from ben@consumerist.com
to Robert Stephens
date Jul 5, 2007 12:49 PM
subject looking for comment re: VIDEO: Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn From Customer’s Computer
Hey Robert,
Just left you a message but we’re getting ready to publish a video about how we found a Geek Squad agent taking images and video from a computer we took in for repairs and copying them to his thumbdrive. If you have a second, I’d love to get a comment.
—
from Stephens, Robert (GeekSquad)”
to ben@consumerist.com
date Jul 5, 2007 2:29 PM
Ben,
If this is true, it’s an isolated incident and grounds for termination of the Agent involved. I’ll need the name of the Agent to launch an internal investigation immediately. Are you willing to provide this?
-Robert Stephens
from ben@consumerist.com
to “Stephens, Robert (GeekSquad)”
date Jul 5, 2007 4:57 PM
Robert,
Well, no. The main thrust of our story is that this is a systemic problem. We think it’s just luck of the draw this agent got caught rather than another. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed broadly in your organization, and across the computer repair industry as a whole. I’m sure you can make the point internally and remind agents of best practices without making an example of one person, perhaps even more effectively.
PREVIOUSLY: VIDEO: Consumerist Catches Geek Squad Stealing Porn From Customer’s Computer
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I’m afraid you need more than just 1 incident for this to be statistically significant. If you had gone to 30 Best Buys and this happened 3 times, you’d have something. Repeat the test and see if you get the same results.
If people think this is going to result in some sort of massive shakedown at BB/GS to begin some new epoch of consumer privacy, you’re sadly mistaken. The exact opposite is going to happen– GS is simply going to change its policy to now say that any and all data files on a computer you bring in may be subject to “inspection” by its techs.
I am in IT, there’s simply no way to fix someone’s Windows PC without opening up an explorer window and looking around for malicious files in all the usual places. They simply cannot do their jobs without looking at customer data, period.
Should a tech be permanently copying your data to a drive for personal use? No. But should he be able to make copies of it for backup (say, to make an image and install a new HD)? Absolutely. Is there a way to stop one and not the other? No.
Some new craftily worded fine print will cover this sort of stuff somehow.
@Rectilinear Propagation: That’s what he says, but it sounds to me like he’s putting on his PR face in that email. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if there will be (or maybe already is) some word being handed down to at least the district managers about this business.
@dayjayvw:
That’s why I service my own computer.
I just love all the new euphemisms for masturbation.
can we please have a caption contest for that photo!
@discounteggroll: YES!
Customer: So what did you find out about my computer?
Geek: Yer daughter is hawt and you need a better webcam.
“” BY ELAN ARBITSMAN AT 02:08 AM
Consumerist shouldn’t be keeping anything it unconvers in an investigation private. It’s not the name of a source, it’s the name of a criminal. I can understand not posting the tech’s name here, but it should definitely be turned over to BestBuy after they asked. Please reconsider.”"
The “name of a criminal.” Are you kidding me! The kid was just copying some porn! Get a life man. Expect that by having someone else fix your computer that your data is up for grabs. Yes, its not right but come on! Keeping your data on external media is a good practice in itself, but also comes in handy in situations like this. This kid is not a criminal. EVERYONE DOES THIS!!! Its like all you people saying… oh no! I don’t rub one out every now and then… I am all high and might and would never do that! Get off your high horse you sensationalists! If you were young and could still get it up, you would too. You are only making yourself look like an idiot by making such a big deal out of this.
If the kid had taken some financial data or such, I could see this being an issue, but IT WAS JUST PORN!
Lesson learned: (1.)Don’t leave your sensitive data on your machine when you are taking it to a repair man.
(2.) If you thought this was some big deal…GET A LIFE!!!
“They simply cannot do their jobs without looking at customer data, period.”
Of course they can see the existence of the data, but they should never need to see the contents of the data. That’s the difference.
I think you should give him the guy’s name. There’s nothing like making an example of somebody to discourage inappropriate behavior.
After that, they can give everybody speeches and it will pack some punch.
Hey guys, I found out that this guy, Robert Stephens, has a blog, and on the blog has a live chat where you can chat with him.
[rstephens.blogspot.com]
Have fun with it!!
@thakat007:
Uh, yeah. He’s a CRIMINAL. He STOLE something off somebody’s computer. Furthermore, he VIOLATED their PRIVACY.
He committed a CRIME. He’s a CRIMINAL.
I’m chatting with him right now about the article. He says that Consumerist has some “freudian obsession with Geek Squad.” Go talk to him guys!
This happens everywhere. If you don’t think it does, hopefully this will be a wakeup call. If you went to 30 Best Buy stores, I’d be surprised if there were three stores that didn’t search for some types of files. It is scary, but maybe this will let some people realize that just because something is saved on your computer doesn’t mean it’s private.
@THAKAT007:
Um, did you not watch the video? It was not “JUST PORN” that he stole. He stole personal files. It might vary by state, but it definitely is a crime in most jurisdictions. Maybe you don’t value your privacy, but most people have intimate photos they don’t want shared with The Geek Squad and their friends.
Since when was “EVERYONE DOES THIS” a valid defense? Speak for yourself, I think most people don’t do this, including 11 out of 12 Geek Squaders in this investigation.
I never said this was “some big deal”, but that doesn’t mean it should keep happening. If it doesn’t interest you, skip over the post next time.
Of course, if you give him the name of the person and he is fired, they won’t make an example of him because they won’t want to violate the privacy of their personnel decisions. No one ever announces…”we fired him because he stole pr0n.” It’s always “Joe Smuckatella is no longer with us.”
It took you 3 months and you discovered that 1 in 12 agents might be doing this and you think it’s a systemic problem? What do you expect him to do about it? All he can do at this point is reissue a statement to his agents that it is unacceptable behavior. Something they know already and obviously isn’t going to stop this agent.
I think you guys are trying to make something big out of something small.
shame, shame on the geek squad employee. Don’t want to get caught? Bring a boot cd, and external hard drive. Boot from cd first thing, copy *.* to external harddrive, explaining to customer you are making a full backup in case of catastrophic failure. After fixing the problem, you can delete the entire backup in front of the customer. Then in the privacy of your home, you can run Easy Recovery Professional. (or some other data recovery utility). Recover all deleted files, filter *.jpg, *.mpg….etc. You get the idea.
Or you could have integrity, and resist the urge in the first place….
According to the picture, even Mitt Romney has his porn stolen.
Nice.
oh, one more comment. for users – use truecrypt, and never save personal files anywhere except on an encrypted volume. Don’t have it auto-mount, slight hassle – but worth it if you care what others see on your computer. And if you use IE, shame. If you use firefox, and have it remember your passwords – don’t be dumb! Set a master password to at least make it a challenge for them!
Mitt Romney?! The hell you say! That’s obviously Paulie Walnuts making another appearance at the Geek Squad store! They better fuckin’ fix it good.
(In my best Pauly Walnuts Voice)
WHOAH! T, this guy stole my pron! I’m gunna have christopha take him out back…
Anyone have any idea what that sign says?
…OMPUTER SUPPORT
…GE, IT’S A RIGH…
…ULD BE EMBRAC…
…UNTIL YOU GO HOAR/HOAF/HOAP…
???
…COMPUTER SUPPORT
…GEORGE, IT’S A RIGHT
…SHOULD BE EMBRACED
…UNTIL YOU GO HOARDING MY PR0N
(seriously, does anyone know what that last word might be? it’s driving me nuts!
Xeni Jardin: Ben Popken at Consumerist writes: The Consumerist’s 3-month sting operation snared a Geek Squad technician stealing porn from our hard drive, and we’ve got the work-safe video and logfiles to prove it.
More Peep Squad action, this time the result of a sting operation by the Consumerist. After hearing from several Geek Squad techies that “stealing customers’ nudie pics was an easter egg hunt”, journalist Ben Popken loaded up a PC with porn and screen capture software and touted it around a dozen…
The reason they don’t release the name is stated in the email and it’s the same reason the location of the store is not mentioned. It’s not just one employee but the whole system. When you spend millions on marketing and minimum wage on talent this is what you get. When you focus on numbers and not people, this is what you get. The first response from Best Buy is that it’s an isolated incident which everyone knows is false but is still said. This sting operation wasn’t to throw one guy in jail but to have a very large business clean house and improve how they interact with customers. Target = Best Buy and their practices, not one person who got caught red handed.
So you set the techs up to fall into your trap, only got 1 out of 12 to do so but you still think it’s a systemic problem and don’t want to reveal the guy’s name?
I happen to agree that it’s systemic but come on – if you’re going to publish this as the results of your test you can’t pass it off as systemic if only 1 out of 12 attempts caught someone.
And keeping that guy’s name secret is only protecting someone who deserves to be fired. Whether it’s a systemic problem or not, I highly doubt the GS training guide says “Hey, go ahead and score all the porn you want from customers’ computers”.
My guess is they’re told not to do this, especially with all the bad press recently, so there’s no way this guy wouldn’t have known he was doing something wrong. You’re just fanning the flames without actually following it through to completion.
Right. It was just the luck of the draw that you caught this exact tech. So what? He was still doing something wrong. Why not turn over his name?
If I ran a company and someone started claiming to have proof that my employees were acting unethically, of course I’d want all the info about the incident! I’d definitely want to know which of my employees were involved. If you withhold even that information, it’s going to be that much easier for Best Buy to dismiss your claim.
You can claim that this is a systematic problem. All you apparently have proof of is one incident. And if you don’t actually tell them all the details of that once incident, I think it’s more likely they’ll just dismiss your account entirely rather than (as you apparently hope) overhaul their entire company.
I’d just like to say that in my years of being a computer Tech I’ve never gone through someone’s files. During Data recovery I’m just looking at the file and folder names, not what is contained therein. In fact, I make it a point to avoid opening anything because you don’t know what kind of Pandora’s box you’ll be opening.
Back when I was a Best Buy black shirt though, the other techs CONSTANTLY went through customers’ stuff looking for free hardcore. It was really embarassing. I would have reported it too if management weren’t in on it.
Yeah, it’s not stealing because it’s porn, right nutbags?
WRONG.
Porn, personal photos, bank statements, documents, etc. are all classified as intellectual property.
Hence, this tech stole something of value.
It doesn’t matter that it was porn.
It could be pictures of bic lighters for all I care.
It is stealing.
The reason the geek squad techs all seem to think the consumerist is a joke is BECAUSE they wont release the name of the guy who got caught.
Does it happen?
Sure it does.
Is that okay?
Of course not.
Should people who steal files for their own entertainment lose their job as a trusted technician?
Damn straight.
But hey, Ben *feels* better about his little sting op because he is saving the job of some low level tech who will undoubtedly do this again. After all, what are the consequences? Nothing. Thanks to Ben and the consumerist.com.
Great job.
Another issue deemed ‘too difficult’ to solve or ‘too hard’ to enforce.
If it is a systemic problem, why allow best buy to deal with it their way?
That would just be silly. No, you are right Ben, they should invest millions into a program to stem the ‘systemic’ issue that took 3 months to prove.
If only they were allowed to make an example out of the tech who stole the files, they might actually be able to do something about it.
Stupid. Hippy. Crap.
Someone does something wrong, they should be punished.
As it is, best buy and geek squad now think this site is full of it.
Me? I’m starting to side with them.
I would bet the geek squad won’t think consumerist is such a joke when those who read it inform friends and relatives who are less computer savy of what Best Buy does. After-all, most of us reading probably wouldn’t be taking it in there anyways…
Props on no name though – it would just be a scapegoat. Let them find one themselves, then make an example. They will probably grab more than one and have a greater impact.
Its a well known fact that the Consumerist hates Best Buy/Geek Squad. Its also a well known fact that they have copies of authorized Geek Squad Software… ie MRI. These stories seem to be just stories, give the guy up. Make him pay for his mistake if it really happened. Most of us really do know what we are doing and could care less what you look at on your computer, we just want to help.
In taking away the ability for BB to fire the tech who stole the porn you take away one of the best ways to stop the problem. There are rules and policies in place already that say “no taking personal stuff from peoples computers”. If someone gets fired for it then that creates an example. Yes, they may not all care that they get fired, but others will.
I don’t believe this is approaching the right issue really.
You’re complaining that these guys are stealing your porn. Just be thankful they aren’t stealing your credit card details or such, or using any of this new found information against you.
Further more, wasn’t it Gary Glitter who got busted for having child porn on his PC when he took it into be repaired? If it wasn’t it was someone similar.
I guess this goes both ways, but ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the user to ensure their private data is kept safe.
If you have something to hide, hide it, it’s rather embarrassing for me as a techie discovering naked pictures of you and your wife on the PC I’m trying to fix for you.
MasterDave: Bravo. You pretty much summed up everything I was wanting to say, but I couldn’t have worded it quite so well. So you guys are handing people in their late teens a computer full of porn, and then railing about it when one out of ten take a peek. Find something “real” to bitch about instead of digging (hard) to FIND something wrong with Best Buy.
@charlesstricklin:
As far as I read, they did actually take the computer to multiple stores, and they happened to find the employee in question after a number of stores.
To me, it’s scary how the CEO capitalizes the word Agent like five times. It shows that he’s not functioning as a real person, but as part of a machine. I think it was good that they didn’t identify the tech.