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Recently unsealed records reveal a much more extensive secret relationship than previously known between the FBI and Best Buy's Geek Squad, including evidence the agency trained company technicians on law-enforcement operational tactics, shared lists of targeted citizens and, to covertly increase surveillance of the public, encouraged searches of computers even when unrelated to a customer's request for repairs.
To sidestep the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against warrantless invasions of private property, federal prosecutors and FBI officials have argued that Geek Squad employees accidentally find and report, for example, potential child pornography on customers' computers without any prodding by the government. Assistant United States Attorney M. Anthony Brown last year labeled allegations of a hidden partnership as "wild speculation." But more than a dozen summaries of FBI memoranda filed inside Orange County's Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse this month in USA v. Mark Rettenmaier contradict the official line.
One agency communication about Geek Squad supervisor Justin Meade noted, "Agent assignments have been reviewed and are appropriate for operation of this source," that the paid informant "continues to provide valuable information on [child pornography] matters" and has "value due to his unique or potential access to FBI priority targets or intelligence responsive to FBI national and/or local collection."
Other records show how Meade's job gave him "excellent and frequent" access for "several years" to computers belonging to unwitting Best Buy customers, though agents considered him "underutilized" and wanted him "tasked" to search devices "on a more consistent basis."
Step 1: Put child porn on target's computer
Step 2: Report target to FBI
Step 3: Collect $500 bounty
Profit!!!
Previously on SoylentNews: Cooperation Alleged Between Best Buy and the FBI
(Score: 2) by art guerrilla on Sunday March 12 2017, @07:13PM (1 child)
"I ended up losing my job as I could no longer sign on that line underwritten with the words "responsible engineer" and do things the way I was told to do them with a straight face. I knew how we were leaving ourselves wide open to anyone who cared to ram us. I did not want to take the hit for it when I knew all along that doing it certain ways was rife for disaster."
except it didn't matter, you (or some other cohort of minions) would have been blamed or found 'guilty' of whatever sins resulted... the psychopathic managers would bail out to arrange another golden parachuted position, and the minions would be left holding the bag... it is ever thus under the institutionalized group psychopathy known as unrestrained kapitalism... the powerless are blamed and shit on, the powerful are blameless and reap the rewards...
expecting any other outcome under the present system is a fool's errand...
(Score: 1) by anubi on Monday March 13 2017, @04:28AM
That was my take too...
They weren't looking for people who got into the kinda stuff +Fravia was talking about.
The managers were looking for cheap scapegoats. Executive toilet paper to keep their own ass clean.
We had long past the stage where we were advancing due to our productivity and innovation. We now had a name. And we fell to those who saw immediate profit in monetizing our past reputation.
For juicy Government contracts, high-ups got nice fancy meetings, paid for by the taxpayer, and lots of handshakes with fellow suit-guys. Not much else.
We had really fancy presentation areas, however there were few left in the production area. The whole meme seemed to center on that we would find someone else to do it and we would slap our name on it for a substantial markup.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]