Best Buy's Geek Squad Finds Child Porn on Janitor's Computer, Janitor Arrested

i dont believe they overstepped. in a way you invite people to know more about you when you invite repair people in to your home for various things or various reasons this was no different. if this janitor didnt want anyone finding out how perverted he is then he should have figured out how to fix his own computer. dont put your hand on a hot stove if you dont want to get burned.

I don't think the geek squad was out of line at all. It is child pornagraphy and i believe that anybody that has that on there computer does not deserve any privacy because it is discusting and wrong. these are just my opinions and everybody is entitled to there own but i believe he should fry for having that type of stuff not only on school properties computer but as well on his home computer. he should be considered a pedefile and a sex offender at this point. everybody is getting mad at geek squad when the real person that we sould be mad at is the janitor and for not only having over 800 images but the fact that he is around our children on a daily basis.

I don't agree with what BB did but at the same time when he turn in the drive to get work did he sign a release form. If so I'm sure it said in small print something about looking at files, etc. This goes along with you take film to the store to be processed and people being turned into the police for things that the photo clerk saw on the film. If you don't have anything to hide fine, if you do then get a digital and for the drive back it up and if you have a problem just get a new one and trash the old is all I can say.

um, hello. Most people don't have child porn on the computers. I dont care if they get kicks looking at my photos they are recovering. as long as I get them back.Now, if they are looking at my bank accounts, thats a bit iffy, but if they catch more like this B*st*td, they can look through my stuff all they want. But keep in mind this janitor.....work at a MIDDLE SCHOOL... the porn he was looking at, what if he advanced to trapping some of the girls at the school he works at. Hell yes, they need to get him off the street.

While I respect the privacy issue, it is really not much different than telling a friend about a murder you just comitted. He is LAWFULLY OBLIGATED to tell the authorities. Child pornography is a crime, and for very good reason. The Geek Squad was basically OBLIGATED to contact the authorities. Normal adult pornograhy on your personal computer is NOT a crime, and would not be reported.

When all is said and done, the pervert was an idiot to bring the hard drive to the Geek squad. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

People need to understand that nothing is confidential when it comes to the internet. Everything you do on your computer is available to whoever wants to dig for it, warrant or no warrant. So if you're up to no good, and using your computer to assist you in that endeavour, you need to know you're creating the evidence that can be used against you at anytime.

Well what if it was planted by a 'pornado' and the additional evidence was another computer also infected with a pornado generating virus?
Um, Geek Squad thought Spybot was a virus on one of my customer's computers, so they're clearly not qualified to be turning anyone in.

A moron should know better than to send a hard drive with filth on it in for repair. This is no different than a photo shop reporting developing pictures that show criminal activity.

Collecting child porn in his free time.
$ 0.00 Dollars

Taking the computer to the Geek Squad.
$150.00 dollars.

Knowing he will be on the receiving end in prison..........................PRICELESSS !!

I am a full time computer tech for a company. I've had people bring computers to me because they had problems and in a number of instances I found porn WITHOUT looking just by running a virus scan. (When the virus showed up, you get a list of files that have viruses in it.) I also had someone ask me to get data off a dying hard drive and in copying it over, I found a huge amount of porn because I had to "hack" in just to copy it because it was password protected (and, as such, would not copy). Best Buy was 100% right about turning them in. If you bring your computer to any technician, you have a right to expect that they won't open your documents but the file names are visible to ANYONE who works on your computer. If you have a file that says, "Sexy Teens" or that sort of thing, it's going to be visible to the technician. And, yes, they SHOULD report it to the authorities!

I certainly agree the that the individual needs off of the street. but do we know that this was his computer new from a company or did he buy it used. if he bought it used it may have been someone elses data. if he bought it new there was more than likely chance that it was his data but did someone else have access to his computer? reguardless the Queer Squad was asked to recover data not to look at it. the software programs used in recovering data doesnt open the files to see what they are they only recover information as files and once again dont open them. so why was the queer squad lookin at the files that are not their bussiness. they need to stick to recovering files not looking at files. also if you are worried about someone looking at your files, then buy the software and recover it your self.
Also where iam in law enforcement line of work i see many illegal issues here. if the pictures were in plain view then they had the legal right to call the cops if (and more than likely not) they were not in plain view then why did the queer squad look at them. personally i hope this guy get the chair, if convicted. but if found not guilty then he needs to explaine where the photos came from. reguardless if someone else used his computer he is still responcible for it, and its contents.

Smarteepants - if you have all of that on your computer - you are stupid, because EVERYTIME you are on-line, someone can access your stuff...
BTW - I am looking at your school records - a 'D' in sex ed???? Why are there so many charges to 1-900-suck me?

I know a couple who bought a used computer from a stranger, sent it on to be fixed, and almost lost their jobs snd new home when it was found that there was child porn already on the hard drive and they were investigated.

On the other hand, how are we supposed to uncover such activity as illegal porn trafficking?
I am sitting on the fence with this issue.

First off, the 'dumb' janitor should know that child porn is illegal, so what the h*ll was he doing having someone else access his hard drive. He can not be that flippin stupid. All of you saying that the 'geek squad' should be sued, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF IT WAS YOU KID on that drive? Think about it!!!

If the location of Osama Bin Laden were on that hard drive would it be ok for the Geek Squad to turn it in to the authorities? At what point is it ok to violate someone's privacy and confidentiality? Does the end always justify the means? It's a tough call but I think someone working on a hard drive taking the time out to call the cops on someone with kitty porn has too much time on his hands. While I am glad this guy was caught hopefully before he put his hands on some child we as a free society need to be very careful of what we consider acceptable behavior both on a corporate level and a governmental level. Every action be it appropriate or inappropriate has serious ramifications once it is deemed acceptable behavior.

If your a bookie, you dont ask H&R Block to cook the books.

Why are some people getting huffy on this board and calling others bad names? There is no need for all that.

While the Geek Squad did do the right thing in this particular case, they DO invade people's privacy and because you asked for your computer to be serviced does NOT give them that right. I will no longer do business with them after my b/f and I discovered issues with the Geek Squad concerning vacation pictures on his laptop. There wasn't any nudity, but all the same, our privacy was violated.

Also, to the person that mentioned H&R Block:
Four years ago, my mom filed charges against one of their workers. She took my mom's tax return check and cashed it at a dinky side store that didn't check her ID. As time passed, this person was NOT fired from her job. So, she continued to handle other people's returns and private information. So sad the world we live in.

You people that are saying that Best buy over stepped there boundires are nuts!!! Say this guy at BB would have found out and said nothing and then this "sicko" ends up taking his perversion to he next level and actually does something to a real person. Are you telling me that when the whole world finds out that there was an inkling that we knew that someone found out about his sickness we wouldn't all be pissed off because then we will all be saying things like " oh well this guy at BB knew he had child porn on his computer and didn't do anything about, let that guy fry to!" I say heck no, I am proud of this guy for turning in this sick person. I don't care what the method was for finding him but thank God they did. How about we bash the moron that decided to send his computer into be fixed with the kiddie porn on his computer! I say let the loser fry!!!!!

9 times out of 10 the porn is the problem on the computer. When Mr. Janitor downloads the porn, he's also downloading viruses, Trojans, spy wear...etc... which they scan for and it always points back to the problem. I even believe there is a clause in the contract you sign when you let Any one work on your computer regarding “illegal activity”. Read the fine print and I bet it's there. So let’s just say they found something worse, like photos of a crime worse than child porn, let’s say of a murder. Would you want that man turned in or is it still an invasion of privacy even though he signed the contract and knew what they would do to the computer?
I'm glad they turned him in! I hope he rots in prison for a long time!