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posted by janrinok on Thursday March 08 2018, @12:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the trust-nobody dept.

FBI agents paid employees in Best Buy's Geek Squad unit to act as informants, documents published Tuesday reveal.

Agents paid managers in the retailer's device repair unit to pass along information about illegal content discovered on customers' devices, according to documents posted online by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The digital rights group sued the FBI for the documents last year after the bureau denied a Freedom of Information Act request.

The EFF filed the lawsuit to learn the extent to which the agency trains and directs Best Buy Geek Squad employees to conduct warrantless searches of customers' devices during maintenance. The EFF said it was concerned that use of repair technicians to root out evidence of criminal behavior circumvents people's constitutional rights.

[...] Another document shows the FBI approved a $500 payment to a "confidential human source" whose name was redacted. The EFF said the payment appears to be one of many connected to the prosecution of Mark Rettenmaier, a Southern California doctor accused of possessing child pornography after he sent in his computer to Best Buy for repairs.

The EFF said the documents detail investigation procedures in which Geek Squad employees would contact the FBI after finding what they believed to be child pornography on a customer's device.

The EFF said an FBI agent would examine the device to determine whether there was illegal content present, and if so, seize the device and send it to the FBI field office closest to where the customer lived. Agents would then investigate further, and in some cases try to obtain a warrant to search the device. 

Best Buy said last year that three of the four employees who may have received payment from the FBI are no longer employed by the company. The fourth was reprimanded and reassigned.

Previously: Cooperation Alleged Between Best Buy and the FBI
FBI Used Best Buy's Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance
EFF Sues FBI to Obtain Records About Geek Squad/Best Buy Surveillance

Related: How Best Buy's Computer-Wiping Error Turned Me into an Amateur Blackhat


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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:47PM (4 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:47PM (#649582) Journal

    When was the last time you saw a TV News cast where the anchor was wearing something that would possibly show off his underwear or lack thereof? The problem is the exploitation of women. Not Runaway's opinions/views on sexual content / sexuality. NSFW https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_of_women_in_mass_media [wikipedia.org] --- Not Safe for Work

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    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:49PM

    by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 08 2018, @05:49PM (#649583) Journal

    ^^I accidentally took out the explicit reference to a Male news anchor when typing that out.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
  • (Score: 2) by Justin Case on Thursday March 08 2018, @07:56PM (2 children)

    by Justin Case (4239) on Thursday March 08 2018, @07:56PM (#649664) Journal

    The market segment of viewers who would like to see men's underwear or lack seems to be rather small, otherwise, more people would probably rise up [sic] to provide that service.

    The problem is the exploitation of women.

    If the women involved are consenting to the situation, why do you consider it a problem? If not disgusted by sex, well then what?

    • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday March 08 2018, @08:19PM (1 child)

      by Freeman (732) on Thursday March 08 2018, @08:19PM (#649687) Journal

      How about to teach our children that women are more than just a hunk of flesh? *A lot of people probably still need to learn that.* That you don't have to be a "pretty runway model / barbie doll" to actually be pretty. That you don't need to "show a little leg", to get the job. That news and facts should be the main attraction. Not that your news anchor might flash you, if they accidentally moved the wrong way.

      --
      Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Justin Case on Thursday March 08 2018, @09:32PM

        by Justin Case (4239) on Thursday March 08 2018, @09:32PM (#649723) Journal

        When you teach your children things that are not true, what they actually learn is that Mommy and Daddy will lie to them.

        The truth is that a great many women know exactly when they are flashing, and they enjoy being viewed, as do the people who are viewing them. This makes sex-hating puritans apoplectic. Perhaps you are confusing your leftist fantasy utopia with reality, but reality remains what it is, your attempts to redesign and prescribe the perfect sanitized human behavior notwithstanding.

        A great many women also know that "showing a little leg" can glean them some quite substantial advantages in certain situations, and they are not the least bit reluctant to "exploit" themselves.

        Back to the example at hand: a woman on TV is very unlikely to "accidentally" flash the camera, because everyone is painfully aware that sex-hating puritans have imposed enormous fines for such "accidents". So the stimulus which simultaneously arouses and frightens you is unlikely to materialize. Still... you can't bring yourself to stop watching, because maybe... just maybe... she might... so you keep watching.

        And that was probably the goal all along.