Tech support services like the Geek Squad are notorious for violating the privacy of their customers, and now they’ve been caught in the act. Consumer affairs blog Consumerist rigged up a PC to record itself, and then sent it to the Geek Squad with a request for iTunes to be installed. After shopping around to a dozen different Geek Squad outfits, Consumerist finally caught one red-handed. In the video, you can clearly see the Geek Squad agent scouring through folders for interesting files, finding a few planted photos and videos, and copying them to his thumb drive.
Consumerist makes the point that this is not an isolated incident, but rather a systemic problem across the entire tech support industry. Consumerist has previously covered Geek Squad agents hunting for porn on customers’ computers, and noted that the problem is hardly limited to the Geek Squad.
If you are not capable of fixing your own computer, nor do you have a friend who can do so, follow Consumerist’s advice for keeping your files safe. Store sensitive information on external drives, and encrypt everything. Avoid stuffing your computer’s hard drive with anything you would like kept away from prying eyes.
