Elderly Amish Man Caught on Film With Prostitute, Blackmailed
When a 75-year-old Amish widower slept with a prostitute, he -- we feel certain -- felt pretty bad about it the next morning. As if that guilt weren't enough for the old man, the prostitute and her boyfriend demanded $67,000 from him, claiming that they had filmed the scene with wall-mounted cameras and would upload the recording to the Internet. The pair was later arrested and, we can only imagine, the Amish man abhorred technology more than ever.
Bank Robber Gets Away With the Help of Craiglist
In October, a bank robber -- wearing a safety vest, blue shirt, face mask and goggles -- eluded police with the help of Craiglist. Just outside the bank, while the robbery was in progress, stood a group of men who were responding to a Craiglist day labor opportunity. As the advertisement required, they were all wearing safety vests, blue shirts, face masks and goggles.
Nude New Zealander Arrested After Responding to Fake Sexy Text Message
Late in 2007, a Wellington, New Zealand man received a racy text message from two anonymous "ladies," giving him only an address and a request that he show up naked. Well, he indeed showed up naked... at the home of one appalled, unsuspecting New Zealander. Both the nude Romeo and the sadistic texter were arrested, though neither were prosecuted.
Fake Craiglist Ad Costs Man Most of What He Owns
Last Spring, a post appeared on an Oregon Craigslist board stating that the owner of a specific house was leaving all of his worldly possessions (still in said house) to whoever wanted them. When homeowner Robert Salisbury rushed home -- on a tip from a woman suspicious about the offer of a free horse -- he found his house being ransacked by 30 strangers. We suggest he take that horse and collect some vengeance Clint Eastwood-style.
17-Year-Old Jailed for Stealing Virtual 'Furniture'
When a 17-year-old Dutch boy hacked into several accounts on the Second Life-style site 'Habbo' in 2007, the the law got involved. The boy was discovered to have stolen $5,800 worth of virtual furniture and knick-knacks. Apparently, crime -- whether actual or virtual -- does not pay.
Phishers Going After Your Phones in New 'Vishing' Trend
Over the past year, sneaky spammers have begun to forsake the worn-out territory of e-mail in favor of cell phones' fertile frontier. The result? "Vishing." Get it? Voice mail phishing. It might be more ominous if it didn't sound like a James Bond villain saying, "Wishing."
Burglars Break Into Restaurant, Steal HDTV, Leave Money / Food Behind
Around Halloween of last year, a truckload of thieves drove into -- that's right, into -- a Pennsylvania Mexican restaurant, where they -- apparently uninterested in the cash register -- stole a mid-grade 47-inch HDTV and fled the scene. We've all heard about how this generation is lacking in ambition, but this generation's thieves, too?
Best Buy's Geek Squad isn't exactly known for respecting people's property. This time, however, instead of us catching them, they caught a guy with child porn. 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
morrigan said 11:22AM on 1-16-2008
That is insane. You know you dont have to look that deep into someones computer to find if they have/had porn on it. I dont think they invaded any privacy. People who are seriously committing felonies do not deserve any privacy anyways! What about the little girls' privacy? THAT is violating privacy.
Reply
nunya said 11:32AM on 1-16-2008
While I agree that the images on the machine are problematic--not to mention the fact it probably would have taken longer and a more tragic incident to find/arrest this janitor--these stories about Best Buy make me want to just deal with all my computer issues myself. BB is not the only business with computer repair that violates privacy, and a lot of people have stories about this. Mine is when I was in college, I kept having to take my lap top to the university's computer center for issues related to my ethernet card...one time when I returned to the center to pick up my lap top, one of the jack@sses started talking about how I had a lot of music files on my lap top that were taking up space. Space has very little to do with repairing a broken ethernet card adapter and doesn't require them to go through folders on my lap top.
Reply
Dave said 4:26PM on 1-16-2008
Best Buy's computer person was way out of line, and should be held accountable for violating the janitor's privacy! Janitor had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and it was violated. Never mind that there was porn on it; that doesn't make it any more "right!"
Point being, if I have someone working on my personal computer I expect privacy no matter what, same as I am private with a doctor.
SUE THE GEEKS AS A LESSON TO OTHERS, TOO!
Reply
Dave said 4:30PM on 1-16-2008
Would you want your personal tax data shared with the IRS? Suppose Mr. Jr. Geek thinks he'll share with them "just in case!"
I hate porn of any kind, but the privacy issue is too important to ignore; Geeks can do without MY business!!!
Reply
Dave said 4:34PM on 1-16-2008
Our laws are rooted in the presumption of innocence unless and until proven otherwise. Never forget that.
Reply
Brendan said 6:04PM on 1-16-2008
what if all the girls were 18, how did they know they were as young as 15, did it say it on the pictures?
Reply
SABA said 6:06PM on 1-16-2008
Didn't the guy ASK them to specifically look for lost data on his file? Wouldn't that be a good reason why his sleazy habits came to light? I don't go to the Geek Squad anymore because when I wouldn't purchase a hundred dollars worth of security they wiped my hard drive clean instead...no OS, nothing. I only took it in for the same reason this guy did, which was to retrieve data. I had pics of my daughter as a baby and the computer didn't want to boot up anymore. When they realized that all I wanted was the system to work (I can install my own security package) they pretended that all of us a sudden the pictures that were up on the screen a moment before were no longer there. Well, they weren't. I have a new computer repair team now and they are really GOOD and very helpful and will come to my house if I ask them to. Geek squad did alright with this guy though, for that I give them two thumbs up.
Reply
ascatal said 8:15PM on 1-16-2008
I do agree they violated the man's privacy but just the same in this case i am glad they did as this bit of scum needed to be put away, and any way if you have something you do not wish others to see legal or not do not leave it on your hard drive put it on Cd or DVD or some other removable media! and brendan they said between the ages of 7 and 15
Reply
DOLBY said 2:04PM on 1-17-2008
If you have nothing to hide then hide nothing. I think the geeks did the right thing. the dude who is afraid of the irs, then pay ur taxes and don't cheat. again, why worry if you are clean and sober.
Reply
cheryl said 2:11PM on 1-17-2008
I think that the geek squad did the appropriate thing. There are too many freaks out in this world and they get away with crap like this all the time. Why should they worry about privacy when these young kids privacy is totally being violated. The freak knew he had this filth on his computer so Oh well, that's the chance he took and got busted. God does not like ugly.
Reply
Mary said 2:13PM on 1-17-2008
This is how the government takes away all your rights. They make a big deal of how perverted this particular janitor was, and make heroes out of criminals who break laws and violate your privacy, and everyone goes, "Well, I guess if it's going to be used for good.... maybe it's okay...". Then, before you know it, people can walk into your house without permission and take everything you have because they got an "anonymous report" about something.
Best Buy / GEEK Squad will NEVER again get my business. I have personal, private data on my computer, and a right to keep it that way.
Reply
eab said 2:15PM on 1-17-2008
Would you hand someone your diary and think that they aren't going to read it? Once you give personnal property to someone else all privacy is gone. That should just be common sense. So, no, I don't think that this sick humans privacy was violated. He made it public information as soon as he handed over the pc. Good for the nosey geeks.
Reply
Constitutional Lawyer said 2:15PM on 1-17-2008
The writer of this article should know that only the government can violate a private citizen's constitutional rights. So, while I agree that Geek Squad has invaded this sick dude's privacy, that have not done anything "unconstitutional". The writer should really refrain from using legal terminology without any real understanding...
Reply
Mary said 2:18PM on 1-17-2008
This doesn't have anything to do with cheating the IRS. How about identity theft? How about intellectual property? How about some freak at the Geek Squad downloading pics of MY 7 year old and doing wierd stuff?
You should have the same privacy you get with your doctor when taking your computer in. GEEK Squad needs to be reprimanded, not rewarded. They should never be looking at those files to report on them. Someone needs to press charges.
Even police need to go through the proper procedure to search your house or car. Does the Geek Squad think they're the Geek Gods? They're above the law?
Reply
thepugpieper said 2:20PM on 1-17-2008
My concern is that somehow by them looking in on the harddrive and tipping off law enforcement that somehow this pervert is gonna find a technical reason for getting away with the stuff they found!
It happens alot...so be worried that law enforcement and Best Buy set up a policy about dealing with this type of situation.
I think they did the right thing..but at the same time..where does privacy begin and end when you hand over your hard drive to be service by someone else? This has to be worked out, before anything else.
Reply
Stephanie said 2:20PM on 1-17-2008
The pervy jantor DID go in for a recovery-of-lost-data kind of problem... It's not the Geek Squad's fault that what they found/recovered was this twisted guy's CHILD PORN. Good for them for turning the janitor in. He was stupid to put himself into that situation in the first place with all that child pron on there. He totally deserves whatever they can throw at him.
Reply
Shilo said 2:20PM on 1-17-2008
You idiots! Guess what you have to do when you need to recover lost data from someone's computer?? You gotta take a look at things IN their computer! Okay, let me make an analogy here. Say a woman gets breast implants. Do you think she came out of the surgery screaming, bitching, moaning, and WHINING that the doctor saw her tits???
Reply
Ron said 2:21PM on 1-17-2008
To all those who think the mans privacy was invaded. If your daughters pictures were on that hard drive would it matter then? You bet it would. Like the post above, if you have nothing to hide, then no problem.
Reply
Ashley said 2:22PM on 1-17-2008
I just had the Geek Squad out to my house to work on my laptop. I never left the guys side. He did great work and repaired my laptop and even looked at our other computer. They are a great service and I agree if you have nothing to hide then why worry. I worry more about the H and R Block in our area that is noted for leaving their doors unlocked while they run to subway for lunch. Not that I use H and R Block.
Reply
Tink said 2:27PM on 1-17-2008
to all the people who think the Geeks overstepped their bounds--- 1) he asked them to find lost data
2) he had to know the pictures were there & they would see the files 3)the girls were clearly underage between (7 & 15) 4)if it was pictures of your daughter, sister, niece or even the little girl down the street for that matter wouldn't you want him caught ???????????
Reply