Peek Squad: Computer Techs Stealing Porn, Personal Files

by Jordan Yerman | July 6, 2007 at 07:16 am
1673 views | 7 Recommendations | 1 comment

Photos

DEFACTO in action (photo credit: USC)

DEFACTO in action (photo credit: USC)

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uploaded by Jordan Yerman

This is something that I always wondered about. I used to work at a computer service center, though I preferred not to know what was on my customers' machines. For some, though, the temptation proved too great, and it would seem that a systemic culture of privacy-abuse has evolved in one of North America's largest tech chain stores. Consumer advocates at Consumerist staged a massive sting operation

To investigate claims by current and former Geek Squad techies (see "The 10 Page Geek Squad Confession - "Stealing Customers' Nudie Pics Was An Easter Egg Hunt"), we loaded a computer with porn and rigged it to make a video of itself. We captured every cursor movement, every program opened, every file accessed. Everything that the user saw and did, we recorded.

We took it to around a dozen Best Buy Geek Squads and asked them to perform simple tasks, like installing iTunes. Most places were fine, sometimes doing the job right on the counter, sometimes even for free.

Then we caught one well-seasoned Geek Squad Agent copying personal and pornographic images and video from our computer to his company-issued thumb drive (see video above, or the logfiles).

Reached for comment, Geek Squad CEO Robert Stephens expressed desire to launch an internal investigation and said, "If this is true, it's an isolated incident and grounds for termination of the Agent involved."

This is not just an isolated incident, according to reports from Geek Squad insiders alleging that Geek Squad techs are stealing porn, images, and music from customer's computers in California, Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere. Our sources say that some Geek Squad locations have a common computer set up where everyone dumps their plunder to share with the other technicians.

Often I would find a customer's desktop cluttered with files glaringly
marked "personal", "private", or even "porn"; sure, I didn't open them, but I don't work in the industry anymore! That sort of careless
housekeeping makes the work of a data thief all too easy.Remember: when you check your machine into service, you put your digital life in the hands of a stranger. Be aware of what's accessible on your hard drive in the event of  theft or damage. 

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ricknight

jordan, now I'm glad I support my own computers -> Good stuff.

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