Best Buy says it has "not sought or received training from law enforcement in how to search for child pornography"

This seems to imply that they were already experts on finding child porn.like yukon.

It was the same scenario for the Branch Davidians in 1992.

I'm not a huge fan of the fed cops... but absolutely ingenious.

Yeah, just wait 'til they find you have been claiming all kinds of primers in your momma's basement on LF. They may want to visit you without a warrant because of your wild claims.

the FBI has no business actively soliciting the private markets for SNOOPING unless they have a WARRANT.

4th amendment.

There would be a lot less crime, if the FBI didn't have so many employees. Shut it down.

I'm not a huge fan of the fed cops... but absolutely ingenious. F' child porn criminal shitbags.

Amen

Amen

What are you praying for? A police state to ensure your morals are brought into a court of law for scrutiny that are later released as the article sez?

In these days of drugs, porn, jihad illegal activity should be reported. What is the difference between reporting a street crime and reporting on illegal traffic.

You want a free society, protect the victims

The records now released to EFF shed a bit more light on the relationship between Best Buy and the FBI. The documents show a range of interactions: a $500 payment from the FBI to a Geek Squad employee

Gee - there's no incentive there for the employee to "plant" the child porn on the computer to make a quick and easy 500 bucks, is there?

Child porn is bad - OK? But this kind of crap is outrageous - almost as bad as the FBI running Not Just One But 24 Dark Web Child-Porn Websites.

I'm not a huge fan of the fed cops... but absolutely ingenious.

You betcha! Those Feebs are such wonderful examples of integrity.

The FBI May Have Run Not Just One But 24 Dark Web Child-Porn Websites

The sites are thought to have accounted for roughly half of all child porn websites on the dark web.

Best Buy tells NPR that it does indeed report discovery of child pornography to law enforcement

Good for them!

I am for limiting the reach of government in almost all cases,but not when it comes to the abuse of beings that can't defend themselves,like children and animals.

Show me a case where child porn and animal abuse files has ever ended up on anyone's computer by mistake,and I might change my mind.

This seems to imply that they were already experts on finding child porn.like yukon.

Sounds like you might have some trouble distinguishing child porn from regular porn.

Let me help. It's regular porn,but with children.

I'm not a huge fan of the fed cops... but absolutely ingenious. F' child porn criminal shitbags.

Yeah,I'm with you on this one. Stuff like this is the prime reason I decided to not become a cop. I knew there were certain criminals I couldn't arrest without having them "accidentially" fall down a dozen or more times,and "attack my nightstick with their heads and joints" multiple times on the way to lock up. You can't do that and not be almost as criminal as they are.

However,if the situation ever occurs where I am in a position to make a citizens arrest on a child rapist or sadist,chances are he WILL accumulate a little wear and tear in the process. I ain't perfect and I do have my limits.

The real problem to society is that the FBI has no business actively soliciting the private markets for SNOOPING unless they have a WARRANT.

It's not snooping if you take your computer to someone to have it fixed. They MUST look at your files to find the corrupted ones and fix the problem.

And it wasn't Feebs doing the looking. It was employees of a private business.

Yeah, just wait 'til they find you have been claiming all kinds of primers in your momma's basement on LF.

There are laws against having primers?

Since when?

What are you praying for? A police state to ensure your morals are brought into a court of law for scrutiny that are later released as the article sez?

Are you SURE protecting pedophiles is a mountain you want to climb on?

Gee - there's no incentive there for the employee to "plant" the child porn on the computer to make a quick and easy 500 bucks, is there?

Is that something YOU would do for $500?

Where would you find the child porn to "plant",at home?

Yeah,MOST Feebs ARE wonderful examples of integrity. Do NOT confuse their political leadership with the typical "Dudley Doright" that is the typical FBI field agent.

The FBI May Have Run Not Just One But 24 Dark Web Child-Porn Websites

The sites are thought to have accounted for roughly half of all child porn websites on the dark web.

Good for them!

Is that something YOU would do for $500?

Personally? No - I don't have the computer skills to pull off something like that.

Where would you find the child porn to "plant",at home?

Apparently the man took his computer in for repair when it wouldn't boot up - so it was at the Best Buy.

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.

Looks to me like there wasn't enough evidence even with a search warrant and the charges were dropped after the FBI agent apparently lied.

The FBI May Have Run Not Just One But 24 Dark Web Child-Porn Websites

The sites are thought to have accounted for roughly half of all child porn websites on the dark web.

Good for them!

"Good for them"? Distributing child porn?

Okey dokey.

Apparently the man took his computer in for repair when it wouldn't boot up - so it was at the Best Buy.

You think Best Buy stocks child porn?

"Good for them"? Distributing child porn?

How much child porn have they distributed to you,your family,or your friends?

Name ONE innocent person you personally know that "accidentally" went looking for child porn on the Dark Web,found it,and "accidentally" kept going back and buying it. Theoretically,I "know" about the "Dark Web",but I don't have the first clue about how to find it,and absolutely zero interest in learning how based on what I have heard about it. Hell,I don't even have enough time to watch all the shows and movies I pull in on my ROKU,never mind depraved illegal shit on the internet that would make me want to personally start tracking people down.

I do. All they have to do is roll the date/time backwards and stuff whatever they want on the hard drives to collect their bounty. Apparently you aren't afraid of shenanigans like that sort of action.

Don't you find that it is possible to have these "paid" informants plant the stuff?

After it's found and located, without any constitutional violations, the computer is seized and sent to a lab for a computer forensic analysis. Those folks can tell the who, what, when, where and how of the illegal material found... and they'll testify as a professional, just like a DNA lab tech.

So shut your shat-flaps.

and hondo

Someone please tell tater to F' off, the coward has me on bozo.

The FBI paid Best Buy Geek Squad employees as informants, rewarding them for flagging indecent material when people brought their computers in for repair.

Good

The geeks make a few extra dollars and the FBI can actively pursue degenerate criminals.

Win / Win

Good

The geeks make a few extra dollars and the FBI can actively pursue degenerate criminals.

Win / Win

You are another one that is anxious to read the "headline" but not commenting on the content of the body of the article.

This article proves my hypothesis that many on LF don't know how to read critically, much less apply critical thinking to the content of the article.

First you stand up for the globalist against Trump and now you are for protecting child porn perverts

You sure like to make shit up, don't you.

I just agreed that child porn is bad.

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.

In this particular fishing expedition, the charges were DROPPED because the Feebs lied to get a warrant.

Apparently you believe that it's fine and dandy for the FBI to "make shit up" in an attempt to get a warrant.

Apparently? Hell no - you have championed this sort of bullshit from cops ever since you've posted your cop-worshiping screeds on this chit chat channel and most likely all of your submissive life.

I'll say this one more time Parsons - child porn is bad.

let the FBI do the job they are LEGALLY doing to stamp out child porn

If they had compelling evidence, why did they LIE to get a warrant?

Why are they not prosecuted for distributing child porn via their own websites?

How do you know that is the real REASON the federal judge threw out almost all the evidence?

Here ya go - do you know how to click on an embedded link?

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.

The records now released to EFF shed a bit more light on the relationship between Best Buy and the FBI. The documents show a range of interactions: a $500 payment from the FBI to a Geek Squad employee, a meeting of the agency's Cyber Working Group at Best Buy's computer repair facility in Kentucky, and a number of investigations in which Geek Squad employees called the FBI field office in Louisville after finding suspected child pornography.

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

Child porn charges against Newport Beach doctor are dropped

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.

FBI Documents Show More Evidence Of Agency's Sketchy Relationship With Best Buy's Geek Squad

The problem with this relationship is the relationship. And the money. While tech repair personnel are expected to turn over discovered child porn to authorities, the active efforts of the FBI alter the incentives, pushing Geek Squad members towards digging through customers' computers for illicit material, rather than simply reporting what they come across during the course of their work.

The FBI wants to keep this relationship with Best Buy intact. It also wants to keep the evidence provided by Geek Squad members. While private searches can be used to predicate investigations, paying people to look for illegal material when their job is to repair devices turns this into a proxy search for federal law enforcement. That's not permitted under the Fourth Amendment and the FBI certainly knows it. The files central to this prosecution were discovered in unallocated space, making it unlikely they were discovered during routine repairs. It would imply a Geek Squad member went digging for illicit material, motivated by a possible payout from the FBI if anything was found.

The documents obtained by the EFF provide further evidence the FBI paid Geek Squad members to perform searches for it. They also show this relationship dates back at least a decade, with Best Buy doing its best to become an unofficial branch of the FBI.

Law Enforcement Should Not Be Able to Bypass the Fourth Amendment to Search Your Devices

Sending your computer to Best Buy for repairs shouldn’t require you to surrender your Fourth Amendment rights. But that’s apparently what’s been happening when customers send their computers to a Geek Squad repair facility in Kentucky.

We think the FBI’s use of Best Buy Geek Squad employees to search people’s computers without a warrant threatens to circumvent people’s constitutional rights. That’s why we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today against the FBI seeking records about the extent to which it directs and trains Best Buy employees to conduct warrantless searches of people’s devices. Read our complaint here [PDF].

EFF has long been concerned about law enforcement using private actors, such as Best Buy employees, to conduct warrantless searches that the Fourth Amendment plainly bars police from doing themselves. The key question is at what point does a private person’s search turn into a government search that implicates the Fourth Amendment. As described below, the law on the question is far from clear and needs to catch up with our digital world. California Case Highlights FBI’s Problematic Use of Geek Squad Informants

A federal prosecution of a doctor in California revealed that the FBI has been working for several years to cultivate informants in Best Buy’s national repair facility in Brooks, Kentucky, including reportedly paying eight Geek Squad employees as informants.

According to court records in the prosecution of the doctor, Mark Rettenmaier, the scheme would work as follows: Customers with computer problems would take their devices to the Geek Squad for repair. Once Geek Squad employees had the devices, they would surreptitiously search the unallocated storage space on the devices for evidence of suspected child porn images and then report any hits to the FBI for criminal prosecution.

Court records show that some Geek Squad employees received $500 or $1,000 payments from the FBI.

At no point did the FBI get warrants based on probable cause before Geek Squad informants conducted these searches. Nor are these cases the result of Best Buy employees happening across potential illegal content on a device and alerting authorities.

Rather, the FBI was apparently directing Geek Squad workers to conduct fishing expeditions on people’s devices to find evidence of criminal activity. Prosecutors would later argue, as they did in Rettenmaier’s case, that because private Geek Squad personnel conducted the searches, there was no Fourth Amendment violation.

The judge in Rettenmaier’s case appeared to agree with prosecutors, ruling earlier this month that because the doctor consented both orally and in writing to the Geek Squad’s search of his device, their search did not amount to a Fourth Amendment violation. The court, however, threw out other evidence against Rettenmaier after ruling that FBI agents misstated key facts in the application for a warrant to search his home and smartphone.

We disagree with the court’s ruling that Rettenmaier consented to a de-facto government search of his devices when he sought Best Buy's help to repair his computer. But the court's ruling demonstrates that law enforcement agents are potentially exploiting legal ambiguity about when private searches become government action that appears intentionally designed to try to avoid the Fourth Amendment. When Do Informants’ Actions Become Government Searches?

The FBI's use of Geek Squad employees to do their dirty work of searching people's devices without warrants is in part possible because there is a legal distinction between searches conducted by purely private parties and searches by private parties done on behalf of government agents.

The Fourth Amendment protections for “persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” only protects against searches conducted by state actors or someone deputized to act on their behalf.

That means if a private actor—like your next door neighbor—breaks into your home and finds evidence of a crime, there’s nothing keeping the police from using your illegally gotten property or information against you. The neighbor may be liable for trespass, but it wouldn't amount to a Fourth Amendment violation. This is called the “private search” rule and it applies unless a court determines that the private actors are working for the government when conducting the illegal searches.

The federal appeals court covering California and other western states has ruled that determining whether a party is a state or private actor comes down to two elements: (1) whether government officials knew of and agreed to the intrusive search and (2) whether the party conducting the search intended to assist law enforcement or further her own ends.

Under this rubric, the FBI's Geek Squad informants should plainly qualify as agents of the government. The records disclosed thus far indicate that FBI agents paid Geek Squad informants to conduct these wide-ranging searches of customers' devices, suggesting that officials both knew about the searches and directed the informants to conduct them. The payments Geek Squad informants received also demonstrate that they conducted the searches with the intent to assist the FBI.

Because both factors are present in the FBI's use of Geek Squad informants, we think any court encountering facts similar to Rettenmaier's should rule that the Fourth Amendment applies to the searches conducted at Best Buy facilities. Because the Fourth Amendment generally requires the FBI to obtain warrants before searching devices, the warrantless searches by Geek Squad personnel were the result of an unconstitutional search and thus any evidence obtained as a result of the illegal searches should be thrown out of court.

However, even if the Geek Squad is found to be a state actor, the government may still argue that computer owners waived any reasonable expectation of privacy in their digital files when they consented to Best Buys terms for repairing their devices. The U.S. Supreme Court applies a reasonable person standard when a property owner is aware that they are consenting to a government search.

This proved to be the pivotal argument in Rettenmaier's case, as the government argued in its briefs that computer owners waived their Fourth Amendment rights by signing a written form stating that they are “on notice that any product containing child pornography will be turned over to the authorities.”

We disagree with the government's flawed argument. While the Best Buy service contract does put customers on notice that it will report child porn to the FBI if it finds it, we don't think it comes close to informing customers that Geek Squad employees are working for the FBI and will search their hard drives far beyond the scope of permission customers gave. As the Rettenmaier motions show, it appears that Best Buy staff searched unallocated storage space where the problems with the computer would not be found.

When a customer turns their devices over to Best Buy or any other repair shop, their consent to searches of their devices should be limited to where the problems with the computer are located. Thus, customers cannot plausibly consent to expansive searches of their entire devices.

A real world analogy highlights the absurdity of the government's argument. When you go to the doctor for a sore throat, you don’t expect the doctor to order an MRI of your entire body.

The FBI's exploitation of the private search doctrine by relying on Geek Squad informants to conduct searches of people's devices is incredibly problematic. As technology advances, the wealth of information that may be stored or accessed from our digital devices implicate profoundly more private spheres of our lives, from protected medical and financial information to personal information about our friends, family, and loves ones.

If courts continue to rule that the Geek Squad informants are not state actors, then they are free to turn over any evidence they find to the government and law enforcement can then “reconstruct” the private party’s search free of any Constitutional taint to then obtain a warrant for the evidence. This subverting of Constitutional protections is made possible by an outdated and problematic legal concept known as the “Third Party Doctrine” that bars Fourth Amendment protection when a user “voluntarily shares” information with a third party (here, the Geek Squad), thus defeating any reasonable expectation of privacy in the evidence. This legal theory has been applied to eviscerate individual privacy interests in such private information as bank records shared with your financial institution and cell-site location information shared with your cell phone providers and produced to law enforcement without a warrant.

Currently, there’s a circuit split on how this search “reconstruction” may take place. In the Fifth and Seventh Circuits, courts permit law enforcement to search the entire computer without a warrant based on the private party’s search. In contrast, the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits restrict government searches only to the files searched by the private party. And in at least one district court in the Northern District of Indiana, the court decided that a private computer repairman had the authority to consent to a government search on behalf of the computer owner by virtue of his possession of the device.

We think that the FBI's use of Geek Squad informants is not an isolated event. Rather, it is a regular investigative tactic law enforcement employ to obtain digital evidence without first getting a warrant as the Fourth Amendment generally requires. EFF continues to look for opportunities to challenge this type of law enforcement behavior. If you have had your digital devices sent to the main Best Buy repair hub in Brooks, Kentucky for repair and it resulted in criminal proceedings against you, contact us at info@eff.org.