The amount of PC repairs I've had brought to me after they had already been to another repair place.

The best way to clear this problem is educate the user, I always ask the user if they would like to know how to fix the problem themselves, financially bad for business but excellent for the reputation, which can in turn bring in more business so to a certain extent balances out. Generally speaking they aren't that hard to get to grips with, with most users their fear boils down to the scaremongering the industry does with it's terminology.

of the Sky researcher (in her bikini) to back this claim?

"As soon as we became aware of Sky's investigation we suspended Laptop Revival. It will be given an opportunity to respond but if no adequate explanation is forthcoming Laptop Revival will be expelled from the association".

So bloody what? Do they think the average bloke in the street checks that the PC shop he's taking his computer into is part of this association?

If Sky have proof that this happened, then why aren't the police involved?

"that its investigation showed that abuse of trust within the laptop repair industry in the UK might be much worse than previously thought"

Only previously thought by people outside the IT industry. When I had a faulty laptop I took it back, having run the rescue CD and left it with a clean Vista install (which showed the problem fine) and the shop said "But you've wiped the hard drive". I don't think they liked being told that I didn't trust them with my personal data. Would you trust most of these places, including PC World, with personal data? Seriously?

i have been asked to recover over 27 gigs of pictures for a young female from a dying HDD

Still having trouble recovering but from what i have i can see thumbnails being built so i dont need to check every picture !!

As soon as i mentioned the work i was doing i was asked to upload most of the pictures

Anon yeah well obvious really

Thought by whom? Certainly not me or anyone else who works in IT for a living.... I would not go to a PC repair shop no matter what.

It's no surprise that the data snooping occurs, and that's why whenever I've had to send my laptop for repair I've swapped the hard disk for one with a clean windows install on (or sent it back with no disk at all).

The real WTF is that five out of six of these companies failed to find and fix the actual fault. SHAME ON THEM!

encrypt it.

firefox->master password

documents ->truecrypt (OSS)

Trust noone.

"Sky either misdiagnosed the fault or overcharged for repairs."

That was the only sentence I extracted from that bulletin.

...you see, us computer know-it-alls get ripped off and screwed over by your average car repairmen, your builders or plumbers and your personal financial adviser maybe.

Everybody else gets ripped off / screwed over by all those above AND your average PC World, sorry "Tech Gays" lackeys.

Definitely something to be said for doing all PC / house / car repairs yourself! Sure it means getting down and dirty with some horiffic repair manuals, but think of the savings, to your dignity that is!

.

Everybody raise your pint to those who think hitting the delete key is sufficient to erase all evidence of your BDSM porn addiction!

"He called over a colleague to view the images. "

How do they know this? Was their software recording audio/video as well? If so then it's verging on an invasion of privicy and is almost certainly illegal.

Paging Simon Travaglia...

Come on then!

Where's the link to the bikin clad Sky lady on the beach?

From the BOFH and the PFY!

Please provide us with copies of the mentioned photos so that we may ascertain whether this was reprehensible or criminal behavior and whether this warranted the suspension of said computer repair firm.

Well of course the excuse is going to be that they are searching for child porn if they get caught out.

Still naughty of them to do stuff like this.

By the way, did El Reg get a copy of the Sky reporter photos? :-D

Rob

...monitors behaviour of your friendly repair gorilla even if the laptop is powered down or the DIMM is unseated.

On second reading, it becomes clear that the assorted Gnomes of the Repair Cave of Evil have to fix the machine first, then boot it up, log in, and only then they fall into the trap ... aww!

And this is why anyone with a shred of sense always avoids those sorts of places, and looks to their local computer geek, or friends kids who have a clue. Since I was a kid I was the person people came to when they needed someone to check their computers.

However you'd expect places like this, that are a member of some "official" association would have more stringent checks, especially in this day and age of data theft.

All in all, not that surprising, but still a shock to those who just think a computer is something you get from dell to use the interweb.

You should always clone the drive of any PC brought in for repair BEFOR looking for porn etc!

There is a video from the sky if anyone want to see that

Here is the link:

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Computer-Repair-Shops-Illegally-Accessing-Personal-Data-From-Customers-Hard-Drives-Sky-News-Investigation/Video/200907415343630?lpos=video_Article_Related_Content_Region_1&lid=VIDEO_15343630_Computer_Repair_Shops_Illegally_Accessing_Personal_Data_From_Customers_Hard_Drives%2C_Sky_News_Investigation

nipple clamps as workware just like a grounded wrist strap

Its on the Sky news web site and the photos must of been good looking at the techie's(?) eyes. And they used the web cam to take still pictures of the offending.

....and at an Apple store too!

Once put my Macbook in to the local Apple store to have the keyboard replaced. When they gave it back the genius booted it and it was still in Firewire Target Disk Mode. The guy was at a complete loss to explain why anybody would have needed to use it as an external drive just to replace the keyboard (he was quite sure that backing it up would be my responsibility, not theirs) and the 'genius' who actually worked on the laptop refused to come and speak to me and explain himself.

Fortunately I'm the paranoid type and had completely rebuilt the thing before putting it in for repair so all he got was a fresh Leopard install and some awkward questions.

It is not about shops not being able to diagnose the problem, is about fraud and privacy infringement.

One of the shops after pushing the memory module back on the laptop called offering a motherboard replacement. Then the offer was refused, they short SOLDERED some memory pins together to replicate the fault.

Problem is that the source used for this article is not a good one.

Here:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/262978/exposed-the-pc-repair-shops-that-rifle-through-your-photos-and-passwords.html

I've had people bring me their PC to fix after having been ripped off by one or other of the local "pros" at prices which usually run well into three figures for the privilege of not repairing anything, cracking the case (if it's a laptop) and stealing a few screws.

At the same time the queue of gringos who want you to "take a look" at their machine because "it's running a bit slow" and "doesn't work properly" and they think it "might" have a virus, never gets any smaller. The one thing they're always fucking sure about however is that it's just a five minute job and that you'll to do it for the price of a couple of beers (if you're lucky).

Oh, dear! Codes of conduct! It's just because the financial services industry is governed by codes of conduct and guide lines rather than laws that bite, that the world is in the state it's in now.

As other have said, before handing your PC to a service centre of any kind, make sure there's nothing on it at all.

As for the chimps, if they were in any way knowledgable, they'd have booted from the portable Linux distro of choice before looking at the drive thus avoiding any spyware/surveilance measures. Pah! Amateurs!

This is not about incompetent shops, it's about frauds.

One of the shops spotted immediately what the problem was and soldered pins on the memory slot together in order to replicate the fault after the "customer" refused to go on with a "motherboard replacement".

Point is that the article this The Register story is incomplete, there is another article with a lot more details also on the kind of software used, just google for:

"PC repair shops that rifle through your photos and passwords"

Hmm doesn't appear to be many actual IT repair business here.

I as a sole trader repairing computers and provide training, etc. and I must say I provide a 100% confidential service. I wouldn't think of searching a customers computer.

I suspect all these people are less-than adequately trained or empowered (I hesitate to use the word 'engineers'). There _has_ to be a strong element of trust between the customer and the engineer.

Sure I've came across things in my 20 years experience. But I don't go around telling people about it!

The IT industry is still young. I believe it needs to develop a similar level of agreement as Lawyers and Doctors have with their customers. It may develop this trust in time. But it's a long way away if this story is to be believed.

Look up the Shark News site if you want juicy stories of custards. You'll find none from professionals like me.

my repair man is too busy to bother with wasting his time on searching for tit-bits or just tits on my computer.

@blackworx: You know that's my experience exactly!

There's a computer shop a matter of 20 yards from where I live that has a reputation for charging ridiculous amounts of money and not fixing anything. A typical example was from my neighbour - his mum's computer wouldn't go on the Internet so she phoned the computer guy who turned up at her house, replaced the modem (at £35 per hour + £10 callout) and left. It didn't work, so he came back again (£10 callout + £35 per hour) and put on a BT Click DUC and left. It still didn't work, so he came back AGAIN (£10 callout + £35 per hour) and after much fiddling decided he couldn't work out the problem and gave up. Total cost: £135 to NOT repair a Packard Bell PII-350 (in 2007). I lamented my neighbour's stupidity in not suggesting my services instead and offered to look at it for nothing. Firstly, there was nothing wrong with the old modem. Secondly, the BT Click DUC used an out of date number and so was useless. Thirdly, the Freeserve Dial-up account hadn't been used for 5 years, ever since the original owner (neighbour's Dad) died. I set up a new ISP account and had the machine on the net within 30 minutes of walking through the door.

Another computer shop around the corner to where I work has a similarly terrible approach to customer care. One guy wanted a laptop with a MIDI port on it, they sold him an ancient P-133 with Windows 95 and not so much as a USB port, let along a joystick connector. Another walked in to buy some videos (it's also a second hand shop - go figure) but they said she should get DVDs instead because videos are old fashioned. She said she didn't have a DVD player, so they sold her an antique PII-233 laptop with Windows 98 for almost the same cost as a brand new P4 for her to watch DVDs on. She wasn't savvy enough to know you could buy a DVD player in Lidl (or Superdrug for that matter) for £20. In both cases the laptops had incorrect drivers installed and even the odd driver missing altogether. The police also suspect the shop to be trading stolen goods but can't prove it because nobody writes down the serial numbers of their electronic goods or marks anything.

In regards to privacy, sometimes there is a need to look at personal data, but ONLY when you've been instructed to by the customer. I always make of point of asking if a password is needed to get into the PC and if they want any data saving in the (rare) event of having to reinstall. I only look at documents and photos when it's a data recovery job, and even then only a couple to check that the recovery is working. I tell the customer to check for themselves and notify me if they still need help. I never look at anything I've saved prior to re-installation, and I tell them their data is only kept on our storage server for a maximum of 30 days, in case anything wasn't transferred back. Again, it's up to them to notify us, and data is prompted deleted - we need the space!

I'm always saddened by stories like this (and I too wondered how the Gary Glitter story missed the fact that the engineer had clearly been snooping without need) but this is also a poignant reminder of what happens when other people get hold of our data. Human beings cannot be trusted! (That includes the Government and the Police).

Rant over, been a long weekend. Gonna grab a pint or two (or more) and get ready to roll straight back into work tomorrow. :(