Do yourself a favor, if you haven't already.
Buy an external hard-drive for sensitive material and keep it there so if your computer crashes it won't be on the computer itself!

The story is below.
-Isa


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Geek Squad lawsuit opens up with employee confession
By Mark Raby
Monday, May 05, 2008 10:54

Minneapolis (MN) - As a high-profile lawsuit against Best Buy's Geek Squad technical support service gets ready for court, a new employee confession has come through detailing one of the company's more questionable policies.

The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota, claims that when a computer comes into a Geek Squad center, the employees comb through personal files and sometimes copy lewd or other content over to their own personal flash drive.

According to Minneapolis newspaper The Star Tribune, the lawsuit was filed quickly after an anonymous employee sent a letter to online consumer advocate site The Consumerist. In the letter, the employee wrote, "If you have any interesting pictures of yourself or others on your computer, then they -- will -- be -- found."

Geek Squad says it takes "reasonable precautions to protect against the loss, misuse and unauthorized access of your personal information."

Geek Squad, which is the self-claimed largest computer support company in the country, downplayed the event by saying it was an isolated incident. However, a new employee has come forward confessing a similar action.

William Giffels came forward and said he sought out revealing pictures of a customer who brought in a computer for repairs. He copied the pictures to his flash drive, and then were copied to multiple CDs used in the Geek Squad department of the store.

"It was dumb, and I regret that lapse in judgment. I have placed Best Buy in a precarious position, both legally and 'reputationally,'" said Giffels. Several other people claiming to be Geek Squad employees have quietly admitted to doing the same kind of thing.

Best Buy says it has increased the number of audits it conducts at its Geek Squad locations, but advocates suggest the store needs to completely overhaul its operation. "No matter what investigative protocol Best Buy uses, someone is going to find a way around it," said Consumerist editor Ben Popken to the Star Tribune.

With regard to controversy, though, Best Buy remains defensive. "Our agents only see the data they need to," said Best Buy spokesperson Paula Baldwin.



Source: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37269/118/

The article focuses on Geek Squad, but it's not as if they're the only ones doing things like that. All the techs at the Gateway repair center I used to work at did that kind of thing....and anywhere else you can take your computer in for repair, they're likely snooping through your personal files as well. If a person takes their computer in for repairs honestly believing that any information on their computer might NOT be accessed....well...I'll just say, they're way too naive or trusting.

Quote by Isadoriana

Do yourself a favor, if you haven't already. Buy an external hard-drive for sensitive material and keep it there so if your computer crashes it won't be on the computer itself! The story is below. -Isa --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Geek Squad lawsuit opens up with employee confession By Mark Raby Monday, May 05, 2008 10:54 Minneapolis (MN) - As a high-profile lawsuit against Best Buy's Geek Squad technical support service gets ready for court, a new employee confession has come through detailing one of the company's more questionable policies. The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota, claims that when a computer comes into a Geek Squad center, the employees comb through personal files and sometimes copy lewd or other content over to their own personal flash drive. According to Minneapolis newspaper The Star Tribune, the lawsuit was filed quickly after an anonymous employee sent a letter to online consumer advocate site The Consumerist. In the letter, the employee wrote, "If you have any interesting pictures of yourself or others on your computer, then they -- will -- be -- found." Geek Squad says it takes "reasonable precautions to protect against the loss, misuse and unauthorized access of your personal information." Geek Squad, which is the self-claimed largest computer support company in the country, downplayed the event by saying it was an isolated incident. However, a new employee has come forward confessing a similar action. William Giffels came forward and said he sought out revealing pictures of a customer who brought in a computer for repairs. He copied the pictures to his flash drive, and then were copied to multiple CDs used in the Geek Squad department of the store. "It was dumb, and I regret that lapse in judgment. I have placed Best Buy in a precarious position, both legally and 'reputationally,'" said Giffels. Several other people claiming to be Geek Squad employees have quietly admitted to doing the same kind of thing. Best Buy says it has increased the number of audits it conducts at its Geek Squad locations, but advocates suggest the store needs to completely overhaul its operation. "No matter what investigative protocol Best Buy uses, someone is going to find a way around it," said Consumerist editor Ben Popken to the Star Tribune. With regard to controversy, though, Best Buy remains defensive. "Our agents only see the data they need to," said Best Buy spokesperson Paula Baldwin. Source: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37269/118/

No doubt that you're right - which is still a good reason why to keep an external hard drive around for any personal info

I wonder if there's criminal prosecution for that if they leak photos or something. I could imagine civil for the taking of info unauthorized etc.

The thing that really gripes me about geak squad is they basically wipe all info & reload & want 40$ to "save the data" for you on a $0.50 CD. but yet they have plenty of time to go snooping for nudey pics.

I hear a rather funny story about a bride getting rather hammered at her wedding and doing obscene things while under the influence. Pictures of this were taken and then published on some kind of greeting card without the bride's knowledge/consent. She was mortified and took it to court....and won. Can't use a persons likeness for commercial use without their consent.

There would be serious consequences if the files were copy written or if they were extremely personal in nature. Example: Personal nude photos being leaked can definitely get the leaker in some serious trouble. That is to say, if there is a reasonable expectation that the photos would not appear publicly, said leaker can get bitch-slapped with a lawsuit.

Most of the guys at Gateway were just adding to their private porn collections though. It's very unlikely they'd ever get caught doing that.

Quote by guy

I wonder if there's criminal prosecution for that if they leak photos or something. I could imagine civil for the taking of info unauthorized etc. The thing that really gripes me about geak squad is they basically wipe all info & reload & want 40$ to "save the data" for you on a $0.50 CD. but yet they have plenty of time to go snooping for nudey pics.

Encrypted File System is your friend...

(and it's been built into Windows for a decade)

Heh, I actually work at a Best Buy IRL. Not sure about every store, but at ours, the geeksquad is always busy, and downtime is rare, so doing stuff like this thats grounds for termination on the spot anyways would be unlikely if not impossible to pull off. That and their work areas about the size of 2 entry ways (Its small!!!), so privacy is at a minimum. I've been looking at Blueshirt nation, our best buy only private forums, and news/thoughts about it range mainly on the "Lone outcast" end rather than the "Oh yea, we do that" spectrum.

Incidents like these are more isolated. But, just like with almost every other job, people can break trust. I.E. Cops taking a bribe!

Yeah cause if i was doing that i'd admit to it on a best buy server so they could track me down quicker, fire me, & turn me over to be prosecuted lol.

Probably not a pandemic by any means, but it is certainly a good story to let people know what they could expect worse case scenario wise.