Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

EFF Sues FBI to Obtain Records About Geek Squad/Best Buy Surveillance

posted by martyb on Friday June 02 2017, @10:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-your-business-elsewhere dept.

takyon writes:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain records related to the FBI's secret relationship with Best Buy's Geek Squad:

Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn't require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that's apparently what's been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in Kentucky.

We think the FBI's use of Best Buy Geek Squad employees to search people's computers without a warrant threatens to circumvent people's constitutional rights. That's why we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today against the FBI seeking records about the extent to which it directs and trains Best Buy employees to conduct warrantless searches of people's devices. Read our complaint here [PDF].

EFF has long been concerned about law enforcement using private actors, such as Best Buy employees, to conduct warrantless searches that the Fourth Amendment plainly bars police from doing themselves. The key question is at what point does a private person's search turn into a government search that implicates the Fourth Amendment.

Previously: Cooperation Alleged Between Best Buy and the FBI

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
EFF Sues FBI to Obtain Records About Geek Squad/Best Buy Surveillance | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 10 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by http on Friday June 02 2017, @04:45PM (1 child)

    by http (1920) on Friday June 02 2017, @04:45PM (#519431)

    What are you guilty of? What would a cop like you to be guilty of?

    An argument that criminal evidence was illegally searched for generally involves a strong implication of guilt.

    If the cops are not going to go by the book on something as straightforward as evidence, it suggests they've got an agenda other than apprehending the guilty. Personal vendetta comes to mind as most obvious, but personal agenda is just as bad and I'm sure the armchair lawyers among us could come up with a longer list. One of the reasons there is a book to go by is to keep officers honest and impartial.

    If a cop is planting evidence, they're going to screw up sooner or later, by "finding" it illegally or getting the paperwork wrong.

    It throws every other action in an investigation, including starting it, under suspicion. Your "strong implication" is a mirage.

    --
    I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 02 2017, @05:36PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 02 2017, @05:36PM (#519462) Journal

    If a cop is planting evidence, they're going to screw up sooner or later, by "finding" it illegally or getting the paperwork wrong.

    Conversely, when they've been running this game for a while, what's the odds that your trial is going to be when they screw up?

    It throws every other action in an investigation, including starting it, under suspicion. Your "strong implication" is a mirage.

    Only if you can show it. Else it can harm you instead.