![]() The FBI agent would show up, review the images or video and determine whether they believe they are illegal content. The documents detail a series of FBI investigations in which a Geek Squad employee would call the FBI’s Louisville field office after finding what they believed was child pornography. Other documents show that over the years of working with Geek Squad employees, FBI agents developed a process for investigating and prosecuting people who sent their devices to the Geek Squad for repairs. ![]() This appears to be one of the same payments at issue in the prosecution of Mark Rettenmaier, the California doctor who was charged with possession of child pornography after Best Buy sent his computer to the Kentucky Geek Squad 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.”Īnother document records a $500 payment from the FBI to a confidential Geek Squad informant. 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 documents released to EFF show that Best Buy officials have enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the agency for at least 10 years. The relationship potentially circumvents computer owners’ Fourth Amendment rights. The records also confirm that the FBI has paid Geek Squad employees as informants.ĮFF filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last year to learn more about how the FBI uses Geek Squad employees to flag illegal material when people pay Best Buy to repair their computers. Update: A Best Buy spokesperson confirmed to reporters that at least four Geek Squad employees received payments from the FBI.Īfter the prosecution of a California doctor revealed the FBI’s ties to a Best Buy Geek Squad computer repair facility in Kentucky, new documents released to EFF show that the relationship goes back years.
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