Aaron’s Computer Spying Class Action Lawsuit

One of the nation’s largest rental chains, Aaron’s, is being accused in a federal class action lawsuit of spying on customers by equipping rent-to-own computers with secret software that remotely snaps their photos, takes screen shots, tracks keystrokes, and spies on private communications.

According to the Aaron’s class action lawsuit, Aaron’s “secretly installed a spying device” called “PC Rental Agent” on its rental computers, allowing Aaron’s “to surreptitiously monitor, intercept and collect plaintiffs’ electronic communications from anywhere in the world.”

Aaron’s has more than 1,500 outlets in the United States and Canada. Also named as defendants in the class action lawsuit are over 100 Aaron’s franchisees and Designerware LLC, the manufacturer of the PC Rental Agent software.

“It has been the practice and policy of the Aaron’s defendants to conceal from their customers their ability to remotely access, intercept and monitor customers’ private, personal electronic communications, information, screen shots, keystrokes or images captured on webcams and to further disclose to consumers exactly the kinds of private information and images that can be and were routinely collected, transmitted and stored.

“The Aaron’s defendants’ sales, rental or lease agreements neither seeks permission from nor discloses to RTO [rent-to-own] customers the presence of PC Rental Agent or its ability to monitor and intercept communications and other data from Aaron’s RTO computers.”

The class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of a proposed class of all Aaron’s customers who reside in the U.S. and who have purchased, leased, rented or rented to own Aaron’s computers and whose electronic communications and/or images were intercepted, accessed, monitored and/or transmitted by Aaron’s via PC Rental Agent or other devices or software without the customer’s authorization. It is estimated that nearly 50,000 customers across the U.S. could be eligible to join the proposed class action lawsuit.

A copy of the Aaron’s Computer Spying PC Rental Agent Class Action Lawsuit, titled Byrd et al. v. Aaron’s, Inc. et al., can be read here.