm Spies On Users

Posted by timothy on from the they-learned-it-from-school-in-pennsylvania dept.

An anonymous reader writes with word from Yahoo news of a lawsuit "filed on behalf of a Wyoming couple who said they learned about the PC Rental Agent 'device and/or software' inside the computer they rented last year when an Aaron's Inc. store manager in Casper came to their home on Dec. 22. The manager tried to repossess the computer because he mistakenly believed the couple hadn't finished paying for it, the couple said. Brian Byrd, 26, said the manager showed him a picture of Byrd using the computer — taken by the computer's webcam. The image was shot with the help of spying software, which the lawsuit contends is made by North East, Pa.-based Designerware LLC and is installed on all Aaron's rental computers."

3 of 510 comments (clear)

  1. Whoops by bfmorgan · · Score: 5, Informative

    These stupid companies think they can treat their customers like children and in the process shoot themselves in the foot.

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    I hope this caused some synapses to fire.
    1. Re:Whoops by avgjoe62 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Funny. If you read TFA, you'll see that the couple in question had paid off the computer and now owned it outright. The store manager was mistakenly trying to repossess the computer and that revealed the spyware to them. So, obviously, they could afford the contract. Nothing clear about it.

      The point of the article is not poor people make bad decision, get computer repossessed. It was about a company still having spyware on a computer that was owned by their former customers.

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      How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?

  2. Re:you can't consent to child porn by johncandale · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.solresearch.org/~SOLR/rprt/LookNow.asp#Sct_1_NakedKidPics There have been many dozen cases of people taking pics of their baby kids in a bathtub or otherwise half dressed and successfully convicted. I pulled that link in about 10 seconds of google but I'm sure /. and others have better links. Please please read the news once and awhile so you know why people are upset about privacy going bye bye and the myth of "if you have nothing to hide..." Even if you won on appeal, you still have years of your life with the added stress of a young child ruined.