Best Buy's Geek Squad Shares Personal Info with FBI   
   Posted on Sunday the 11th of March 2018, by Alice Greene : Staff Writer   
       
       
   Geek Squad accused of violating 4th Amendment , illegal search and seizure   
   Geek Squad accused of violating 4th Amendment , illegal search and seizure   
       
   Documents obtained by the nonprofit digital rights group Electronic Frontier   
   Foundation (EFF) confirm that Best Buy's Geek Squad has been sharing   
   information with the FBI without consumers' permission for at least 10 years.   
       
   "We think the FBI's use of Best Buy Geek Squad employees to search people's   
   computers without a warrant threatens to circumvent people's constitutional   
   rights," wrote the EFF. "That's why we filed an FOIA lawsuit.against the FBI   
   seeking records about the extent to which it directs and trains Best Buy   
   employees to conduct warrantless searches of people's devices."   
       
   Here's how it works: you bring your computer to Best Buy to have it fixed. A   
   Geek Squad employee finds something illegal (such as child pornography) and   
   calls in the FBI to take a look. Law enforcement officials ask for a warrant.   
       
   This might sound like a good thing, especially if you don't have anything   
   illegal on your computer, but Geek Squad's behavior represents a clear   
   violation of The Fourth Amendment.   
       
   In addition, Geek Squad employees have been accused of stealing pornography   
   from customers' computers and searching hard drives for personal nude photos.   
       
   Records released to the EFF confirm one employee received $500 for sharing   
   information with the FBI and show that members of the agency's Cyber Working   
   Group held a meeting at a Best Buy computer repair shop in Kentucky.   
       
   The relationship between Best Buy and the FBI was exposed last year during the   
   case of Mark Rettenmaier, a California doctor who was charged with possession   
   of child pornography. The pornography was found after he took his computer to   
   Best Buy to be repaired.   
       
   "Their relationship is so cozy and so extensive that it turns searches by Best   
   Buy into government searches," argues James Riddet, the attorney who defended   
   Rettenmaier. "If they're going to set up that network between Best Buy   
   supervisors and FBI agents, you run the risk that Best Buy is a branch of the   
   FBI."   
       
   Charges against Rettenmaier were dropped after it was discovered that Best Buy   
   employees found the child pornography on a part of the hard drive that stores   
   deleted material. This area is inaccessible without special tools - meaning   
   that Geek Squad employees had been searching for illegal content.   
       
   Speaking to NPR, Best Buy said it had a "moral.and legal obligation" to report   
   child pornography to law enforcement but that its employees are not allowed to   
   look at "anything other than what is necessary to solve the customer's   
   problem." Geek Squad employees "inadvertently" find child pornography nearly   
   100 times every year.   
       
   Best Buy noted that it does not encourage employees to accept money from the   
   FBI and has fired at least three employees for doing so.   
       
   Meanwhile, the EFF is gearing up to fight the FBI in court this spring to   
   obtain more information.   
       
   "The FBI's Geek Squad informants should plainly qualify as agents of the   
   government," wrote the EFF. "The records disclosed thus far indicate that FBI   
   agents paid Geek Squad informants to conduct these wide-ranging searches of   
   customers' devices, suggesting that officials both knew about the searches and   
   directed the informants to conduct them. The payments Geek Squad informants   
   received also demonstrate that they conducted the searches with the intent to   
   assist the FBI."   
       
   When asked, the FBI refused to state whether it had similar relationships with   
   other computer repair companies.   
       
   Editor's note: If you are repairing a computer, why are you searching through   
   personal information? You don't need to do that to find viruses, or restore   
   information. With the financial incentives, every Geek Squad employee will be   
   snooping through your drive. And then why not plant information so you can get   
   paid?   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- Klaatu barada Nickto   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)