Geek Squad Caught Stealing Porn

If you pay someone to clean your home, you wouldn't expect them to start peeking into your drawer & cupboard wouldn't you? Then this should be the same with computer, people files are private for privacy or security reason unless they are directly related to the job you're doing.

When I got paid to fix someone's computer I'd stay away from their private files unless I was asked to backed up their files, even then I wouldn't open up any of them. When they asked to clean up 'junk' files (porn, etc) then it's probably the time where the technician needs to pay more attention to the filename and content.

Looking at the responses of some people in this thread makes me glad I can fix my own computer :rolleyes:
 
When I worked in retail I would see people looking through customers porn all of the time. Difference is how they did it. Generaly they would go through it with the hd hooked to a shop machine backing up data for a customer. At that point they are looking for files per the customer and backing them up(general rule was not to backup porn). Only time I ever saw them copy shit for personaly use was when they would find a bunch of dvd rips or something.

Guy really failed here because they got caught stealing it. Not just the porn but personaly pictures. I see a difference in someone copying porn or some music off a machine vs copying customer private data. Both are wrong but I mean WTF was that guy/girl thinking?

In the business a tech will end up seeing customer information. Simple as that. When I do backups I open a few files to make sure they look good. This means I check the text in the document and make sure it looks fine and close it. Do I pay attention to what was in it? No. Hell I have access to a lot of customer documents anytime I want(consultant with access to their servers). Have yet to go through them and never will unless asked. Its not my place.
 
Learn how to maintain your equipment yourself.

I wouldn't let one of those freaks park my car, nevermind mess with my puter.

You'd think ONE of the little geek bastids would have the balls to drop a dime to the PohLeece when the gang was busy stealing customers shit.

What ever happened to honest people?

All Hail the Freak Squad :eek: :rolleyes: :p :D

And in Cali, esp... what are the chances some of these guys are past/present gangbangers looking for victims to ripoff.
 
How much truly private volatile information do you have on your computer? Encryption or off-site (at least external) backup of your most important information is easily doable. If you are that afraid of someone stealing your vacation pictures, store them on an external harddrive. Do you insist on storing CC#s important passwords, account numbers, or anything else that could be used to steal your identity on your computer? I suggest you invest in some encryption.

If you have so much sensitive information that you cannot encrypt it effectively, then you need to take it to a truly professional technician to fix it.
 
How much truly private volatile information do you have on your computer? Encryption or off-site (at least external) backup of your most important information is easily doable. If you are that afraid of someone stealing your vacation pictures, store them on an external harddrive. Do you insist on storing CC#s important passwords, account numbers, or anything else that could be used to steal your identity on your computer? I suggest you invest in some encryption.

If you have so much sensitive information that you cannot encrypt it effectively, then you need to take it to a truly professional technician to fix it.

None. My objection is to the principle of someone rooting through my computer for the principle of the matter. I don't want them looking at anything they haven't had permission to look at...about the most confidential thing I have on my comp is vacation photos of a waterfall I visited.

Its the principle of the matter...whether its porn, credit cards, classified government secrets, or my world of warcraft screenshot folder. Don't look at it if that's not what you're being paid to do.
 
As for the child porn sentiment from the other guy, I have hear that so much.. I am really curious to what extent would people allow themselves to be monitored, in enhance the chance of catching somebody who posessed it. Just as far as having techs be told to look for it when they are repairing a machine (yes that's been done), or further, like allowing, say, Microsoft to update the OS to allow the FBI to scan people's machine for child porn when they connected to the internet? Just curious at what point will people say "whoa, okay, stop the train, I think I am getting off here." :D QUOTE]

My techs did not actively search for the child porn. When the computers were in the tech shop for repair the techs would do a data backup to preserve the customers information when the tech had to do a system restore or a data transfer from the customer's old machine to their new machine. In all but one instance they saw a file name come up on the screen that raised a red flag and investigated. We are talking an obvious name like "toddler doing such and such" and it was as described. There is only one time we actively looked for porn was when a mother brought in their 17 year old son's machine and paid us a flat rate fee to search the entire machine because she was convinced he was looking for porn. He turned out to be the "but one" child porn case. This kid had some graphic child porn on his machine. When the mother came back to retrieve the machine we had to tell her that the machine was no longer in our possession and that someone would be in touch.

As for the theft of file from customer machines, in my tech shop it was never directly off the machine. As I said before we did data backups to our tech bench machine in order to preserve data. We had to keep all data from a backup for 30 days because the customer had a 30 rework guarantee. The techs would not go looking through each individual's information, they would just go to the Finder and tell the machine to find "*.MP3" and then copy the newly found MP3s to the Music folder on the server. Same with porn.

The question isn't "are they stealing my files off my machine?" it is "what are they doing with the files they backed up?" or "did they delete my files?"
 
Ancient chinese proverb:
"Do not have the intent to harm but do not be without the intent to guard either."

Looking through stuff to copy for personal use: wrong.
Handing over private data without thinking twice: bad.
Assuming people in general are good and honest: idiot.
 
It's just porn... lol.... all of you thinking this is so wrong say it..... it is just porn.... All of the what if's don't apply. The article doesn't say they are taking anything else, so save your preaching and morals.
Huh? Porn isn't protected by copyright? Since when?
 
I wouldn't let one of those freaks park my car, nevermind mess with my puter.
A freak who worked at Geek Squad? Yeah, I doubt they're insured for driving customer cars.

Or do you mean you'd never go to a valet? In the real world, you often don't have a choice.
 
wow, a real dumbass parade in this thread. When you call in a plumber to fix your toilet, I'm sure you have no problem with him going into your drawers sniffing your wife's panties either.

That's exactly the same thing! Awesume!
 
all the people who think its wrong and all that crap have obviously never worked at a shop


we used to find all KINDS of porn... not necissarily rooting around for it, its just there... as someone mentioned when you're doing a copy process, and the documents take about 4.3 seconds to copy and ASIAN_TEEN_AMATEUR_VOYEUR.avi starts copying and takes a minute and a half... its hard to change gears...

i generally just ignored the stuff, but i remember there was a tech in the shop, worked there longer than i had, and he used to go watch what he wanted... i remember he found some pretty disturbing stuff...

this one b/w video of this russian slicing a guys neck with a bayonet is still burned into my brain :( let me tell you, its nothing like in the movies... very disturbing

and probably 80% of the machiens we serviced were soldiers rigs... and some of them had the worst stuff on it...

some cool parachute videos and artillery firing videos that were cool too...


its gonna happen people.... if you don't want the techs to see it, burn it off and delete it.... its not like they go around running recovery programs on it (unless you brought it in to have a file recovered)... so as long as you follow those simple steps, you're pretty much safe
 
You really have to be green to think that there's not a good possibility some things will be copied. Have you seen the guys that work the geek squad? :rolleyes:
 
ok, let me rephrase... its definitely WRONG... but its not UNCOMMON... lets just say that....
 
this one b/w video of this russian slicing a guys neck with a bayonet is still burned into my brain :( let me tell you, its nothing like in the movies... very disturbing

It's amazing what some people are capabile of doing. :(
 
Moral of today's story - learn how to hide your stuff!!!!

I keep my things that I don't want others to see in an external drive full volume encrypted in AES with Truecrypt.
 
I think logic manages to escape people completely every now and then. People shouldnt store private things on their computer? People should take the files off their computer before getting it REPAIRED? People should encrypt thier files?

Are you freaking kidding me?

My god. First of all lets look at the people who use rip off services like Geek Squad, they are obviously completely computer illiterate. Telling them to encrypt their files is just hillarious. Most probably dont even know how to set up an email account without having their ISP do it for them. Thinking they should remove and backup private files from their broken computer is even more hilarious, theres just so many insanely stupid things wrong with that logic that it boggles the mind.

If you live alone and nobody else uses your computer then why shouldnt you have private files on your computer? What exactly do you have to hide from? Your dog? I doubt people just assume that they will have to have a technician repair their computer 7 months from now. Its just a ridiculous expectation.

Also why are people assuming that geek squad people get paid minimum wage? They arent working a cashier and they arent flipping burgers, Im sure they get paid plenty for the amount of work they do, especially the ones who go on-site to repair computers (which seem to be the main culprits here).
 
Also why are people assuming that geek squad people get paid minimum wage? They arent working a cashier and they arent flipping burgers, Im sure they get paid plenty for the amount of work they do, especially the ones who go on-site to repair computers (which seem to be the main culprits here).

Nope when I worked there it was 14.01/hr for an in store tech, this was in the bay area so this was essentially was not enough to make ends meet. The mobile techs make about 19.58/hr with the added "perk" of the company car.(barf) Thankfully this was only a part time gig I didn't even use the employee crapticular discount (newegg FTW)

While I was working there I witnessed this first hand on several different occasions. If this happened with a doctors comp HIPPA would probably cause the end of BB.

Morals? BestBuy has none, and this translates into [most of] the workforce that supports that corporation.
 
It's actually very disturbing from a privacy standpoint. I think they should be fired for rooting around people's hard drive. They might be just copying porn, but you have to wonder what else they root through also. I'd feel violated if that happened to me.

Would you really feel violated? That seems to be the #1 answer these days for everything,...I FEEL VIOLATED!!!...lol....

If you give your computer to someone..

A. Move the illegal and or private file somewhere else
B. Live with it when someone grabs your tash of tits and ass..
 
Why is everyone saying "if you don't want your stuff to be stolen, lock it up."

I doubt anyone that brings their computer to Best Buy knows how to do anything with one. It is just porn but like what most people said, the fact is it's scary for people who don't know shit and feel helpless.
 
After looking over this thread, I'm kinda shocked to see so many people putting the blame for the theft or wrongdoing basically on the customers, sadly. This equates to the "Oh she was dressed in a mini skirt with a tight bra and... dammit she was just asking for it" rape defense.

It's bullshit, and so is every response in this thread that either says or hints or alludes to:

- it's the customer's fault for not making the files secure
- "I mean, it was right there in the open for me, it was just asking to be copied"
- anything even similar to such things above

Geezus people, what happened was wrong, period, by any definition of right and wrong. If you have absolutely no morals and everything like this sort of activity or behavior is perfectly fine with you, man, get the fuck off the planet will ya.

Good lord... people just never stop surprising me at how fucking stupid and low they can truly be to one another.
 
I agree, a lot of these posts are just wrong. That's like if you decide to call a plumber to fix your plumbing, then they should have the right to poke around your house as well. :rolleyes:

Anyone with half a brain knows that most people don't know about computers, most people don't know how to perform basic to intermediate maintenance on their car. Just because the fact that most people may take advantage of someone in those situations doesn't mean it's OK. I guess if one of you had your identity stolen for example, I'd be laughing at that for whatever reason? No, I wouldn't because that's just plain wrong period. Grow up, making fun of someone who's only needing help is asking for a more worse scenario on themselves.
 
None. My objection is to the principle of someone rooting through my computer for the principle of the matter. I don't want them looking at anything they haven't had permission to look at...about the most confidential thing I have on my comp is vacation photos of a waterfall I visited.

Its the principle of the matter...whether its porn, credit cards, classified government secrets, or my world of warcraft screenshot folder. Don't look at it if that's not what you're being paid to do.
Dood, tell 'em. Just walk into Best Buy and tell them that they have no right to be going through your personal files. You don't even need a computer with you, just stand there on principle and tell them how it is. One man can make a difference.
 
Dood, tell 'em. Just walk into Best Buy and tell them that they have no right to be going through your personal files. You don't even need a computer with you, just stand there on principle and tell them how it is. One man can make a difference.

Right after you go in and cheer them on.
 
My techs did not actively search for the child porn. When the computers were in the tech shop for repair the techs would do a data backup to preserve the customers information when the tech had to do a system restore or a data transfer from the customer's old machine to their new machine.

Yea when I was in retail this is always how it would happen. Someone(me more then once) would be backing up someones data and would see child porn or something come up either copying data or open a folder looking for stuff to copy and a preview in xp would be turned on and we would catch it. I was level 2 and most of the time if I was there I would get asked to look at something before we would call the manager on call and get corporate on the line to tell them we were going to call the cops and turn over a machine. Then you had times like one I can remember where someone had a video called chicks with dicks something on the desktop. The tech that looked at it made a point to make as many people watch it as possible. Then laughed at everyone as they were like WTF when they saw it.


I agree, a lot of these posts are just wrong. That's like if you decide to call a plumber to fix your plumbing, then they should have the right to poke around your house as well. :rolleyes:

In many cases it is more of you call the plumber and have him/her check the pips in your bathroom and they open the cabnet under the sink to look at something related to their work and see you stash of porn under it and have to move it out of the way to get what they need to do. In the case of this vid of bb this was not the case but it is many times. Mind you in this case the plumber took the porn when they left. Or maybe the mechanic that you have do the inspection for your car and they go to throw the paperwork in the glove box at the end and a joint falls out.
 
Truly amazing. This is clearly unethical and all of the geek bravado can't cover that up.

It has a giggle factor when it is just porn but eventually actions like will eventually lead to lawsuits and maybe much later a professional ethic. But that would will probably years in the making.

Probably by then computers will be repairing computers.;)
 
If you live alone and nobody else uses your computer then why shouldnt you have private files on your computer? What exactly do you have to hide from? Your dog? I doubt people just assume that they will have to have a technician repair their computer 7 months from now. Its just a ridiculous expectation.

The people you live with has very little basis on the security of the data on your hard drive. Just off the top of my head I can think of at least a half dozen methods for either completely losing that oh so important top secret classified images of a 19 year old girl impaling herself with a wine bottle. Also since I never claim to be some authority on the subject who knows everything about it, I'm sure that those reasons would be simply the tip of the iceberg as well.

You claim that others are being illogical, however I fail to see the logic in being so naive that you fool yourself into thinking your computer is secure just because you're the only one who uses it. Let's examine a few of them, shall we?

  • Considering that you're posting on this forum, I believe it's safe to assume you have an active connection to the internet from the terminal you use in your daily life. Most people choose to ignore this, but internet access alone presents so many breaches in security that you would probably have to lie down for a while if you really thought about it.
  • For example, let's say you downloaded a file called hotteenpartyxxx.exe thinking it would give you access to erotic videos, only surprise you've just been infected with a trojan. By your calculations the majority of people who use computers are barely able to use outlook express, so it's safe to say they don't possess any kind of sophisticated defenses installed to protect against this. The trojan easily and silently infiltrates the computer and has full access to all of its systems.
  • Some 15 year old halfway across the country running a program he downloaded finds the viral agent with a random port scan and thinks he's a l33t h4x0r. He now has complete access to all of those files you thought were so secure on your personal computer.

  • Another common myth is that right clicking on a file and selecting "delete" makes it go away, when in reality you're only instructing the operating system to mark that sector as being ready for overwriting. The file is still there, and will remain until something else is written on top of it. The only way to get rid of it for good is using a file shredding program that repeatedly writes random data over the original file, or if you choose to kill the entire hard drive with a powerful magnet.

  • Unfortunately you weren't aware of this, and you purchase a brand new hard drive to replace the one you have. You transfer all of your personal files to the new drive, delete all the old ones, and pitch it in the garbage. Little did you know that there are people who actually go through your garbage, and even sift through the local dump looking for things like old hard drives, because they know that if they find one the old data can easily be restored. Oops, someone who's determined enough to spend the day at the dump now has all of your personal information. I wonder what they'll do with it. I'm guessing they're not looking for porn.

  • For some reason, even knowing all of the dangers that you face, you still choose to keep sensitive information on your computer. You're an expert, right? No way anyone will get their hands on your stuff because you fix your own computer, use a complicated shredding algorithm to dispose of old important files, and you've got the best anti-virus and firewall in the world. Only in your haste you forgot to make a recent backup of all your important data. Everything is fine until one day your hard drive (which is really nothing more than magnetic platters that spin at 7,200 revolutions per minute and a mechanical arm that zips across them faster than the human eye can track. No reason to be concerned with any moving parts failing in there, right?) suddenly decides that it doesn't want to work anymore. This is the digital age though, so you decided the old fashioned pen and paper are now obsolete and kept all of your most important data on a hard drive instead. You know, that paper weight that now has millions of little magnetic particles scattered across a platter which are pretty much unretrievable to everyone except data recovery specialists who charge thousands of dollars per hour for their services. It's just all of your important financial information, address books, letters to friends, vacation plans, personal photos, and that report which your boss wants on his desk the next morning. The one that should save the company millions of dollars. Oh well, it wasn't anything too important right?


You know, I could actually keep going, but I won't. The fact of the matter is that computers are a very fragile thing. One day they like to work, the next they might not for the strangest reason. There are also millions of people out there who are very cunning, knowledgeable with how computers work, and would love to take advantage of people who thought they weren't at risk. All from the comforts of their own homes.

Most of the above may or may not apply to you, I have no way of knowing that for sure. My point is that regardless of the situation a personal computer is far from the safest places to store anything of any real importance. When it comes to technology, the worst can, and will frequently happen. If you choose to blindly trust a technological device with anything that you consider precious, then you have that option even if I wouldn't advise it. People do after all have the freedom to make their own mistakes.
 
This Argument is sort of a Double Edged sword. while you can blame the techs for stealing porno, you can't help but wonder if you have porn in your computer, put it in a less public place. but then again, people who take their PCs to techs aren't masterminds anyway (and this is not a knock on anyone, just an obvious statement) in the end, fuck it, just be glad it's not your computer:cool:
 
I for one, am not supprised. My friend worked at a computer store around here and sometimes I'd go there and hang out with him. One time they showed me their external 500gb harddrive with the label "pr0n" on it. The purpose of this drive was to save all the "good" porn they could find on customers pc's. They showed me this litle gem when a customer(hot female) had a lot pictures and even a video of herself on her computer, in a folder with a shortcut on the desktop, and as guys your saying we're not supossed to look at that? Please... with all the available ways to keep that stuff private, thumb drives, external hd's, and even dvd burners, you can't be serious when you expect the tech making $9.00 an hour not to go on a smut hunt when he recieves a computer.
 
That's certainly understandable. You're right in that people who aren't willing to hold themselves to the same ideals that they preach have no place giving advice to anyone else. Through all of this though I always try to uphold myself to my core ideals, even if others believe those to be misguided. The ability to persevere even when everyone around you tries to get you down is what makes you who you are. I'm not in any way trying to preach to you, or change your way of life, I simply want you to understand my point of view. Although I personally believe in what I say, and hold myself to those standards as best as I can, that doesn't mean that I expect everyone else to do the same as well.

I am right with you there. Although over the years my rigid values wound up turning fairly liberal. Not in the way of doing bad things, mind you, but I started to realise I really had to study other's behaviors, and try to understand it to a certain extent. But through it all, I just have seen so much done to erode civil rights, plus the fact that people seem so willing to give them up so easily, while I want to fight to keep them with almost a fanatical desperation. So where people see somebody stealing porn from a hard drive, I see somebody rifling through somebody's personal life with the possibility of doing great harm.

So that's what sets me off.. I just think that one thing leads to another in that respect. It's the stoicism that get me. I just can't understand it.
 
Before I get dragged into any further morality debates, please try to keep in mind that I completely agree that it's unethical for anyone (be it a tech, a plumber, a doctor, or whatever) to deviate from their assigned task in order to browse your personal belongings.

That said, I've seen a lot of people on here claiming that "computerz r hurd n stuff. u cant xpect dem to no abot enkrypshun n stuff". Let me be positively clear on my opinion about this subject. Ignorance is never an excuse. Unless your sole priority in life is to fight off the scourge of drool stains on your adult sized sesame street t-shirt, then you are always more than capable of learning the fundamentals behind the activities you engage in every day. It's all a matter of whether or not you choose to put forth the effort required to educate yourself.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying everyone should be a computer expert. I simply believe that everyone should be expected to have at least some knowledge of the devices they use. It sickens me to see so many people out there with the mentality that all they have to do is pay someone else to live life for them. Do you not understand this is exactly why you allow people to take advantage of you? So many times I've seen people pay anywhere from $50-$100 for something so simple as a video card installation. You don't have to hold a degree in computer science to go to google.com and find a way to keep your private files private. The problem is that people seem to think it's acceptable to expect everyone else to handle the complicated things for you instead of first trying to do it yourself.

Myself, I have a wide range of personal skills and abilities. I can completely rebuild a car engine, diagnose most mechanical problems, fix just about any collision damage, write scripts and programs in a variety of different programming languages, computer hardware installation and repair, website design, some light graphic design, 3D modeling and animation, unclogging the drain in my sink, replacing new pipes, light electrical maintenance, and so on. Do I think I'm some kind of genius? Of course not, in fact I've always viewed myself as pretty average. I simply have the will to try new things and take my life into my own hands instead of expecting everyone else to make it all better.

Everyone who isn't mentally deficient is capable of this, you simply have to start taking responsibility for your own life.
 
Wow you dorks are rediculous. I'm 18 and I frequently repair people's computers, I do what I'm asked to do and that's all. That's what I'm getting paid for, and that's what I do. It's not my business what people do on their PERSONAL computer (EMPHASIS ON THE WORD PERSONAL FOR DUMBASSES). I'm not a fucking cop with a warrant to search their PERSONAL data, I have no right to. Seriously, no wonder geeks and dorks get fucked up so much. I can't believe the majority of you guys have the audacity to blame it on the customer. You're getting paid to complete a well defined objective, do your fucking jobs pimple faced fgts .

Just my opinion of course.
 
That described me at that age, and all of my friends. We never did illegal things at our jobs, ripped people off, stole things, and so on. And I'd venture to say most people don't, whether they're that age or otherwise.
I didn't say it was justification, but rather that it is "more acceptable" in that demographic. Many are too busy/"geeky"/etc to have girlfriends, so porn is almost expected of them. (Especially true in college dorms.)
Nope when I worked there it was 14.01/hr for an in store tech, this was in the bay area so this was essentially was not enough to make ends meet. The mobile techs make about 19.58/hr with the added "perk" of the company car.(barf) Thankfully this was only a part time gig I didn't even use the employee crapticular discount (newegg FTW)

While I was working there I witnessed this first hand on several different occasions. If this happened with a doctors comp HIPPA would probably cause the end of BB.

Morals? BestBuy has none, and this translates into [most of] the workforce that supports that corporation.
Best Buy Tech: $11/hr start in NYC suburbs as of 2003, $9.44 in Philadelphia suburbs same year
CompUSA Tech: $11 and change in NYC subrbs, 2006
 
Wow you dorks are rediculous. I'm 18 and I frequently repair people's computers, I do what I'm asked to do and that's all. That's what I'm getting paid for, and that's what I do. It's not my business what people do on their PERSONAL computer (EMPHASIS ON THE WORD PERSONAL FOR DUMBASSES). I'm not a fucking cop with a warrant to search their PERSONAL data, I have no right to. Seriously, no wonder geeks and dorks get fucked up so much. I can't believe the majority of you guys have the audacity to blame it on the customer. You're getting paid to complete a well defined objective, do your fucking jobs pimple faced fgts .

Just my opinion of course.

Well I guess your opinion is wrong. If you are working on someones computer and you stumble upon child pornography it is your duty to report it. I'm not saying you have to search for it but if you see something in the course of your repairs and it doesn't look kosher you should check it out. Personally I had no problems when a tech stumbled across a stash of child porn, I'm a parent. Everytime I called the authorities to hand over a computer the only thought that ran through my head was "another asshole off the street that can't touch my kids."
 
Well I guess your opinion is wrong. If you are working on someones computer and you stumble upon child pornography it is your duty to report it. I'm not saying you have to search for it but if you see something in the course of your repairs and it doesn't look kosher you should check it out. Personally I had no problems when a tech stumbled across a stash of child porn, I'm a parent. Everytime I called the authorities to hand over a computer the only thought that ran through my head was "another asshole off the street that can't touch my kids."

I stopped reading after, "Well I guess your opinion is wrong". Thanks for the lulz.
 
Well I guess your opinion is wrong. If you are working on someones computer and you stumble upon child pornography it is your duty to report it. I'm not saying you have to search for it but if you see something in the course of your repairs and it doesn't look kosher you should check it out. Personally I had no problems when a tech stumbled across a stash of child porn, I'm a parent. Everytime I called the authorities to hand over a computer the only thought that ran through my head was "another asshole off the street that can't touch my kids."

Okay I read your post, and you lead me to believe you have child porn on your computer.I didn't mention ANYTHING about child porn, all I said was people shouldn't do anything that's not part of their objective (I.E Searching for porn, copying their shit for personal use) yet you bought it up. Covering all bases huh? ;)

:p
 
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