A 2017 prosecution of a California doctor charged with possessing child
pornography revealed that the FBI had been tipped off by a Best Buy
technician the doctor had paid to service his computer; the technician
had searched his computer and then provided evidence to the FBI,
sidestepping the need for the FBI to obtain a warrant.
The trial revealed that this was a routine activity for Best Buy’s
service technicians, who were given cash bonuses by the FBI for
undertaking detailed forensic examinations of customers’ devices without
their knowledge or consent and without any particularized suspicion.
EFF filed a raft of Freedom of Information requests about the practice,
and has published a lengthy analysis of what we know about the Best
Buy/FBI collaboration, and which areas remain murky.
They show that Best Buy and the FBI collaborated for at least a decade,
and confirm that Best Buy technicians were given secret cash bonuses for
rooting around on customers’ computers. FBI agents were given tours of
Best Buy service centers, and engaged in “parallel construction” where
they’d use tips from Best Buy to secure warrants, without revealing to
their investigation subjects that the initial info had come from
technicians who had effectively been deputized by the FBI to conduct
warrantless, suspicionless searches.
