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To investigate claims by current and former Geek Squad techies (see "The 10 Page Geek Squad Confession - "Stealing Customers' Nudie Pics Was An Easter Egg Hunt"), we loaded a computer with porn and rigged it to make a video of itself. We captured every cursor movement, every program opened, every file accessed. Everything that the user saw and did, we recorded.
We took it to less than a dozen Best Buy Geek Squads and asked them to perform simple tasks, like installing iTunes. Most places were fine, sometimes doing the job right on the counter, sometimes even for free.
Then we caught one well-seasoned Geek Squad Agent copying personal and pornographic images and video from our computer to his company-issued thumb drive (see video above, or the logfiles).
Reached for comment, Geek Squad CEO Robert Stephens expressed desire to launch an internal investigation and said, "If this is true, it's an isolated incident and grounds for termination of the Agent involved."
This is not just an isolated incident, according to reports from Geek Squad insiders alleging that Geek Squad techs are stealing porn, images, and music from customer's computers in California, Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere. Our sources say that some Geek Squad locations have a common computer set up where everyone dumps their plunder to share with the other technicians.
If our techie readers were right about the Geek Squad doing this, then perhaps they're right in saying it happens at other computer repair places as well.
And by the time your computer breaks, it's too late to hide anything you wouldn't want someone to find, and steal for their own purposes. It might not just be the photos and videos you got online, but also the ones you made with your partner for intimate purposes. Or it could be passwords, credit card information, bank accounts. The only thing stopping a potential peeping tom is the bounds of their curiosity, and how much and how secure is the information you keep on your computer.
We advise encrypting sensitive files in advance with a program like TrueCrypt (WIN) or making anencrypted disk image (MAC, be sure to skip step 6). Or, keep it all on an external hard drive and/or zip all the files and password protect them.
Who knew that when you hand over your computer to a repair technician, you could be giving a stranger a veritable Pandora's box?
fap,fap,fap,fap
Am I the only one who's more unnerved that Geek Squad charged $30 to install iTunes? That's the real crime here.
What if there was a file on the desktop called "credit report"? Or "bank accounts"?
It is obvious that within the geek squad there are some that can not be trusted.
GS should implement some protocols ASAP to protect customers data.
I'm thinking some simple cameras that record their actions.
Man, this is like playing with fire because you can never REAALLLY be sure that the models are 18 and over. It seems all it would take is one 16-year old in that pile of 18,000 porn pics and you'd be bustable with a sex offender record to boot.
@Amsterdaam: (with sad look on his face)
Damn it, you owe me a new Coke to replace the one I just sprayed across my desktop.
@DCvision: IANAL but here's my thoughts...
Though Geek Squad is certainly not a public entity (and thus not affected by 4th Amendment protections), I would think that their policy should be similar to the police: plain view.
If I contract Best Buy to install iTunes on my computer, they have no need to explore my MyDocuments folder. If, in contrast, I contract them to defragment my hard drive (some programs list the name of the file currently being moved) then any illegal files or programs I have would be plainly visible and fair game.
Certainly I encourage Geek Squad to report illegal activity, but to actively LOOK for it goes beyond the bounds of their mission (which is to fix computers).
And there is NO way this guy could defend himself on those grounds anyway...he copied the porn, not looked at it to see that it was legal. Not to mention his contract was to install a single program - a task that required a file probably already on his thumb drive and nothing more.
"You're Fired!"
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fap,fap,fap,fap (with sad look on his face)