Geek Squad Employee Was Paid FBI Informant

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At this point this is all defense attorney allegations versus repeated denials from the FBI but, what isn't in dispute, this Geek Squad employee got paid for turning this guy in to the authorities for having suspicious content on his hard drive.

A doctor in California claims that there are real secret agents in the Geek Squad, and that a paid FBI informant turned him in after finding suspicious material on his hard drive in 2012. While the FBI doesn’t deny that the Geek Squad employee did contact them about the contents of the defendant’s hard drive and that they did pay him, the Bureau insists that it didn’t employ informants working in the Geek Squad repair center to comb users’ computers for porn.
 
Buy More.
Worst Buy.

Those are two I hear a lot. I am sure there are more. :LOL:
 
Never have to worry about this, since I would never let any one work on any system I own.
Besides, I know far more than any Geek Squad employee :p
 
If you have naughty stuff on your computer maybe you shouldn't take it to Best Buy. Or anywhere. Why don't these morons use external storage?
 
I can honestly say I don't work for the FBI, but if I find kiddy porn on your PC while working on it. I will be turning your ass over to them. I've unfortunately had to do this once in my life already. The unfortunate part being me being exposed to that shit.
 
Dekoth-E-, most definitely. I would turn that person in in a heartbeat. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying that you would have to be extremely stupid to take a computer in that had that crap on it. But it happens all the time.
 
Wyodiver said:
Dekoth-E-, most definitely. I would turn that person in in a heartbeat. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying that you would have to be extremely stupid to take a computer in that had that crap on it. But it happens all the time.
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Stupid people do stupid things and get caught. Smart people dont get caught, but they are also smart enough not to try it in the first place. I could probably execute a successful bank robbery if I wanted, but I dont want to, so I wont.
 
In Oklahoma, if a computer repair person finds child porn during the repair, they are required to report it to law enforcement or face charges themselves. No requirement to search for, just report if found.
 
The amount of stuff people keep right on their desktop.

I once had to data recover an external hard drive fro ma Porno/nudity Photographer. all pre edit pictures
 
Wyodiver said:
Dekoth-E-, most definitely. I would turn that person in in a heartbeat. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying that you would have to be extremely stupid to take a computer in that had that crap on it. But it happens all the time.
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They stick out like a sore thumb too. I always liked fucking with them, They always had some excuse as to why they have to be there with the system while you repair it, like they work for the state and it can't leave their possession, or they want to learn. Start asking more questions, or start clicking on random folders while they are watching and it's almost like they are having a heart attack.

I never ran into CP directly, but I think the worst I saw was a guy getting DP'd while in a S&M getup. Straight on the desktop, on a mac so the photo was the icon. I just played like I never saw it.
 
I was suspicious when he wasn't wearing his GS shirt and had a cordless drill.
 
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nysmo said:
Stupid people do stupid things and get caught. Smart people dont get caught, but they are also smart enough not to try it in the first place. I could probably execute a successful bank robbery if I wanted, but I dont want to, so I wont.
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It's much easier to commit one single instance of a crime and get away with it than a hundred. Even the best and brightest make mistakes or have random chance work against them. Robbing a bank once successfully is one thing. Making it a successful career is something else.
 
Dead Parrot said:
In Oklahoma, if a computer repair person finds child porn during the repair, they are required to report it to law enforcement or face charges themselves. No requirement to search for, just report if found.
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Although at first that law seems good, it seems to me that it puts the employee in a tough position. If you get flagged for not finding CP at a later date, how do you prove you didn't find it? It's very hard (nearly impossible) to prove a negative.

Wouldn't this encourage Geek Squad-type places to search for CP in order to not worry about later getting rounded up by the FBI?
 
heatlesssun said:
It's much easier to commit one single instance of a crime and get away with it than a hundred. Even the best and brightest make mistakes or have random chance work against them. Robbing a bank once successfully is one thing. Making it a successful career is something else.
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So ... how much did you bank
 
Sunday night I reported a Twitter account that was 90% prepubescent girls in underwear. The other 10% was American actresses so I stumbled upon it from Google's reverse image search. I couldn't believe it had over 600 followers and yet was operating completely in the open until I reported it.
 
DedEmbryonicCe11 said:
Sunday night I reported a Twitter account that was 90% prepubescent girls in underwear. The other 10% was American actresses so I stumbled upon it from Google's reverse image search. I couldn't believe it had over 600 followers and yet was operating completely in the open until I reported it.
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Don't think that qualifies as kiddie porn (though I don't know what hte pics looked like). I've always assumed kiddie porn is just like adult porn, except with kids instead of adults.
 
DedEmbryonicCe11 said:
Sunday night I reported a Twitter account that was 90% prepubescent girls in underwear. The other 10% was American actresses so I stumbled upon it from Google's reverse image search. I couldn't believe it had over 600 followers and yet was operating completely in the open until I reported it.
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Where there's one sick fuck, there's six hundred more.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I can honestly say I don't work for the FBI, but if I find kiddy porn on your PC while working on it. I will be turning your ass over to them. I've unfortunately had to do this once in my life already. The unfortunate part being me being exposed to that shit.
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What are you doing snooping people's files anyway? How does fixing someone's computer require you to go looking in private folders? Sounds like you comp techs are doing things with peoples computers you shouldn't be.
 
rezerekted said:
What are you doing snooping people's files anyway? How does fixing someone's computer require you to go looking in private folders? Sounds like you comp techs are doing things with peoples computers you shouldn't be.
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I'm not and I actively avoid going into picture folders etc. Unfortunately many of these idiots just leave it sitting out on the desktop. The other instance is when the AV scan comes back and I'm scanning through the list of detections. Anytime it comes back with an unusual result, I check the folder that result came from to ensure it isn't a false positive and deleting something important.
 
rezerekted said:
What are you doing snooping people's files anyway? How does fixing someone's computer require you to go looking in private folders? Sounds like you comp techs are doing things with peoples computers you shouldn't be.
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You sometimes need to check the download folder to remove the files that started an infection.
 
rezerekted said:
What are you doing snooping people's files anyway? How does fixing someone's computer require you to go looking in private folders? Sounds like you comp techs are doing things with peoples computers you shouldn't be.
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I never did. But, if it comes up in a scan, or they are out in the open (with large icons showing the contents of the folder or file), it's obvious. I never go looking for files or information. None of my business. It's not my information. But, if it's there and out in the open, then it's their problem they didn't hide it.

When you find it, you say something. And, damn does it suck. Not for the guy getting in trouble. You want to give the laptop back to the user through their anus while the screen is open.
 
DedEmbryonicCe11 said:
Sunday night I reported a Twitter account that was 90% prepubescent girls in underwear. The other 10% was American actresses so I stumbled upon it from Google's reverse image search. I couldn't believe it had over 600 followers and yet was operating completely in the open until I reported it.
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Although probably not the most tasteful image, don't they actually have to be naked to be considered CP? If being in underwear is CP, then even on this forum there are a lot of questionable pictures from the whole jailbait meme images.
 
Xrave said:
Although probably not the most tasteful image, don't they actually have to be naked to be considered CP? If being in underwear is CP, then even on this forum there are a lot of questionable pictures from the whole jailbait meme images.
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I wonder where that line is drawn. I wonder if someone here knows the law enough to know for sure. Pretty creepy stuff, for sure.

Of course, have you seen some of those "barely legal" things? They are technically of age, but some 18-22 year olds look 12-14. :/
 
Wyodiver said:
If you have naughty stuff on your computer maybe you shouldn't take it to Best Buy. Or anywhere. Why don't these morons use external storage?
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I worked at Best Buy in 1999 through early 2000 before the Geek Squad acquisition. I also worked at Comp USA prior to that. I worked on a lot of customer computers in those years and I can't tell you how much porn, illegal music, movies, pirated games and other things we found on customer drives. Some of the technicians would go through the drives looking for things while other times customers would have us back up the data and you couldn't help but look at some of it. In fact we had one guy pay us by the hour to back up his porn collection specifically. This was back when CD writers were finally reliable enough, but the media still somewhat expensive. We took over 6 hours backing up this guy's smut collection.

Sadly, no FBI payroll for me.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I never did. But, if it comes up in a scan, or they are out in the open (with large icons showing the contents of the folder or file), it's obvious. I never go looking for files or information. None of my business. It's not my information. But, if it's there and out in the open, then it's their problem they didn't hide it.

When you find it, you say something. And, damn does it suck. Not for the guy getting in trouble. You want to give the laptop back to the user through their anus while the screen is open.
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OK, perhaps you don't but there have been numerous cases proving that some techies do snoop where their nose does not belong. I am my own techie so no problem for me but snooping people's files is like looking through a girls pantie drawer, IMO.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I wonder where that line is drawn. I wonder if someone here knows the law enough to know for sure. Pretty creepy stuff, for sure.

Of course, have you seen some of those "barely legal" things? They are technically of age, but some 18-22 year olds look 12-14. :/
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Well, I remember years ago seeing a photo book in a book store of young girls in underwear so it is legal here. It is classified as art and not porn. "Here" being Canada.
 
Xrave said:
Although at first that law seems good, it seems to me that it puts the employee in a tough position. If you get flagged for not finding CP at a later date, how do you prove you didn't find it? It's very hard (nearly impossible) to prove a negative.
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why should you? You don't have to prove anything
 
Work for CompUSA as a technician back in the day. We actually DID get visited by an FBI "field agent". A woman. She handed her card to our manager and simply asked if we found anything illegal (child porn), we were to contact her. No pay roll or even a promise of reward. She was dressed like a customer, wouldn't have even known if I wasn't introduced. I expecting a sharp suit, dark sunglasses, ear wig...nope.
 
rezerekted said:
Well, I remember years ago seeing a photo book in a book store of young girls in underwear so it is legal here. It is classified as art and not porn. "Here" being Canada.
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Same in the U.S. Even underage nudity isn't necessarily porn
Nirvana-Nevermind-Album-Cover.jpg


Or this one (story here: The Young Girl Featured On The “Blind Faith” Album Cover)
1969_BlindFaith.jpg.scaled500.jpg
 
Xrave said:
Although at first that law seems good, it seems to me that it puts the employee in a tough position. If you get flagged for not finding CP at a later date, how do you prove you didn't find it? It's very hard (nearly impossible) to prove a negative.

Wouldn't this encourage Geek Squad-type places to search for CP in order to not worry about later getting rounded up by the FBI?
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I do understand what you are saying, but you are drifting a little in your example.

He said "In Oklahoma", Federal Agents do not generally concern themselves with State Laws.

You don't have to prove that you didn't find it. They have to prove that you did. They have to show the DA they have a case, the DA has to file charges, then they have to prove it to a jury. And since the DA has to have some sort of evidence to think you found the material on the computer then I am thinking that either they have a witness, who could be lying, or he is so ignorant about technology that he just thinks their is no way you could work on a computer and not know everything that's on it.

It's not impossible, but having this come true for you might be tougher than winning the lottery.

I see it as the difference between someone winning the lottery and me buying tickets hoping to win. They two just aren't the same thing are they.
 
MavericK said:
It becomes your business if it's illegal and you're required by law to report it in your particular region.
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Maverick is right.

It's also usually against the law to happen across a traffic accident and not stop and try to render aid unless it's obvious that there is already enough people helping out. You might not have been actually involved in the accident, you have nothing really at all to do with it and might not have been a witness to it. But you roll on buy a fresh accident and you are the first person to come by and you don't stop to help, let someone there report your license plate number or a cop arriving see you blow on buy without stopping and you will probably have a very bad day coming up.

It doesn't need to be your business for you to have a legal responsibility to act.
 
rezerekted said:
What are you doing snooping people's files anyway? How does fixing someone's computer require you to go looking in private folders? Sounds like you comp techs are doing things with peoples computers you shouldn't be.
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Although you are correct, there are some PC techs that snoop into people's stuff. People are people and assholes abound.

But at the same time, some people just do stupid things and their favorite pic could be their wallpaper or whatever.

What's more, sometimes while working on someones system you need to do something risky or that will require installation of the OS and you want to save the person's data. that means you need to look for their stuff and back it up before you nuke it all. If during that process you stumble on something that looks obviously wrong then it is what it is. How different is that from leaving incrimination evidence of a crime on your bed while the plumber is over fixing a water leak?
 
lcpiper said:
I do understand what you are saying, but you are drifting a little in your example.

He said "In Oklahoma", Federal Agents do not generally concern themselves with State Laws.

You don't have to prove that you didn't find it. They have to prove that you did. They have to show the DA they have a case, the DA has to file charges, then they have to prove it to a jury. And since the DA has to have some sort of evidence to think you found the material on the computer then I am thinking that either they have a witness, who could be lying, or he is so ignorant about technology that he just thinks their is no way you could work on a computer and not know everything that's on it.

It's not impossible, but having this come true for you might be tougher than winning the lottery.

I see it as the difference between someone winning the lottery and me buying tickets hoping to win. They two just aren't the same thing are they.
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Guess it depends on the lottery. I think you're far more likely to get arrested for not reporting child porn than you are to win Lotto's big prize, but both are unlikely.

As for the witness, it seems like if a witness saw it and reported you, you could argue, "John said he was going to report it, so I didn't do anything. He did report it, so what's the problem."

Of course I don't know the law, so maybe that defense sucks, but honestly, I think most people are going to turn someone in if they find a "Dad screwing a 9 year old" video/picture file.
 
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