FBI informant at Best Buy’s Geek Squad conducted warrantless searches of customers’ devices
By
Zaida Green
14 January 2017
Geek Squad computer technicians working at electronics retailer Best Buy have conducted warrantless searches of customers’ devices as FBI informants, and were rewarded bounties shortly before turning in a device that contained child pornography, FBI records obtained in an on-going court case reveal.
Testimony in the case United States v. Mark A. Retenmaier revealed that since at least 2008, Best Buy’s Geek Squad computer technician teams have had at least one supervisor at its central repair facility in Kentucky that was an active FBI informant.
The case involves material which the FBI knew did not meet the legal definition of pornography, found under circumstances that render it impossible to ascertain who, when, and where the material was acquired, let alone whether or not the device’s owner was even aware of its existence.
United States prosecutors in the case argue that customers who agree to Geek Squad’s data recovery service agreement, which stipulates that devices containing illicit material be turned over to law enforcement, are waiving their Fourth Amendment rights and thus may be subjected to baseless, warrantless searches and seizures by the government.
The FBI paid one such Geek Squad supervisor, Justin Meade, $500 in October 2011, two months before his subordinate, John Westphal, discovered allegedly “inappropriate material” that led to the investigation that is the subject of US v. Rettenmaier .
The FBI did not explain why they paid Meade, who denies any recollection of ever being paid by the FBI. Meade had been collaborating with the FBI since at least October 2008, and had been in regular contact with multiple FBI…