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

Jesse Watters
Fox News

Jesse Watters Dragged After Adding Another Mind-Boggling Rule For 'Real Men'

Fox News host Jesse Watters, who is apparently an authority of what it means to be a manly man, gave jazz hands to make a point about how "real men" should or shouldn't wave.

The target of his ridicule was Tim Walz, the enthusiastic Democratic Minnesota governor and vice presidential candidate who often greets the public by raising both hands in the air to wave.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots of crowd at town hall and Rep. Mike Flood
@MorePerfectUS/X; KETV NewsWatch 7

GOP Rep. Goes Viral For His Response To Crowd Chanting 'Tax The Rich' At Town Hall

Nebraska Republican Representative Mike Flood was criticized following his incredulous response to a crowd that chanted "Tax the rich!" during a town hall meeting.

The Columbus High School auditorium hosted the town hall on Tuesday evening, drawing "nearly 380" attendees, according to local network KETV Omaha. The event was lively, with Flood facing both sharp criticism over Trump administration policies and some appreciation for showing up in person.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Awkward Typo In Elon Musk's Bizarre 'Education Department' Trump Meme Is A Total Self-Own

Billionaire Elon Musk was widely mocked after he celebrated President Donald Trump's executive order to begin to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) by posting a meme of Trump at the department's grave, only for an awkward misspelling to get all the attention.

Polling indicates that eliminating the Education Department is largely unpopular, with 60% of registered voters opposing the move, according to a Quinnipiac University survey conducted March 6-10. Support stands at 33%, with opposition particularly strong among Democrats—98% oppose it, while just 1% support it.

Keep ReadingShow less
JB Pritzker; Donald Trump
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Dem Governor Reveals Trump's Bonkers Demand In Exchange For Equipment During COVID

Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker revealed during a speech this week that he clashed with President Donald Trump during the first Trump administration after Trump promised necessary medical equipment during the COVID pandemic on the condition that Pritzker praise him publicly.

Five years ago, the United States was grappling with the initial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country had entered shutdowns that had severe economic consequences, leaving businesses and industries on the brink of collapse.

Keep ReadingShow less
Scrabble tiles spelling the word scam
Scam spelled with scrabbles on a wooden table

People Break Down How They Realized An Entire Industry Was A Total Scam

We unfortunately live in a world where scams are on the rise.

Thankfully, some of them are pretty easy to detect, such as an automated call from the IRS telling you a warrant is out for your arrest, or an email claiming to be from Amazon or the USPS asking for your credit card information, only to look closer and see the email address is a yahoo account.

Keep ReadingShow less