As far as I read, they did actually take the computer to multiple stores, and they happened to find the employee in question after a number of stores.

You're complaining that these guys are stealing your porn. Just be thankful they aren't stealing your credit card details or such, or using any of this new found information against you.

Further more, wasn't it Gary Glitter who got busted for having child porn on his PC when he took it into be repaired? If it wasn't it was someone similar.

I guess this goes both ways, but ultimately, it's the responsibility of the user to ensure their private data is kept safe.

If you have something to hide, hide it, it's rather embarrassing for me as a techie discovering naked pictures of you and your wife on the PC I'm trying to fix for you.

Props on no name though - it would just be a scapegoat. Let them find one themselves, then make an example. They will probably grab more than one and have a greater impact.

That would just be silly. No, you are right Ben, they should invest millions into a program to stem the 'systemic' issue that took 3 months to prove.
If only they were allowed to make an example out of the tech who stole the files, they might actually be able to do something about it.
Stupid. Hippy. Crap.
Someone does something wrong, they should be punished.
As it is, best buy and geek squad now think this site is full of it.
Me? I'm starting to side with them.

Back when I was a Best Buy black shirt though, the other techs CONSTANTLY went through customers' stuff looking for free hardcore. It was really embarassing. I would have reported it too if management weren't in on it.

If I ran a company and someone started claiming to have proof that my employees were acting unethically, of course I'd want all the info about the incident! I'd definitely want to know which of my employees were involved. If you withhold even that information, it's going to be that much easier for Best Buy to dismiss your claim.

You can claim that this is a systematic problem. All you apparently have proof of is one incident. And if you don't actually tell them all the details of that once incident, I think it's more likely they'll just dismiss your account entirely rather than (as you apparently hope) overhaul their entire company.

I happen to agree that it's systemic but come on - if you're going to publish this as the results of your test you can't pass it off as systemic if only 1 out of 12 attempts caught someone.

And keeping that guy's name secret is only protecting someone who deserves to be fired. Whether it's a systemic problem or not, I highly doubt the GS training guide says "Hey, go ahead and score all the porn you want from customers' computers".

My guess is they're told not to do this, especially with all the bad press recently, so there's no way this guy wouldn't have known he was doing something wrong. You're just fanning the flames without actually following it through to completion.

...OMPUTER SUPPORT
...GE, IT'S A RIGH...
...ULD BE EMBRAC...
...UNTIL YOU GO HOAR/HOAF/HOAP...

???

...COMPUTER SUPPORT
...GEORGE, IT'S A RIGHT
...SHOULD BE EMBRACED
...UNTIL YOU GO HOARDING MY PR0N

(seriously, does anyone know what that last word might be? it's driving me nuts! :-)

Nice.

Or you could have integrity, and resist the urge in the first place....

Um, did you not watch the video? It was not "JUST PORN" that he stole. He stole personal files. It might vary by state, but it definitely is a crime in most jurisdictions. Maybe you don't value your privacy, but most people have intimate photos they don't want shared with The Geek Squad and their friends.

Since when was "EVERYONE DOES THIS" a valid defense? Speak for yourself, I think most people don't do this, including 11 out of 12 Geek Squaders in this investigation.

I never said this was "some big deal", but that doesn't mean it should keep happening. If it doesn't interest you, skip over the post next time.

Uh, yeah. He's a CRIMINAL. He STOLE something off somebody's computer. Furthermore, he VIOLATED their PRIVACY.

He committed a CRIME. He's a CRIMINAL.

[rstephens.blogspot.com]

Have fun with it!!

After that, they can give everybody speeches and it will pack some punch.

Of course they can see the existence of the data, but they should never need to see the contents of the data. That's the difference.

Consumerist shouldn't be keeping anything it unconvers in an investigation private. It's not the name of a source, it's the name of a criminal. I can understand not posting the tech's name here, but it should definitely be turned over to BestBuy after they asked. Please reconsider.""

The "name of a criminal." Are you kidding me! The kid was just copying some porn! Get a life man. Expect that by having someone else fix your computer that your data is up for grabs. Yes, its not right but come on! Keeping your data on external media is a good practice in itself, but also comes in handy in situations like this. This kid is not a criminal. EVERYONE DOES THIS!!! Its like all you people saying... oh no! I don't rub one out every now and then... I am all high and might and would never do that! Get off your high horse you sensationalists! If you were young and could still get it up, you would too. You are only making yourself look like an idiot by making such a big deal out of this.
If the kid had taken some financial data or such, I could see this being an issue, but IT WAS JUST PORN!
Lesson learned: (1.)Don't leave your sensitive data on your machine when you are taking it to a repair man.
(2.) If you thought this was some big deal...GET A LIFE!!!

Customer: So what did you find out about my computer?
Geek: Yer daughter is hawt and you need a better webcam.

That's why I service my own computer.

I just love all the new euphemisms for masturbation.

I am in IT, there's simply no way to fix someone's Windows PC without opening up an explorer window and looking around for malicious files in all the usual places. They simply cannot do their jobs without looking at customer data, period.

Should a tech be permanently copying your data to a drive for personal use? No. But should he be able to make copies of it for backup (say, to make an image and install a new HD)? Absolutely. Is there a way to stop one and not the other? No.

Some new craftily worded fine print will cover this sort of stuff somehow.

Geek Squad Member(with sh*t face grin): "Pron, you say? No problemo. I'll just back it up to my trusty thumb drive. "

@bluemeep: Robert Stephens made it clear that there will be no corporate mandate if he gets the name. He sees it as an isolated problem. If Consumerist gives them the name that person gets fired and nothing else will happen. Making Geek Squad do the investigation themselves from square one may be the only way to get them to look at all of their employees.

On the other hand, since they feel it's an isolated incident maybe they won't do anything at all.

How do we really know that they "all" do it? They should be given the guys name. Or at least you should go in a few more times to see if it is really a system wide issue.

I say give up the name. Even if there's suddenly a corporate mandate of "Stop copying customer's nudie pics and MP3s" I can guarantee you that most of the employees are going to laugh it off unless there are obvious consequences. Making it known that people are getting canned for behavior like that is going to show them that.

Would they all stop? Doubtful. I'm sure it would scare at least a few of them straight, though.

I can do most of my own computer troubleshooting and used to work in tech support and I can tell you there were multiple times where it was just impossible to avoid your porn cache. You may think you have it well hidden, but likely you don't.

I had a customer who stored his porn in multiple locations on his second installed Hard Drive. We'd run a defrag analysis on his HDD and see that it was full. When our systems had full HDD's they performed poorly and then content had to be deleted or moved. It was up to US to ID the large files to recommend to move. So AVI's and large caches of MP3's and JPG's stay hidden for about as long as it takes to hit the search key.

You want that stuff out of prying eyes? Keep it on an external drive, and on a drive you never let into anyone else's hands.

That and get to know your local techs, or make friends with techs in the family. Tech friends and family will be less tempted to dig around.

No one wants to see their aunt or grandmother in compromising positions. Ever since I saw what weird shit my Dad downloaded off of Usenet one time, I never ever poke around on his system anymore.

And the whole porno stealing thing happens at EVERY computer repair. From HP/IBM/SONY/ALIENWARE/Geek Squad to smaller shops as well. Honestly it will probably never change. There is no way to stop it. Truth is bad, but nothing can be done.

You are right that a system needs to be put in place to address the issue at large, but there is no reason that part of that should not be making an example out of someone breaking company policy.

I fail to see what will be gained by hiding his identity. He cannot be a scapegoat because his action was wrong. He can, however, be fired and hopefully with enough noise to perhaps help to change that "systematic" problem.

Not 1 out of 12, possibly even lower of a percentage if they would have spent another 3 months on this wild goose chase.

Regardless, this blog is using the big name of Geek Squad to try and drum up some hits when really, all they discovered is that 1 out of 12 men like to look at porn, even if it isn't theirs. Bravo, great journalism there...

Why not make another 3 month expose on how 1 out of 12 auto mechanics looked at your personal pictures that you left on the passenger's seat.

Perhaps it will scare the person(s) who did it as their belly will flip with guilt, this stopping them from doing it again. I doubt it though.......

Anyway, good job on catching them in the first place.

He should be fired, so help Best Buy accomplish this. I assume it wont be too hard to piece the various evidence together and slowly narrow down the tech, but still, you're sitting on the evidence for no apparent reason.

Techs need to know what will happen, so let him be made an example of. At the same time, Best Buy, if they felt like actually correcting the problem, could also investigate the frequency of these events in other stores. I don't see what protecting this tech is serving, so you can childishly hold it over their head? It's obviously something Best Buy needs to confront, but it's also NOT a company policy, and while they might have turned a blind eye, they will also be in a reactionary position with matters like these. The individuals are the problem, show them the consequences, and work toward actual improvement.

What response did you expect from Best Buy?

"Well Ben, obviously we know that the general public places great faith in the tech industry when they hand over their computers to us, and we know that it's been a long standing problem inside computer repair that the technicians tend to look places that people think they shouldn't and even copy files they shouldn't. We're trying to stop it, but we feel there's nothing that can be done."

Yea.. right. The answer is, was, and always will be, I need the name of the agent and we need to address it. There is no other response. Are you expecting him to say that because 1 in 10 (and some me too's from comments) have admitted to performing this act that he is going to shut down Geek Squad?

What is your ultimate goal here? Do you have a goal are is it merely to add to malcontents who do nothing more than bellyache about what is wrong with this world but would rather sit back, rip through a six pack and smoke up while watching reruns of Adult Swim?

As far as solving the problem... educate consumers. Stupid people have been taken advantage of throughout history, it's not going to change. From used cars, to mechanics, to tech support, and so on down the line, if you don't know any better then prepare to be screwed.

Give him the name, let the guy get fired, and then post about it so all the other loser Geek Squad kiddies can realize that there are people who might perform this same action on their computer and catch them up to no good as well. The only thing that keeps people from performing an unwanted action is the fear of retribution should they be caught.

The way to get this across to Bestbuy would be to sting em twice more. Three different techs from three different stores all doing the same crime, might make em look harder at the problem

Oh and CONGRATS to Sir Dumbfuk of rTardsville from Geeksquad. Isolated incident? Any PR monkey with half a brain would make every assurance that they would examine the problem companywide (even if they truely weren't going to). The Isolated Incident route is for stuff like a McJobbie selling hash through the drivethru.

One out of 12 does not necessarily show a systemic problem, but Ben's email shows Consumerist's lack of journalistic ethics...

theoretically, the only way to bypass the logging would be to stop the process in task manager, but i believe you could key the log to report a stop also.

But I hope they dont do that. Would hate to be the one dude who took the Consumerist-bait. Probably developing a fever at the moment.

I think you guys have this whole thing entirely confused. It's like going after McDonalds because people are fat. You're making some bigger deal about people being stupid and not keeping private things private, and acting like Geek Squad is doing something amazingly unique in the world.

They're not. Nothing written here is going to change a damn thing, and it's ultimately not up to BestBuy, GeekSquad, Wal-Mart or Home Depot to educate consumers on the idea that nothing on their computer is private information, especially when you put it into the hands of a 3rd party, which in my "not a lawyer" opinion, pretty much invalidates your right to privacy.

I know that we as ignorant consumers with problems want to believe that our computer is a sanctuary for data, and a place where we can just put whatever sensitive information we want in an unencrypted state right on the desktop... but at some point reality has to intercede and say "hey guy, your computer is not a fortress of solitude for your information" and be responsible consumers, rather than blame others for their lack of morals.

So BestBuy fires this guy. And another guy. And another guy after that. Guess what? Moms are pumping out the BestBuy Class of 2027 Geek Squad Employees -right now- and they'll still want to look at your boobs, and they'll still want to copy your porn even after the guy who gets fired tomorrow is 20 years older and has a much better paying job doing something that doesn't make him want to stab himself in the face repeatedly due to customers who know nothing about the $2000 piece of computer hardwware they operate on a daily basis. You're pointing out an endemic moral failure in humanity, not Geek Squad hiring practices.

So, you've proven that 1 in 10 random people of a small sample happens to be a person who doesn't agree with your morals and privacy standards when you pass off the computer to a 3rd party. Congrats. You're making yourselves look bad in the process. It seems like you just want some excuse to rail against bestbuy and stir up some trouble on this issue, because you're twisting things around almost like Michael Moore when you push the angle.

However, there's no systematic way to stop this. Well, there is...constant supervision, or at least the threat there-of. But that may not be economically viable. Actually, a tool, installed by the supervisor before the tech gets it that records everything for quality purposes would probably work.

But what if they forget to remove the tool? Eeek. Lawsuit city.

To prove systemic violations you probably should have set the honey pot up at several different stores in several different cities. As it is, all that will happen is there'll be a company-wide crack-down and possibly one teenage geek will lose his relatively low-level job.

It's profoundly disappointing that Robert Stephens is apparently taking the "it's one guy, let's root him out, and the problem is solved" approach. I view this as shallow thinking.

You get it, many of your readers get it. But the CEO doesn't get it. The world is crazy sometimes.

It's not about "the one guy." It's about the system.

It's not about the guy Vinny Ferrari happened to call.

It's not about the particular Jiffy Lube guys who were subject to a sting that caught them charging for services they didn't perform (to meet a sales "budget" for each customer, imposed by the company).

It's not about the one Home Depot remodeling franchisee who got caught being incredibly sloppy.

What is it about, in this case? I would guess it's about the general vulnerability of customers in taking computers in for repair, and Geek Squad simultaneously lacking a culture that consistently lives by the Golden Rule, where employees would be extremely careful to not exploit customers and their vulnerabilities -- where snooping would be unthinkable. These are systemic matters.

Robert: I hope you'll read some books on basic systems theory (e.g., Churchman). And study Trader Joe's. Their employees are consistently empathic to customers. While it's a highly profitable company with a minimum of gimmicks, no upselling, and essentially no exploitation or either consumers or employees.

Dear Robert,
please note the proof you have requested on our internationally known site, consumerist.com; where you will find ironic video footage, as well as a log file, and high resolution images. Also note, we borrowed your daughters computer to do theses tests with.

Sincerely,
the consumerist.

Systemic. No need to isolate the individual here so they can be scapegoated. BRAVO!

I'd love to do the same to my laptop, take it in and see what they do with my files.

Of course the GS employee should be fired, along with all the other employees who do the same...But giving corporate the name of this particular employee will only give them a scapegoat to sweep the issue under the rug.

"Thanks Geek Squad, hope you enjoy it as much as I did!"

YOU BEAT ME TOO IT.

I was just Imagining him and Pussy shaking down the geek squad for stealing Meadow's photos...

We should write this stuff...

More ball-busting please.

[www.tian.cc]