Suit: Spyware on Aaron's computers took photos of nudity, sex, emailed them back to company

PITTSBURGH -- Court documents in a class-action lawsuit against furniture rental company Aaron's Inc. allege spyware installed on rented computers secretly sent more than 185,000 emails back to the company, including some capturing webcam images of naked children and people having sex.

The documents filed Wednesday in federal court in western Pennsylvania say the Atlanta-based rental company hasn't informed at least 800 customers whom plaintiffs say were targeted by spyware made by a Pennsylvania company.

Attorneys say the emails sometimes contained pictures secretly taken by the computers' webcams or other sensitive information including Social Security numbers.

Aaron's says it disagrees with the claims in the lawsuit and will defend the case vigorously. The company also says that certain independent franchisees used the spyware, not stores operated by Aaron's, Inc.