I work for Best Buy and the Geek Squad, for a long, long time now. Shy of a decade.

Searching through your stuff is not allowed. If someone is caught doing so; that is to say, they have no reason to be in your stuff and they're found in your stuff, they are terminated. Best Buy takes customer data privacy seriously, which is why Geek Squads have back rooms and private areas at all. Misplacing data, giving it to the wrong person, etc., all typically end in termination. It's about as much as you can expect from strangers in a corporation.

The policy for child pornography has been the same SOP for a long time; if you are exposed to it, you're to immediately step away from the unit and call the police. There's never once been mention of a reward. Never once a mention amongst employees for incentive to go look for it on a secret or private level, either.

There can be employees that fish through computers. This is true anywhere. It's a large corporation with thousands of stores employing many, many kids for cheap. They're gonna break rules like they do anywhere. You get what you pay for. There are probably going to be more now, for a time where people might assume it will always be rewarded; but I doubt the FBI can keep doing so, for risk of false positives, planted evidence and so on.

There's not yet been an official internal communication about the company's stance on the matter, yet. Though I've been so tied up thanks to the Nor'easters that there very well may have been, I'm up to my eyeballs in repairs.

I've been to the regional meetings, the incentive trips and have known many, many managers. The general consensus is that when they send you to Vegas you get to drink your ass off, as long as you sober up for the meetings enough to clap when everyone else is clapping. There's never any mention behind closed doors of working with the FBI, nor having covert people on the payroll, or whatever salacious way the media can phrase it. And these are people that can't keep it a secret that they shat themselves from drinking too much. If you believe any sort of FBI cooperation can reach any substantial size without leaking through the cracks, than you have to refer to other large-scale conspiracy theories that involve the spontaneous cooperation and silence of thousands of people. I hear 9/11 is the go-to, there.

While it's common sense that the business is built on trust and to not invade a person's privacy, I don't know the in's-and-out's of how the constitution defends your computer's rights remotely. I can only go by how when you drop your stuff off, you sign off on a paper that says we can't guarantee your data, and if we come across illegal stuff we're going to snitch on you. Computers are brought to us as-is, and potentially failing, so if someone wants to pretend we're the catalyst for loss of Intellectual Property or otherwise, we have to legally protect ourselves, or the business isn't financially advisable.

It likely surprises nobody, but the sort of folks that keep huge service chains like ours in business, for the most part, are the less-than-sharp. Everyone knows better than to rely on Geek Squad... except all the people keeping it in business. There are customers with porn on their desktop. There are customers that think it's hidden even when the folders feature preview thumbnails of contents. There are people that want to show things off. There are people that desperately want to RETAIN their porn when their hard drives are failing, and have zero shame in discussing it. There are people that don't know their porn is illegal. There are people that want to show OFF their porn to the aformentioned kids that predominantly fill the Best Buys, especially the pretty young ladies working at mobile phones. Including pictures of their own cocks, erect, like "Whoops ;) #sorrynotsorry".

So if and when we find something illegal, we're going to turn them in.

The FBI offering a reward is a poor, tone-deaf way to handle it; now there's a reason to do it beyond being a creep. ...But this is another thing true of anywhere, now. Anyone that hears the news, Geek Squad or no, will have the consideration to look for CP, now. You would be silly to think it's unique to any one location or company, going forward. They set the precedent. If you're worried about your porn, don't take it for a walk.

I normally don't speak up, as I typically know better than to get in the way of people's righteous indignation, and it's just a job and there's no love lost there, but I have something of a soft spot for SE.

The article mentions briefly that the employees who were compensated by the FBI either no longer work there or were punished. So their official line is what you said. Of course i get the same feeling hearing that line, as when Wells Fargo says all those phoney accounts were the act of rogue agents.

Speaking from experience, Best Buy will absolutely guard their own ass first, and their employee's asses third. There is no second.

Best Buy is nobody's friend.

Don't trust any corporations with over 30 employees.

Don't trust any corporations with over 30 employees.

Fixed that for you

Or maybe don't trust corporations founded before 1988?

I have no doubt of you being truthful of your experience, but the documents released seem to indicate there are things going on above your pay grade.

Don't be silly.

Come stop by my store, I'll set you up with a nice 20% off coupon any future service.

Really? That would be HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!

rezties,*ahem*

So, if they come across child porn they’re supposed to ignore it?

Lets say instead of geek squad the feds teamed up with a maid cleaning services. If they find child porn and report it they get $500 bucks. That kind of incentive changes the kind of treatment you get, and i don't mean you as in Jimmy Saville. Every customer now is getting their house tossed for the $500 payday.

Shit, if that's legal, then the Feds should be dangling that to plumbers, dog walkers, cable guys, $500 is $500. Shit, make an App. That's a great future we can live in now, because every opportunity i have to be in someone elses home I can just use my smartphone and I-Stasi app to turn people in for; childporn, bootleg videos, harboring illegal immigrants, possible unsecured weapons, & home remodeling done without a permit. It's not fascist though, since I'm not an employee of law enforcement. I fill out a 1099. And like Amway, or Mary Kay chances are i just make my money using my friends and family.

I think its wrong to recruit civilians to get around due process. Geek squad advertises one suite of services. Their employees are financially incentivized and trained to go beyond that. They are asked to go on fishing expeditions. Of course its much more palatable when you wrap it up as catching sexual predators. That of course doesn't touch upon everyone else who isn't committing a crime. What standard are these technicians being held to since their own company disavows this activity when its discovered? Its not as if the Intelligence community hasn't abused their spying powers in the past https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/politics/nsa-snooping/index.html . Now though your not even pretending to care about oversight, because its someone elses problem. Its the kid who gets shitcanned for doing what he was asked. In the meanwhile a host of miniature Fappenings are in the making because not only does Thinkgeek install that new Blueray player for you, but they'll run forensic software and who knows what else to see what you have tucked in there. Shoot, i hope there aren't pics of the kids vacationing at myrtle beach on there. It will take another think geek employee searching the firsts ones computer to unearth that treasure trove.

No one is arguing for the pedophiles, and its kinda bullshit to try to make this soley about that. Its about invasion of privacy, as demonstrated by the behavior of Best Buy and the FBI when they got caught. Its the same conversation we would have if landlords were trained and asked by the government to search your home for links to Al Qaeda when they're supposed to be fixing a broken stove. Sure they catch a guy or two with a flag and maps of the local airport. But mostly you just get people creeping on their neighbors.

If this didn't stink, they would be upfront about it, or they would simply empower the actual police to run the scans. Get your comp maintained, and surrender your data storage for inspection. What advantage does having a third party like geek squad doing the snooping do besides circumvent the law and maintain secrecy?

Heres the EFF's argument.

It doesn't have the same impact as NO COLLUSION, or think of the children. Its just a dry article laying out the case.

This is a shitty hill to die on. Its unfortunate the FBI picked the terrain.

Don't call me a nuance. You're a nuance, nuance.

I for one welcome unconstitutional searches because it always makes us safer. /s

Best Buy and the FBI say the searches aren't unconstitutional.

I would say that too, if I were them. I am not them, however.




Or am I?

You were Best Buy and the FBI all along, ubie.

Civilians can’t unconstitutionally search you because they don’t have the authority to search you.

If you invite someone into your house (or into your computer), and they see an illegal activity, they have a duty to report you. Maybe they do and maybe they don’t. Sometimes, depending on the GRAVITY OF THE ACTIVITY, law enforcement will incentivize them to do the right thing.

YOU granted access.

You also DO NOT have the right to privacy of ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES.

Also, if you think you’re going to get “informant payouts” for turning in jay-walkers, weed smokers, or that guy selling bootleg dvd’s... think again.