When I asked the question it didn’t dawn on me that there would be an answer, never mind a perfectly plausible if utterly sleazy one.
On Friday I did an item here about a sting conducted by The Consumerist in which a Geek Squad tech was caught red handed ripping off naughty bits and bytes from a customer’s PC.
“Who the heck steals porn?” I asked, “I mean any 12-year-old can find all anybody should want for free.”
Had anyone pressed me for an answer to my own question I would have fallen back on the old bromide about mountain climbing: because it’s there.
However, Consumerist editor Ben Popken did more than merely speculate; he got an answer from a guy who knows a guy who … Anyway, from Popkin’s interview with “hashand”:
Hashand: I used to work at a computer repair place. All the stuff you’re finding isn’t limited to Best Buy. We had a 2 TB server of MP3s.
The problem is that management at these places typically aren’t that tech literate and the techs are underpaid skeeezy comp-sci majors. One guy actually resold to amateur porn sites with what he found. A 4-year degree for $9.50 an hour and that’s the kind of “great attitude” you end up with.
Benpopken: Precisely the scenario I envisioned, reselling to amateur sites.
It’s not often that I make the mistake of underestimating the despicableness of my fellow man.
