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You are here: Home / Tech News / Opinion: The FBI shouldn’t be doing this…

Opinion: The FBI shouldn’t be doing this…

Posted on September 27, 2020

Have you ever taken your computer into Best Buy to have their “Geek Squad” crew check it out and repair it if needed?

If so, the computer technician who worked on your machine probably searched your hard drive to see if there was any child pornography on it.

And guess what? Had they found some the FBI would likely have paid them to turn you in.

You’re probably thinking that having computer techs help the FBI catch people who create, distribute and view child pornography is a good thing, and I certainly don’t disagree. But I do believe it’s a very bad idea for the FBI to be paying them to do it. 

When law enforcement at any level pays computer technicians to turn in folks that have illegal content on their computers, that gives the techs a strong incentive to “find” someone to turn in every now and then to earn some extra cash, which begs the following question:

What’s to prevent a dishonest tech from planting child porn on an innocent customer’s PC in order to turn him/her in and collect the bounty?

You might be thinking that the FBI would be able to detect that the illegal files were copied onto the hard drive at the time the computer was in the shop, but it really isn’t that simple.

It’s quite easy to fake a file’s time stamp so there’s be no way to know for sure exactly when any given file was created.

Just to be clear, in no way do I mean to imply that the Geek Squad is manned by an army of dishonest technicians. I have no doubt that the vast majority of them are honest and decent people who are just out to earn a living for their families.

But the above being said, the actions of just one dishonest tech can send an innocent customer to prison, and that’s one too many in my opinion.

I believe that every computer technician has a moral obligation to report any child pornography they see on a customer’s computer to the authorities, and in some states they are even required to do so by law.

But I also believe it’s a very bad idea to be paying them to turn people in.

In my opinion, this is one situation in which the use of a “stick” (laws requiring techs to report child pornography) makes a lot more sense that using a “carrot” (paying a bounty as an incentive for making a report).

Bottom line: Child Pornography is absolutely detestable for numerous reasons, but there are better ways of fighting it than giving dishonest techs a monetary incentive to “create” a crime that could send an innocent victim to prison.

I also believe the “stick” approach would be more effective, especially if the law says the tech could be punished for NOT reporting the illegal files.

Do you agree or do you think I’m missing the mark?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this. Please feel free to leave a comment and express your opinion on this post on my Facebook page.


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