The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is reporting that the FBI paid Geek Squad employees as informants, and as such may have potentially circumvented Fourth Amendment rights of the computer owners who hired Geek Squad to repair their computers. Several computer owners have been identified by Geek Squad employees to the FBI as users of child pornography, based on files found on the computers in for repair.
The EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2017 to learn more about the relationship between Geek Squad (a subsidiary of Best Buy) and the FBI. According to Aaron Mackey, “The documents released to EFF show that Best Buy officials have enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the agency for at least 10 years. For example, an FBI memo from September 2008 details how Best Buy hosted a meeting of the agency’s 'Cyber Working Group' at the company’s Kentucky repair facility.
“The memo and a related email show that Geek Squad employees also gave FBI officials a tour of the facility before their meeting and makes clear that the law enforcement agency’s Louisville Division 'has maintained close liaison with the Geek Squad’s management in an effort to glean case initiations and to support the division’s Computer Intrusion and Cyber Crime programs.'” Read more of this story on the EFF website.
In the overlap between Best Buy and Washington, the most troubling are the lobbyists with ties to the Justice Department and Homeland Security. Perusing the Best Buy Political Activity & Government Relations Policy, nothing was found regarding employees taking payment from federal agencies like the FBI.
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