The right way to treat customers

There was an entry on these pages the other day titled Computer repair shops browsing customers' files which addressed the recent news about someone arrested for having kiddie porn on his computer.  He had been turned in by someone he had hired to service his computer.  I am definitely not defending the possession of kiddie porn, but it seemed oddly intrusive that someone hired to work on a computer was browsing through the customer's personal files.

Ed Coyne left a refreshing comment to that post which I wanted to bring to the surface, as follows:

I own a computer repair business in San Angelo. I can't imagine ever having to look at pictures or documents on a client's computer to solve ANY kind of computer problem. The only thing I require my clients to sign is a "data loss waiver". I would think that "effective consent" would still limit the computer repair shop to file access only having to do with the repair at hand.

Thanks for leaving that comment, Ed.

I really have to appreciate his respect for his customers.  He can be found at Angelo PC in San Angelo, Texas.