TRENTON, N.J. -- A technology company will pay $3.5 million and change how it sells laptop computers as part of a settlement reached with federal officials and 32 states.
The agreement with Lenovo announced Tuesday settles allegations that the North Carolina-based firm sold devices with software that made users' sensitive personal information vulnerable to hackers.
The VisualDiscovery software was installed on hundreds of thousands of laptops to deliver pop-up ads to consumers.
Lenovo stopped shipping laptops with VisualDiscovery installed in February 2015, but some states contend that some laptops with the software were still being sold by various retail outlets as late as June 2015.
Under the settlement, Lenovo will now obtain consumers' consent to use the software and provide a reasonable way for consumers to opt out, disable or remove it.