Members pappyld04 Posted March 6, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I chanced upon a situation that really made me wonder about the overall outcome. The basics come from a story about a Best Buy tech who found child porn on customers PC. The cops were called and charges are filed. I have no problem with this part until further reading about this being a frequent occurence. I saw a lot of warnings to encrypt files like that but they should never be there to start with. I could understand personal info and such. A few people say that these tech's often carry flash drives and browse the files for pix and info. This is where I find the problem. Flash drives and such are bi-directional, so they could be put there and then I wonder why they were in the personal files. The whole thing stinks all the way around and it seems to occur on a regular basis. I'm just wondering what you think about this from any and every aspect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 7, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!!! WARNING!CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I chanced upon a situation that really made me wonder about the overall outcome. The basics come from a story about a Best Buy tech who found child porn on customers PC. The cops were called and charges are filed. I have no problem with this part until further reading about this being a frequent occurence. I saw a lot of warnings to encrypt files like that but they should never be there to start with. I could understand personal info and such. A few people say that these tech's often carry flash drives and browse the files for pix and info. This is where I find the problem. Flash drives and such are bi-directional, so they could be put there and then I wonder why they were in the personal files. The whole thing stinks all the way around and it seems to occur on a regular basis. I'm just wondering what you think about this from any and every aspect?Well here's the thing, and something that the police/FBI look into I'm sure: the files are dated. So if the tech at BEst Buy had placed them (let's face it they usually aren't super computer savy) they would be dated as to when they were put there and how. yeah you can change this coding but it's usually a fair bit of work. When they are trying to fix programing errors often times locked or encrypted files are opened without effort. Also porn files (as we all know) are notorious for carrying viruses so if they were hunting down a virus they'd find the pictures legitimately. However if they are browsing the computer looking for bank accounts and information like that then I see we have a HUGE problem. personally I think all software issues need to be handled in front of the customer so they will know if they are stealing (or planting) info, obviously hardware issues may not be able to be fixed on site. But i dunno, i don't think personal info should be kept on a hard drive but rather a falsh drive or something so that if your computer does crash then you don't have to worry about anyone snagging your identity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 7, 2009 Author Members Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 I agree Pappy, it's a very sticky situation. As a professional who treats abused children, the facts of child porn are in themselves disturbing. It's all the price we pay for the freedoms we enjoy. I certainly do not disagree in the monies and energies in interdiction of child porn and those perpetrating it, but in most cases, the holder of the porn is not the photographer. More funding needs to be directed at prevention of child abuse and interdiction at the points prior to abuse. In this way, it's similar to how I feel about drugs and prostitution: spend the most money in prevention. I always say that they don't make things big enough to scare me, but your job may be working to dispel that thought! I could not do it without feeling the need to put my hands on someone! I would never complain about the money spent on prevention until I began seeing unproven statements of the internet police being a big provider of this trash. It cannot be cleaned up if they choose to spread it around for their own reasons. I hope this isn't true but it does cause concern! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 7, 2009 Author Members Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Well here's the thing, and something that the police/FBI look into I'm sure: the files are dated. So if the tech at BEst Buy had placed them (let's face it they usually aren't super computer savy) they would be dated as to when they were put there and how. yeah you can change this coding but it's usually a fair bit of work. When they are trying to fix programing errors often times locked or encrypted files are opened without effort. Also porn files (as we all know) are notorious for carrying viruses so if they were hunting down a virus they'd find the pictures legitimately. However if they are browsing the computer looking for bank accounts and information like that then I see we have a HUGE problem. personally I think all software issues need to be handled in front of the customer so they will know if they are stealing (or planting) info, obviously hardware issues may not be able to be fixed on site. But i dunno, i don't think personal info should be kept on a hard drive but rather a falsh drive or something so that if your computer does crash then you don't have to worry about anyone snagging your identity. Noone could get an answer as to what the computer was there for. What if this person had nude pix of himself or his SO on there, would they travel the net via the tech's personal website? The Geek Squad tech's are obviously smarter than the owner or the PC would never be there. I'd like to know just how deep the cops went to check this but that is something with no access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jesso Posted March 8, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Wow. interesting subject. I have to agree that while there should be an unrecognizable level of privacy issued for file invasion, you're also asking someone to fix your computer. And therefore, you take the chance of what is opened. Particular kinds of files are always going to be looked at just by the nature of how viruses attach themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyger Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Wow. interesting subject. I have to agree that while there should be an unrecognizable level of privacy issued for file invasion, you're also asking someone to fix your computer. And therefore, you take the chance of what is opened. Particular kinds of files are always going to be looked at just by the nature of how viruses attach themselves.I agree with Ginger. If you take your computers to a place to get fixed/debugged, and you know you've been looking at illegal porn, then you're asking for trouble. Files that are "deleted" can still be found in your hard drive if you dig deep enough. But, you have to know how to do so, which most "computer techies" know how to do, that's why they got hired there in the first place. However, those techies also know what usually are incripted files that were put on the computer by spamming sites, and get rid of those. I'm sure by law, they have to report a certain amount or types of child porn sites, so, that's a GOOD thing, IMO.FYI, unless the website starts out with https:/ (which the "s" at the end means secure), the site can be traced and compromised. And, if you have the internet on your computer hooked up, no info you have on it is 100% private, so be warned. Almost all systems are hackable, and the hackers know this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mystofpric Posted March 8, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 One other thing you have to remember is that the guys on geek squad are NOT computer geniuses. They have a two week training course they have to go through and then they get set free. Scary I know. SOw hile yes they know what they are doing odds are they wouldn't know how to change the encryption of a file as to how and when it gets on there, which the police do look into so that can try to trace it back to teh source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 9, 2009 Author Members Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I agree with Ginger. If you take your computers to a place to get fixed/debugged, and you know you've been looking at illegal porn, then you're asking for trouble. Files that are "deleted" can still be found in your hard drive if you dig deep enough. But, you have to know how to do so, which most "computer techies" know how to do, that's why they got hired there in the first place. However, those techies also know what usually are incripted files that were put on the computer by spamming sites, and get rid of those. I'm sure by law, they have to report a certain amount or types of child porn sites, so, that's a GOOD thing, IMO.FYI, unless the website starts out with https:/ (which the "s" at the end means secure), the site can be traced and compromised. And, if you have the internet on your computer hooked up, no info you have on it is 100% private, so be warned. Almost all systems are hackable, and the hackers know this. I have no problem with the reporting of this as long as the man did it. If the info was found in a legit way and not placed there. IDK if you folks have ever searched your temp files but I have found a lot of things that I didn't recognize. I've also uncovered a lot of info from used computers that I know they didn't want released. One of the used PCs we got for $5-10 from a thrift store was apparently a main terminal for a gymnastics facility that ha names, addresses and credit card and bank info. I have no classroom training in PCs but I have been able to hack through the BIOS password and a few other things on this new unit. I know how easily it can be hacked. I can still locate pix that I deleted that belonged to the former owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jesso Posted March 10, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 10, 2009 One of the used PCs we got for $5-10 from a thrift store was apparently a main terminal for a gymnastics facility that ha names, addresses and credit card and bank info.Wow, thats scary how uneducated people are about electronics removal/recycling. EEEK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pappyld04 Posted March 11, 2009 Author Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 What's worse is that I fit that uneducated bill myself! I've pulled all kinds of info off of these machines. With a less than stellar recovery program even. One of the recovery programs spent all night pulling up stuff on this PC when I first got it and was about 30% into it with almost 1/2 mil varied files and junk. The wrong person would have had a lot of kids addresses on top of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members synirr Posted March 11, 2009 Members Report Share Posted March 11, 2009 Honestly, while there is a slight risk, a couple of my friends and coworkers have worked as computer repair technicians, and these people are by and large not out for your personal info. They'd be in a legal shitstorm if they stole your information and were found out, and most of them just honestly don't give a rats ass what you have on your computer... they stare at screens all day long, and they just want to get the job done as quickly as possible. One of my closest friends in high school repaired computers, and he did find some child porn on one once or twice, but he wasn't looking for it, he just happened to run across it in the course of his repairs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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