Ever wondered what sort of things guys (or girls) from computer shops do with PCs that they get in for repair? Do they just do what they are supposed to do or is it quite common that they go sniffing around looking for ‘interesting stuff’ on your PC?
The guys from Consumerist.com decided to see what happens when you bring a PC to a Geek Squad technician. They loaded some tests systems with pornographic content and installed a program that made a video of everything the technician did on the PC.
Most Geek Squad places seemed to be OK but some guys did a bit more than they were supposed to do. Here’s a video of a Geek Squad technician who stole several personal and pornographic files from a customer PC and copied them to his USB stick:
This is not just an isolated incident, according to reports from Geek Squad insiders alleging that Geek Squad techs are stealing porn, images, and music from customer’s computers in California, Texas, New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere. Our sources say that some Geek Squad locations have a common computer set up where everyone dumps their plunder to share with the other technicians.
If our techie readers were right about the Geek Squad doing this, then perhaps they’re right in saying it happens at other computer repair places as well.
15 responses to “Consumerist catches Geek Squad stealing pr0n”
That’s awesome! What kinda software did you use to capture that video?
Hi Maurice. This video wasn’t created by me but by the guys from Consumerist.com
Here’s how they did it: http://consumerist.com/consumer/investigations/how-to-make-your-computer-catch-people-stealing-your-porns-272458.php
That’s just sad. Some places I’ve seen have the tech guys in a high traffic room with a service window (viewable from the sales floor) where they can’t be alone.
Stealing porn is all the geek squad can do…
THEY SUCK!
this is theft and should be dealt with as such, the police should be informed and the culprit dealt with just as any other criminal
I work repairing computers, this happens all the time in the shops I’ve worked in, nothing new here. I don’t bother checking the computers for porn though, it’s pretty boring if you ask me.
As Leo said, we do have a window into our workshop, but the only reason that is there is so when cute chicks come in, we can all look through the window at her.
I Work at a computer shop too, and we’re not so retarded that we have to look at other peoples computers for porn, i mean we have the opportunity but, why waste your time, its not even that fun. everyone always says so you look at peoples porn and stuff right? but the truth is i could care less, but i totally expect this from geeksquad as you can see they’re all n00bs that rely on scripts and programs to do their jobs. they’re like the Taco Bell of Mexican food.
what’s pron? how about porn in your title? 😛 :clown:
Pr0n is Internet slang 😛
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet#Pr0n
I took a machine under warranty to those bastards with a dvdrw drive that would no longer open properly, something that they should be able to fix without even logging in to windows. Just to appease them, I created a local admin account on the machine then restricted its access so that my personal files could not be gotten to. I also set the bios with a password and denied the ability to boot from anything but the hard drive. The asshats reset the bios, then used a boot cd to reset my personal account’s password. When I confronted them they denied that such things were possible until I told them exactly how they did it. Once they knew they were dealing with somebody more computer savvy than them, I was offered a gift card by a manager as an apology, but turned it down.
pwned!! xD (like my use of internet slang?)
If your PC ever goes to someone you don’t know for any reason, then Truecrypt is what you need (http://www.truecrypt.org). Even if you don’t have any porn, it’s a great way to lockdown anything personal that you don’t want strangers to see like family photos, private documents, resume’s etc. Great for laptops and USB sticks as well.
1. First of all, as you age, you will discover that most humans live at their most base level and there is in supervision in the corporate world. At 60, a technician all my life, on computer systems, I have learned to never run any Microsoft products on any computer.
2. Boys will be dogs. If you want to keep your data private, then store it on external media, USB or Firewire drives. My computers only have the Operating System installed on tiny hard drives, with all data on large external drives, and also, on a network server, created with Mepis Linux.
Having worked in and with a huge number of computer repair shops
and repair services, the low level of knowledge of those screwballs is appalling! Most have no clue about anything, and think that business ethics is something the pointy haired boss does in the wardroom upstairs, with the management executives.
i say more power too ’em. computer techs have always been under-appreciated, and with the cost of computers dropping, they’re becoming underpaid too. let them take what they can get.
While I think what they’re doing is pathetic, it’s not theft. The customer still had all of the data they had to begin with.