The Federal Trade Commission on Monday said it approved settlements with seven rent-to-own companies and one software designer on charges of conspiring to electronically spy on customers.

The seven rent-to-own companies had been accused of renting out personal computers with embedded software that allowed them to take screenshots of confidential information, log customers' key strokes and take webcam pictures of people in their homes, the FTC said in a statement.

Software firm DesignerWare L.L.C., was accused of providing the rental companies with the software that enabled the illicit activity. According to FTC documents, the Philadelphia-based company's PC Rental Agent product was designed to give rental companies the ability to track a rented computer's location and remotely disable it when a customer was late making payments. The program included additional functions and features, including an add-on “Detective Mode” that allowed its users to surreptitiously monitor customers' online activities.

The FTC estimates that PC Rental Agent has been licensed by 1,617 rent-to-own stores in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and has been installed on as many as 420,000 computers worldwide.

According to the terms of the settlements, DesignerWare, its principal owners Timothy Kelley and Ronald Koller, and the seven rent-to-own companies are prohibited from using PC Rental Agent or any other geophysical location tracking software without customers' notice and consent. The respondents also are prohibited from employing any methods of electronic information-gathering deemed deceptive by the FTC, including fake software registration screens.

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Additionally, the seven rental companies are prohibited from using any of the information already acquired through illicit means to collect payments from customers.

All of the proposed settlements include agreements to submit to FTC-supervised monitoring and record-keeping for 20 years.

The seven rent-to-own companies include Billings, Mont.-based Aspen Way Enterprises Inc., Lake Bluff, Ill.-based Watershed Development Corp., Marion, Ohio-based Showplace Inc., Tampa Bay, Fla.-based J.A.G. Rents L.L.C., Dallas-based Red Zone Investment Group Inc.?, Russellville, Ky.-based B. Stamper Enterprises Inc., and Nashville, Tenn.-based C.A.L.M. Ventures Inc.