Back in the 90s, I was a tech. Not at Best Buy, but at a few local computer shacks and at one bigger chain store. Your typical post-high-school jobs for a nerdy kid.
Every once in a while, we'd run across a porn stash on a customer's computer. Not intentionally, but people leave stuff laying around on the desktop, and you would see porn folders pop up from time to time cloning a filesystem, or something like that. Yes, we would sneak a peek sometimes - I mean, free porn, and back then modems were not so fast. The best was when someone had a really good MP3 trove off of Napster, I mean, gigabytes took a LONG TIME to get to you otherwise.
Well, it happens. If you are paying someone to dig through your computer and recover a hard drive, we are going to randomly click through your folders if for no other reason than to make sure that your data is still intact. IDGAF about your family photos, or personal documents, or whatever. Plus, you are handing your computer to kids that probably got the job from developing their tech skills doing dirt at school.
In any case, once, I found a stash of kiddie porn. Just lying on the desktop, too, not even concealed. Not a pleasant thing... I'm not taking about "Officer, I swear she said she was 18" porn, I am talking about children being raped. Horrible stuff. We called the cops, the cops called the feds, they staked out our backroom all day, coached us on what was going to happen, what to say when we called the dude to pick up the computer, the whole bit. Dude got arrested very quietly in the back of the store, and I really feel like the world is a better place with that creep locked away. Hopefully he got some help, or at least, was prevented from encouraging / participating in horrific child abuse for a while.
So, normally I am a strong proponent of civil rights, search and seizure laws need to be tightened, &c, &c, but, fuck that guy. You got CP on your box, you need to be taught the error of your ways. Some lines, you do not cross.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by cpaintnogood.
(untitled comment)
Back in the 90s, I was a tech. Not at Best Buy, but at a few local computer shacks and at one bigger chain store. Your typical post-high-school jobs for a nerdy kid.
Every once in a while, we'd run across a porn stash on a customer's computer. Not intentionally, but people leave stuff laying around on the desktop, and you would see porn folders pop up from time to time cloning a filesystem, or something like that. Yes, we would sneak a peek sometimes - I mean, free porn, and back then modems were not so fast. The best was when someone had a really good MP3 trove off of Napster, I mean, gigabytes took a LONG TIME to get to you otherwise.
Well, it happens. If you are paying someone to dig through your computer and recover a hard drive, we are going to randomly click through your folders if for no other reason than to make sure that your data is still intact. IDGAF about your family photos, or personal documents, or whatever. Plus, you are handing your computer to kids that probably got the job from developing their tech skills doing dirt at school.
In any case, once, I found a stash of kiddie porn. Just lying on the desktop, too, not even concealed. Not a pleasant thing... I'm not taking about "Officer, I swear she said she was 18" porn, I am talking about children being raped. Horrible stuff. We called the cops, the cops called the feds, they staked out our backroom all day, coached us on what was going to happen, what to say when we called the dude to pick up the computer, the whole bit. Dude got arrested very quietly in the back of the store, and I really feel like the world is a better place with that creep locked away. Hopefully he got some help, or at least, was prevented from encouraging / participating in horrific child abuse for a while.
So, normally I am a strong proponent of civil rights, search and seizure laws need to be tightened, &c, &c, but, fuck that guy. You got CP on your box, you need to be taught the error of your ways. Some lines, you do not cross.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by cpaintnogood.
Submit a story now.