Comments on: Laptop rental companies reach cash-free, pointless settlement with toothless FTC for taking secret naked pictures of customers having sex, harvesting medical records and banking passwords and more

By: curgoth

curgoth — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:53:00 +0000

Just world fallacy – *those* guys are idiots/bad people! Something like that could never happen to me because bad things don’t happen to good people.

By: anharmyenone

anharmyenone — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:52:00 +0000

Computer security laws are generally written to protect the interests of the owner of the computer from persons who do not own the computer (crackers, erroneously called hackers), so this outcome is not surprising. Legislators did not take into account the need to protect the privacy and security interests of persons other than the owners of computers from harm from the computers’ owners. Those laws need to be amended to take these needs into account.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:57:00 +0000

So it’s like college educations then.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 01:55:00 +0000

What kind of tape do you use to stop them from downloading your files, or keylogging your passwords?

By: bloopeeriod

bloopeeriod — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:45:00 +0000

Whats with all this blame the victim crap? Bunch of dicks.

By: James Penrose

James Penrose — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Here’s a hint folks: Close the lid when not using it. if you’re not using the camera at all, put a bit of tape or a band-aid over the lens.

The cleverest hacker in the world and the most devious software developed can’t open the lid or see through an opaque cover.

With rented or borrowed stuff, presume *someone* may be watching. I’d like to see a sliding cover made mandatory on the damn things. Too many stupid people and too many ways to abuse this feature. Same for any built in mike.

And no, I am not a Luddite. I’m a retired computer tech/science officer with, among other thing, 25 years in Intelligence. You lot are not *nearly* paranoid enough about misuses of tech.

By: robdobbs

robdobbs — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:59:00 +0000

I think this is what you were looking for: ≠

Ignorant ≠ stupid

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:34:00 +0000

I do assume that, and I do my very best to provide an excellent show.

By: oasisob1

oasisob1 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:32:00 +0000

Be nice, and consider the position others are in. Many are just not educated and they don’t understand the real costs associated with rent to own or payday loans. They don’t realize the importance of understanding the APR or reading the fine print. Ignorant != stupid.

By: pKp

pKp — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:39:00 +0000

I’ve seen news stories regularly about that sort of things, often in clothes-shops dressing rooms or bar bathrooms. It always, always ends in termination, fines, and often jail time.

Apparently, doing it when you’re one guy with a sick kink = BAD. Doing it as a business model = GOOD.

Corporations are people, my friend…and they’re better than you !

By: HubrisSonic

HubrisSonic — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:36:00 +0000

I mean thats really the problem here isnt it. These people can barely operate Excel, let alone understand the what is going on here.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:34:00 +0000

The only possible rationale for the FTC letting a company do this is that they let the company off in exchange for some of the information gathered or the techniques for doing so.

By: howaboutthisdangit

howaboutthisdangit — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:56:00 +0000

Thanks to political appointments, government agencies are rarely about the protection of the people. They are more concerned with the needs of Industry.

By: xiagang

xiagang — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:43:00 +0000

Cameras in hotel rooms? That’s a high probability in Hong Kong’s hourly hotels… Don’t know about your average business or tourist hotel room.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:52:00 +0000

What’s the difference from renting a computer and renting a hotel room

Cops, prosecutors, judges and juries don’t understand technology and their brains shut down whenever it’s mentioned.

By: Brad Bell

Brad Bell — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:00:00 +0000

These companies should be out of business and many of their employees should be doing jail time.

What’s the difference from renting a computer and renting a hotel room – wired for sound and vision everywhere? Very discrete. Every room. Every toilet. Every bed and plant and picture frame – microphones in the mattress, DNA collection the morning after.

That pretty much killed the computer rental business. Shall we go for hotels? Restaurants? Your new car? The economy runs on trust. Illicit surveillance is economic suicide.

(For the record, I do assume all hotel rooms and toilets have surveillance cameras. Don’t you?)

By: Brad Bell

Brad Bell — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:42:00 +0000

Auto-spelling correction makes some people look silly and others look pedantic – and still others even moreso ;-)

By: ldobe

ldobe — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:10:00 +0000

Isn't the Burlington Coat Factory outlet where you go to wear the products of a failing industry?

By: ldobe

ldobe — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 05:08:00 +0000

Only if you delude yourself into thinking you can pay it back, when in reality you’d never be able to in a hundred thousand years at the minimum payments you can barely make……

As we all know, it completely depends on how much you borrow, how much you can pay back at a time, your interest rate (and whether it balloons), and job security.

And honestly, the whole credit crisis was engineered by financial “experts” who convinced millions of people into believing that they are perfectly capable of living beyond their means, using the magic of what would otherwise be called usury

By: stuck411

stuck411 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:35:00 +0000

Rent to own places are up there with the pay day loan companies when it comes to ass-hat behavior. I’d love to live in a world wear both industries would go out of business because every citizen is better financially educated.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:33:00 +0000

Some people don’t have the means to live. Is a mortgage living beyond one’s means?

By: HubrisSonic

HubrisSonic — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 03:54:00 +0000

Wow, the FTC is just great. How about protecting the fucking consumers you fucking dillwads…. argh…. the information theft alone should have garnered prison terms.

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 03:17:00 +0000

Rent to own is a special level of hell reserved for people who choose to live beyond their means.
This whole sick episode makes it all the more apparent what a special level of hell that is.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:57:00 +0000

Could you? Because otherwise it just sounds like your perfectly ok with people making bad money decisions being filmed naked, having their passwords stolen, and allowing all of their personal information to end up in the hands of a corporation who no one seems willing to stand up to.
It is bad enough when we get IRS agents ‘peeking’ at tax records, but there is nothing to stop random person working for this company from making you poster child of the week for shits and giggles.
Stupidity should hurt and paying much more than what the machine is worth should be enough, it should not have your personal details handed over to lord knows who.

By: SoItBegins

SoItBegins — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:53:00 +0000

Christ, what an asshole(s).

By: peteywheats

peteywheats — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:33:00 +0000

The electric eye has caused Justice to remove her blindfold and to tip the scale towards fascism.

By: benher

benher — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:33:00 +0000

Hey Hey, companies are people too. Let’s not hurt their feelings, alright?

By: nixiebunny

nixiebunny — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:25:00 +0000

Rent to own. Need I say more.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:17:00 +0000

I’m not surprised. When I contacted them about getting multiple daily spam faxes when I was on the Do Not Call registry, I got a form letter saying that if they got enough complaints, they might maybe think about possibly doing something.