BY BILL O'BRIEN
TRAVERSE CITY -- Her first sensation was shock, then violation.
Almost three years later, Kaylee Hall remains hurt, angry and embarrassed that an employee at Best Buy in Traverse City lifted intimate photos of Hall from her computer and spread the images to co-workers.
The incident prompted Hall to file suit against the Minnesota-based Best Buy, a case that's headed to trial this summer.
"I'm just as upset (now) ... just the feeling of being violated and taken advantage of, on top of the fact that they won't take responsibility for it," said Hall, 23, a full-time student at Northwestern Michigan College.
Court filings state that Hall took her computer to the Traverse City Best Buy in late June 2005 to remove a virus that infected her desktop personal computer. She picked it up several days later, then returned it because the problem wasn't fixed.
The company in turn told her the computer couldn't be repaired.
That fall, Hall learned from a friend who worked at Best Buy that intimate photographs she'd taken for her boyfriend popped up on the store's main hard drive computer after a "Geek Squad" worker found the photos and uploaded them on a flash drive.
The employee, William Giffels, 42, of Traverse City, admitted copying the photographs in a written statement filed with the court. Best Buy subsequently fired him.
"I really have nothing to say in my defense. I should never have copied them in the first place," Giffels' statement read. "It was dumb, and I regret that lapse in judgment. I have placed Best Buy in a precarious position, both legally and 'reputationally.' "
Giffels could not be reached for comment.
The suit alleges the photos were uploaded to the company's main computers, and eventually downloaded to other customers' computers. The lawsuit alleges the company was negligent in employee oversight and failed to inform Hall that her photos were shared around the store.
"It's also our position that this type of conduct was foreseeable, and they should have done something more to guard against it," her attorney Paul Sortland said. "It's a tremendous invasion of privacy."
Best Buy's "Geek Squad" is a subsidiary of the electronics chain that offers computer-related services and accessories to residential and commercial clients. Its employees work both in the stores and at remote locations and also provide telephone service support.
Best Buy spokeswoman Paula Baldwin would not comment on Hall's lawsuit, but the company instituted several measures to increase data security for customers. Best Buy conducts random "precinct audits" on Geek Squad departments around the country to affirm that customer data is being stored according to company procedures.
Best Buy also is installing new hardware and software to increase security and privacy for customers' computers, and is conducting more employee training.
"As you can imagine, a number of years have passed now and a number of significant improvements have been made," Baldwin said. "Best Buy company-wide makes a concerted effort to protect our customers' privacy."
But time hasn't healed Hall's wounds. She remains "overwhelmingly" worried about how far her personal images have been spread in the cyber world. She's hesitant to talk about the incident, but said she wanted to forewarn others about potential privacy violations.
"I thought it was worth it for the public to know this could happen," Hall said. "The company never notified me about any of this."
Hall's isn't an isolated incident. In August, a newspaper in California published an interview with a former Best Buy "Geek Squad" employee who said co-workers downloaded personal photographs and music from personal computers brought in for repairs.
Computer experts said there are steps consumers can take to protect their digitized personal information. Tim Gillen, owner of Terrapin Networks in Traverse City, said file encryption software is available to protect sensitive data, and computer owners can keep their personal data on an external hard drive.
He also recommends consumers have computers serviced by technicians they know and trust.
"It kind of becomes a management issue for the place you're taking it," Gillen said.
In Hall's case, her attorney this month asked a Minnesota judge to allow her to seek punitive damages against the company. A decision is pending. The case is scheduled for a jury trial in mid-July.
