Best Buy's Geek Squad - Getting More (Or Less) Than You Bargained For

[toobfreak]

An employee isn't a government actor usually, and in any event the machines were again given willingly. There was no implied privacy on the devices because they were handed over to a 3rd party with explicit permission to examine the machines.

Usually? What does usually mean? Irrelevant. They were a government actor here.
Machines were given willingly? What does that mean? If you trust anyone to do honest work for you they can do anything they want? Are you serious?
There is no implied privacy on the devices? Where do they say that? Show me the document? Since when isn't a service agreement between the customer and the provider? A computer has a person's LIFE on it, and EVERYTHING on it is personal, private. If you lost data and wish them to recover it, and you give them overt permission to comb through the data, that is one thing, did that doctor give that? NO! Even at that, aboveboard policy would be to divulge that anything found deemed suspect or illegal in such cases is subject to be turned over to legal authorities. That is honesty. Is that too much to ask? Why would you NOT tell a customer that if you respect them unless you are HOPING to catch information to turn therm in? Best Buy said they find porn on 100 computers a year, they did not say it was ILLEGAL porn or how often they turn over to FBI. And why FBI and not local police? Shouldn't it be the POLICE which make the determination?
Why do you keep making lies and empty excuses for a situation where the law was broken, the FBI was sued, those involved have been fired from their jobs, the case thrown out by the judge and innocent lives were ruined? Even after all that you try to lie that it was all OK and the customer's fault? This is not about porn but about an out of control government using any excuse to spy on, invade and usurp control over people's lives. And you invite that. Shame is on you.

Here, I went to Best Buy website to get "agreement" and none was to be found. I had to look hard to find link to Geek Squad service and the best I could find was THIS:

There was nothing else after this except your actual filling out the form to make an appointment to get your item serviced and a promise of 90 day satisfaction with a phone number to call if you weren't happy. I'm guessing that doctor was not too happy with how his computer service turned out. Best Buy has ruined a man's life and all over doing nothing wrong but picking Best Buy instead of some other provider.

 

[martybegan]

An employee isn't a government actor usually, and in any event the machines were again given willingly. There was no implied privacy on the devices because they were handed over to a 3rd party with explicit permission to examine the machines.

Usually? What does usually mean? Irrelevant. They were a government actor here.
Machines were given willingly? What does that mean? If you trust anyone to do honest work for you they can do anything they want? Are you serious?
There is no implied privacy on the devices? Where do they say that? Show me the document? Since when isn't a service agreement between the customer and the provider? A computer has a person's LIFE on it, and EVERYTHING on it is personal, private. If you lost data and wish them to recover it, and you give them overt permission to comb through the data, that is one thing, did that doctor give that? NO! Even at that, aboveboard policy would be to divulge that anything found deemed suspect or illegal in such cases is subject to be turned over to legal authorities. That is honesty. Is that too much to ask? Why would you NOT tell a customer that if you respect them unless you are HOPING to catch information to turn therm in? Best Buy said they find porn on 100 computers a year, they did not say it was ILLEGAL porn or how often they turn over to FBI. And why FBI and not local police? Shouldn't it be the POLICE which make the determination?
Why do you keep making lies and empty excuses for a situation where the law was broken, the FBI was sued, those involved have been fired from their jobs, the case thrown out by the judge and innocent lives were ruined? Even after all that you try to lie that it was all OK and the customer's fault? This is not about porn but about an out of control government using any excuse to spy on, invade and usurp control over people's lives. And you invite that. Shame is on you.

Here, I went to Best Buy website to get "agreement" and none was to be found. I had to look hard to find link to Geek Squad service and the best I could find was THIS:

View attachment 182326


There was nothing else after this except your actual filling out the form to make an appointment to get your item serviced and a promise of 90 day satisfaction with a phone number to call if you weren't happy. I'm guessing that doctor was not too happy with how his computer service turned out.

jesus h. christ. you bring them the computer and tell them to fix it. if it is a software issue they have to turn in on and do checks. they have to scan for files that may be corrupted.

if you bring in a refrigerator for repair and leave a body in it, do you expect the repair guy not to look inside of it?

Again with the wall of text.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Well... while I was an IT super for a large corporation years ago I also cooperated as a civilian law enforcement contractor. I used my skills to put people like this away. I know, I know...it's the internet and people can and do make all kinds of claims. But, I did.
I quit doing it because it became too difficult to deal with. I saw and witnessed a lot of shit that was hard to put away, so I have no sympathy for any predators. And BTW... Best Buy as well as any hired tech are required by law to report any such material involving children.

 

[toobfreak]

jesus h. christ. you bring them the computer and tell them to fix it. if it is a software issue they have to turn in on and do checks. they have to scan for files that may be corrupted.

Why do you lie? You know that was not the case here. Photos are mostly jpegs and are never a cause of software issues, nor are gifs, PNG's or TIFFS. It doesn't require you to go into the deleted file folder and recover them. If you have a software issue you scan for application conflicts, out of date programs, drivers, and such things. And still you lie! Deleted pictures were recovered which were deemed not even illegal, taken to FBI and the man was CHARGED! Doesn't the FBI know what is legal? Then they tried to lie to the federal judge to get into the man's home until the judge would hear no more of it. Why do you keep denying the simple truth?

if you bring in a refrigerator for repair and leave a body in it, do you expect the repair guy not to look inside of it?

Was that the case here? No! Why do you keep up with the lies and black and white reasoning. Worst that can be said is that the man might have been smarter not to keep his legal porn on his computer, so as not to risk embarrassment, but he thought that deleting the files was enough and never thought somerone would recover the files not overwritten by reconstructed file specs. Advanced methods were used to try to frame this man and if not for the judge throwing the cae out, he might have gone to jail. GOOD GOD MAN! Jesus H Christ? THE JUDGE HIM/HERSELF THREW THE CASE OUT FOR LACK OF CRIMINAL WRONGDOING and THE FBI IS BEING SUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What ******* part of that can you not get???

 

[martybegan]

jesus h. christ. you bring them the computer and tell them to fix it. if it is a software issue they have to turn in on and do checks. they have to scan for files that may be corrupted.

Why do you lie? You know that was not the case here. Photos are mostly jpegs and are never a cause of software issues, nor are gifs, PNG's or TIFFS. It doesn't require you to go into the deleted file folder and recover them. If you have a software issue you scan for application conflicts, out of date programs, drivers, and such things. And still you lie! Deleted pictures were recovered which were deemed not even illegal, taken to FBI and the man was CHARGED! Doesn't the FBI know what is legal? Then they tried to tie to the federal judge to get into the man's home until the judge would hear no more of it. Why do you keep denying the simple truth?

if you bring in a refrigerator for repair and leave a body in it, do you expect the repair guy not to look inside of it?

Was that the case here? No! Why do you keep up with the lies and black and white reasoning. Worst that can be said is that the man might have been smarter not ti keep his legal porn on his computer, so as not to risk embarrassment, but he thought that deleting the files was enough and never thought somerone would recover the files not overwritten by reconstructed file specs. Advanced methods were used to try to frame this man and if not for the judge throwing the cae out, he might have gone to jail. GOOD GOD MAN! Jesus H Christ? THE JUDGE HIM/HERSELF THREW THE CASE OUT FOR LACK OF CRIMINAL WRONGDOING and THE FBI IS BEING SUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What ******* part of that can you not get???

The truth is the idiot brought his computer to a 3rd party.

Was the case thrown out because the guy was innocent or some other procedures were not followed?

 

[toobfreak]

The truth is the idiot brought his computer to a 3rd party. Was the case thrown out because the guy was innocent or some other procedures were not followed?

I would never take anything to Best Buy to be fixed. I fix my own computer issues, but then, I am not your average computer user and my computer not average. But none of that justifies what is now being determined to be an illegal and covert action to try to pin a felony on a man just because he had previously had some legal porn on his computer. It has already been shown that what they RECOVERED from his computer was not illegal. The only crimes here was the deep searching of his computer outside of the mandate of Best Buy's needs to service his problem, and the FBI's attempts to try to use that as entrapment to charge a man with crimes he did not commit. When such actions are shrugged off with rationalization, we are all endangered, because tomorrow, it will just be another excuse used to try to falsely charge innocent people just to make their books look like they are meeting a quota, and because here, the alleged issue was kiddy porn, most people would just assume the victim was guilty and never give the case a second look. Too bad for the FBI and Best Buy that their illegal operation went so far outside the law that it was finally stopped. And STILL, the REAL pornographers harming children and the IPs wantonly distributing their criminal materials still operate with impunity.

 

[martybegan]

The truth is the idiot brought his computer to a 3rd party. Was the case thrown out because the guy was innocent or some other procedures were not followed?

I would never take anything to Best Buy to be fixed. I fix my own computer issues, but then, I am not your average computer user and my computer not average. But none of that justifies what is now being determined to be an illegal and covert action to try to pin a felony on a man just because he had previously had some legal porn on his computer. It has already been shown that what they RECOVERED from his computer was not illegal. The only crimes here was the deep searching of his computer outside of the mandate of Best Buy's needs to service his problem, and the FBI's attempts to try to use that as entrapment to charge a man with crimes he did not commit. When such actions are shrugged off with rationalization, we are all endangered, because tomorrow, it will just be another excuse used to try to falsely charge innocent people just to make their books look like they are meeting a quota, and because here, the alleged issue was kiddy porn, most people would just assume the victim was guilty and never give the case a second look. Too bad for the FBI and Best Buy that their illegal operation went so far outside the law that it was finally stopped. And STILL, the REAL pornographers harming children and the IPs wantonly distributing their criminal materials still operate with impunity.

the judges issue wasn't with the search, but not being informed about all the other parameters. That led to other evidence, found in the home on other devices, being thrown out.

If the doctor was a gynecologist he might have an excuse, but he was an oncologist.

Still, in the end, once you give up your property you give up 4th amendment protections. It's just that simple.

 

[toobfreak]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

 

[martybegan]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

The one picture discovered by best buy was not considered porn, they said nothing about the rest of the photographs found in his house on the subsequent search.

The case was not thrown out because of a 4th amendment violation on the search of the turned over computer, the case was thrown out because the subsequent warrant request left out information the reviewing judge found to be material to the issuance of the warrant.

 

[toobfreak]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

The one picture discovered by best buy was not considered porn, they said nothing about the rest of the photographs found in his house on the subsequent search.

The case was not thrown out because of a 4th amendment violation on the search of the turned over computer, the case was thrown out because the subsequent warrant request left out information the reviewing judge found to be material to the issuance of the warrant.

Where do you get this crap? Why are you such a liar? One picture? A man's life was ruined over A picture that was both legal and deleted? And what subsequent search? The request for a search warrant was rejected because the FBI lied in trying to get it, just as they lied about Trump in the Steele Dossier case. And now the FBI is being SUED for 4th amendment rights violations. Since when does the government know anything about the Constitution? It is only an obstacle for them to get around. Quotas must be filled to make agencies look good to justify keeping their budgets intact and LEO doesn't care who they sweep up in order to meet their quotas.

 

[martybegan]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

The one picture discovered by best buy was not considered porn, they said nothing about the rest of the photographs found in his house on the subsequent search.

The case was not thrown out because of a 4th amendment violation on the search of the turned over computer, the case was thrown out because the subsequent warrant request left out information the reviewing judge found to be material to the issuance of the warrant.

Where do you get this crap? Why are you such a liar? One picture? A man's life was ruined over A picture that was both legal and deleted? And what subsequent search? The request for a search warrant was rejected because the FBI lied in trying to get it, just as they lied about Trump in the Steele Dossier case. And now the FBI is being SUED for 4th amendment rights violations. Since when does the government know anything about the Constitution? It is only an obstacle for them to get around. Quotas must be filled to make agencies look good to justify keeping their budgets intact and LEO doesn't care who they sweep up in order to meet their quotas.

One search led to felony child porn charges against Dr. Mark Rettenmaier after a technician reportedly went through the oncologist's deleted files and called the FBI in 2011. In 2017, a judge ruled that the images found in Rettenmaier's computer could not be considered child porn and the invasive search was illegal. All of the charges were dropped and the case was dismissed after a judge said an FBI agent made "false and misleading statements" to obtain a search warrant for the doctor's house.

Best Buy's Geek Squad searched customer computers for the FBI, report claims

Photos found in Newport doctor’s home can’t be used during child porn trial, judge says

Oh and get this:

"However, the Jenny image, although distasteful and disturbing, was not child pornography," Carney said, according to transcripts of last week's hearing. "It was child erotica, the possession and viewing of which is not unlawful."

The issue centers on the description of what officials call "the Jenny image" that allegedly was found in unallocated space on Rettenmaier's computer after he took it to Best Buy for repairs. The image is of a nude pre-pubescent girl on her hands and knees on a bed wearing a choker collar around her neck. In an affidavit, FBI agent Cynthia Kayle described it as child pornography.

In May, a federal judge threw out almost all the evidence (which prosecutors said included hundreds of images of child pornography) because of "false and misleading statements" an FBI agent made in an affidavit to get a search warrant for Rettenmaier's house. The government ended up dropping the charges against him.

So you really want to defend this guy as innocent?

 

[toobfreak]

Best Buy's Geek Squad searched customer computers for the FBI, report claims

Photos found in Newport doctor’s home can’t be used during child porn trial, judge says

Oh and get this:

"However, the Jenny image, although distasteful and disturbing, was not child pornography," Carney said, according to transcripts of last week's hearing. "It was child erotica, the possession and viewing of which is not unlawful."

The issue centers on the description of what officials call "the Jenny image" that allegedly was found in unallocated space on Rettenmaier's computer after he took it to Best Buy for repairs. The image is of a nude pre-pubescent girl on her hands and knees on a bed wearing a choker collar around her neck. In an affidavit, FBI agent Cynthia Kayle described it as child pornography.

In May, a federal judge threw out almost all the evidence (which prosecutors said included hundreds of images of child pornography) because of "false and misleading statements" an FBI agent made in an affidavit to get a search warrant for Rettenmaier's house. The government ended up dropping the charges against him.

So you really want to defend this guy as innocent?

The first article is the same one I already presented! Nothing new there.

The second one shows the guy had porn, LEGAL porn, and it was acquired by the FBI for prosecution illegally. I'm not defending the guy, Geeze, I've said that like TWENTY-FIVE TIMES NOW, Moron! I couldn't give a shit about the stupid doctor, All I'm saying is that the legal guidelines are even looser than I imagined (by your second article) and what the guy had wasn't illegal. Maybe distasteful, but so is B&D, bestiality, and a dozen other things. What I'm pointing out is the illegality of the methods used to build a case against the guy. NONE of the stuff he had was of his own doing I presume? ALL of it was taken off the web from sites freely transmitting it that could be easily stopped, making such matters moot. LOOKING at the stuff on line or saved on your computer does NOTHING to promote or feed the industry or harm further children. It is the MAKING of the stuff. Why do you hide from that fact?

I don't know why some guys get off on looking at kids anymore than I pretend to know why some guys like other guys, or hamburgers, or anchovies on pizza. One thing certain in this life is that we do not choose nor do we control what tastes good to us, looks good to us or gets us aroused. That is for a psychologist to decide. It is when that line crosses into harming little kids that a line must be drawn. If the internet did not freely, widely and massively transmit such stuff everywhere, we wouldn't have the problem we do.

If YOU can block it all by simply selecting a filter, then you KNOW people like Google can definitely do it and shut down the porn industry, but neither the DOJ or Congress wants to do that, do they?

Busting that doctor (or trying to) accomplished NOTHING towards solving the kiddy porn issue.

 

[BulletProof]

One of these cases involved a Geek Squad member finding homosexual "gay" child porn that had been deleted, showing that the Geek Squad didn't just browse files, they ran an utility to find files. That defiantly violates a reasonable expectation of privacy. I'm happy for the faggots to be arrested, but not via violating our rights.

 

[Ravi]

jesus h. christ. you bring them the computer and tell them to fix it. if it is a software issue they have to turn in on and do checks. they have to scan for files that may be corrupted.

Why do you lie? You know that was not the case here. Photos are mostly jpegs and are never a cause of software issues, nor are gifs, PNG's or TIFFS. It doesn't require you to go into the deleted file folder and recover them. If you have a software issue you scan for application conflicts, out of date programs, drivers, and such things. And still you lie! Deleted pictures were recovered which were deemed not even illegal, taken to FBI and the man was CHARGED! Doesn't the FBI know what is legal? Then they tried to lie to the federal judge to get into the man's home until the judge would hear no more of it. Why do you keep denying the simple truth?

if you bring in a refrigerator for repair and leave a body in it, do you expect the repair guy not to look inside of it?

Was that the case here? No! Why do you keep up with the lies and black and white reasoning. Worst that can be said is that the man might have been smarter not to keep his legal porn on his computer, so as not to risk embarrassment, but he thought that deleting the files was enough and never thought somerone would recover the files not overwritten by reconstructed file specs. Advanced methods were used to try to frame this man and if not for the judge throwing the cae out, he might have gone to jail. GOOD GOD MAN! Jesus H Christ? THE JUDGE HIM/HERSELF THREW THE CASE OUT FOR LACK OF CRIMINAL WRONGDOING and THE FBI IS BEING SUED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What ******* part of that can you not get???

Bullshit.

Watch out for photos containing malware

 

[Ravi]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

He wasn't found innocent. The child porn in his possession was ruled inadmissible because a proper warrant wasn't obtained.

 

[Ravi]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

The one picture discovered by best buy was not considered porn, they said nothing about the rest of the photographs found in his house on the subsequent search.

The case was not thrown out because of a 4th amendment violation on the search of the turned over computer, the case was thrown out because the subsequent warrant request left out information the reviewing judge found to be material to the issuance of the warrant.

Where do you get this crap? Why are you such a liar? One picture? A man's life was ruined over A picture that was both legal and deleted? And what subsequent search? The request for a search warrant was rejected because the FBI lied in trying to get it, just as they lied about Trump in the Steele Dossier case. And now the FBI is being SUED for 4th amendment rights violations. Since when does the government know anything about the Constitution? It is only an obstacle for them to get around. Quotas must be filled to make agencies look good to justify keeping their budgets intact and LEO doesn't care who they sweep up in order to meet their quotas.

One search led to felony child porn charges against Dr. Mark Rettenmaier after a technician reportedly went through the oncologist's deleted files and called the FBI in 2011. In 2017, a judge ruled that the images found in Rettenmaier's computer could not be considered child porn and the invasive search was illegal. All of the charges were dropped and the case was dismissed after a judge said an FBI agent made "false and misleading statements" to obtain a search warrant for the doctor's house.

Best Buy's Geek Squad searched customer computers for the FBI, report claims

Photos found in Newport doctor’s home can’t be used during child porn trial, judge says

Oh and get this:

"However, the Jenny image, although distasteful and disturbing, was not child pornography," Carney said, according to transcripts of last week's hearing. "It was child erotica, the possession and viewing of which is not unlawful."

The issue centers on the description of what officials call "the Jenny image" that allegedly was found in unallocated space on Rettenmaier's computer after he took it to Best Buy for repairs. The image is of a nude pre-pubescent girl on her hands and knees on a bed wearing a choker collar around her neck. In an affidavit, FBI agent Cynthia Kayle described it as child pornography.

In May, a federal judge threw out almost all the evidence (which prosecutors said included hundreds of images of child pornography) because of "false and misleading statements" an FBI agent made in an affidavit to get a search warrant for Rettenmaier's house. The government ended up dropping the charges against him.

So you really want to defend this guy as innocent?

How the hell is that not child porn? This judge sounds slimey.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

So you like the idea of a stranger searching through your private files and folders while there to fix a power supply or wiring problem? It can involve much more than pornography, it is a privacy issue, and having pictures in your computer doesn't make you a child pornographer, the people on the web taking the pictures where I assume you GOT the pictures are, and the FBI ought to be more concerned with them. If the web wasn't full of the stuff to begin with, people wouldn't have it on their computers to look at.

If you have child pornography on your computer, you're a pedophile. The pictured did not load themselves onto your computer by itself. Sort of like a gun. If you don't pull the trigger, nothing goes BANG!

Clueless , yeah it can show up out of no where

View attachment 182214

Haha...is that your cover story? Good luck, Cletus!

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

One of these cases involved a Geek Squad member finding homosexual "gay" child porn that had been deleted, showing that the Geek Squad didn't just browse files, they ran an utility to find files. That defiantly violates a reasonable expectation of privacy. I'm happy for the faggots to be arrested, but not via violating our rights.

Suuuure it did...did you make that up yourself?

 

[toobfreak]

Bullshit.

Watch out for photos containing malware

READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE, Lemming, jpegs and the like to not cause software conflicts and malware, your article describes files DISGUISED to appear at first glance to unwary users as BEING image files.

 

[toobfreak]

It's just that simple.

If things were just as simple as you claim, then an innocent man's life would not have been ruined (what porn he did have on his computer had been delete and was deemed legal in any regard), several people would not have lost their jobs, the case would not have been thrown out and the FBI wouldn't currently be under lawsuit for breaking the law.

He wasn't found innocent. The child porn in his possession was ruled inadmissible because a proper warrant wasn't obtained.

TRY READING AGAIN STUPID: In 2017, a judge ruled that the images found in Rettenmaier's computer could not be considered child porn and the invasive search was illegal. All charges were dropped. That means you are innocent.