Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Documents Reveal FBI Secretly Relied on Geek Squad Informants to Spy on Americans

Documents Reveal FBI Secretly Relied on Geek Squad Informants to Spy on Americans
Photo Credit: Tim Boyle/Getty Images

The relationship was disclosed via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed last year,

Geek Squad, Best Buy's in-house technical support subsidiary, has been secretly working with the FBI to spy on Americans.


Newly released documents that the FBI relied on Best Buy's Geek Squad to provide them with customers' suspected illegal activity.

One of the main priorities of the FBI was to track down producers, viewers, and distributors of child pornography.

In one instance, the FBI seized the computer of a customer who brought their device into a Best Buy store for repairs. Geek Squad technicians discovered a cache of child pornography and the FBI immediately became involved.

In 2017, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit whose mission is to protect civil liberties, filed an FoA lawsuit claiming that the relationship between the FBI and Geek Squad violated customer's Fourth Amendment rights against warrant-less searches. "At no point did the FBI get warrants based on probable cause before Geek Squad informants conducted these searches," EFF alleges in their lawsuit. "Nor are these cases the result of Best Buy employees happening across potential illegal content on a device and alerting authorities."

According to EFF, the FBI would "show up, review the images or video and determine whether they believe they are illegal content," based solely on the word of Geek Squad technicians. EFF's lawsuit showed that the FBI had been paying at least eight Geek Squad "informants" for at least a decade.

The FBI initially denied EFF's FoA request, including an outright denial of the relationship. The Department of Justice's refusal to comply compelled EFF to file their lawsuit. "The FBI denied the request, saying it doesn't confirm or deny that it has records that would reveal whether a person or organization is under investigation," EFF explains on their website. We filed suit after the Department of Justice failed to respond to our administrative appeal of the FBI's initial denial."

Best Buy issued a statement earlier this month explaining their side of the story.

"As we said more than a year ago, our Geek Squad repair employees discover what appears to be child pornography on customers' computers nearly 100 times a year. Our employees do not search for this material; they inadvertently discover it when attempting to confirm we have recovered lost customer data," Best Buy said. "We have a moral and, in more than 20 states, a legal obligation to report these findings to law enforcement. We share this policy with our customers in writing before we begin any repair."

Was Best Buy right to establish this relationship? At the very least, it's a legal and ethical grey area.

More from Trending

Kid Rock
Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Kid Rock Dragged After Donning A Truly Over-The-Top Outfit For His White House Visit

Singer Kid Rock was slammed for wearing a loud patriotic costume inside the Oval Office as Republican President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday against ticket scalping.

The rocker's outfit consisted of a red, white, and blue jacket emblazoned with two eagles facing each other above the American flag with the number 250, a nod to America's upcoming 250th anniversary, and white stars on his sleeves.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Bill Cassidy
CNBC

MAGA Senator Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud With Epic Freudian Slip About Medicare

Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy was widely mocked following his inconvenient slip of the tongue during a CNBC interview as he mused about finding ways to "cut" Medicare before quickly correcting himself.

The exchange occurred after host Rebecca Quick pressed Louisiana Republican and former physician Bill Cassidy on how his party intended to fund the “trillion-dollar tax cuts” sought by President Donald Trump.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Tim Sheehy
CNN

GOP Senator Gets Blunt Reality Check After Comparing Trump Tariff 'Pain' To Home Renovation

Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehy was criticized after he tried to compare the "short-term pain" of President Donald Trump's tariffs to home renovation, a claim so ridiculous that CNN's Kaitlan Collins quickly pushed back on the analogy.

Trump has repeatedly referred to April 2 as “Liberation Day,” pledging to impose tariffs—taxes on imports—to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign goods. He has framed these tariffs as “reciprocal,” aiming to match the duties other nations place on American exports.

Keep ReadingShow less
Susan Crawford; Elon Musk
Scott Olson/Getty Images (left and right)

Liberal Wisconsin Judge Calls Out Elon Musk In Victory Speech—And It's Everything

Liberal judge Susan Crawford called out billionaire Elon Musk in her victory speech after winning a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, basking in successfully beating her Republican opponent Brad Schimel and ensuring that the nonpartisan court’s narrow 4-3 liberal majority remains intact despite Musk's efforts to sway the race.

Musk fueled the high-stakes race, having poured more than $20 million into supporting Schimel, according to state campaign records. That includes $3 million to the state Republican Party—$2 million of which was donated just last week. Due to state election laws, large contributions must be funneled through political parties before reaching candidates.

Keep ReadingShow less

People Describe The Worst 'Bonus' They've Ever Gotten At Work

Most of us have worked at one problematic workplace, with reasons ranging from toxic coworkers to terrible bosses to unlivable pay. Sometimes, it feels like a joke that the employees are even being paid at all!

But the biggest joke of all might be the end-of-year bonus, or lack thereof. They're at times so laughable, they take the cake for horrible work conditions, or are quite literally, a slice of cake.

Keep ReadingShow less