Will Apple see pirated files when transferring my files to a new computer?

[lil666jrkatz]

Exactly what the title says. I bought a "BlackBook" last Friday and they came out with new ones yesterday (ARGH!!). Anyway, I'm returning mine to exchange it for a new one. I was wondering: will the people at the store see any pirated files or they won't really be looking at my files, just running some software to transfer everything? Should i back up to an external then format my HD?

Thanks a lot

 

[Tallest Skil]

It'd be a lot easier if you just didn't pirate things.

While this forum may not agree, I do not condone paying for any version of Windows. I also do not condone pirating it. I condone borrowing a multi-license copy from your friends or using a copy from your place of work. I personally will never buy Windows and will not let that stop me from playing games in it.

 

[methodmano]

They will not go through your personal files during a transfer.

 

[TimJim]

The employees arent aloud to go through your passenger files.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

What do you care? Its won't be your computer (problem) anymore. Not to mention, I know that any kid working at an Apple store making $8/hr is gonna give a care about whats on your *returned* computer.

 

[marykay9507]

The employees arent aloud to go through your passenger files.

I doubt they even have time-- they probably just set it up to transfer and walk away from it and then check up on it from time to time.

 

[priller]

I'd delete anything personal or illegal, there's plenty of cases of employees looking through customers computers and calling the police.

 

[lil666jrkatz]

I'd delete anything personal or illegal, there's plenty of cases of employees looking through customers computers and calling the police.

Please don't call me an idiot, but I hope you are being sarcastic, right?

 

[richard.mac]

make a new Admin account with no password and tell them to use that when they ask for your password (make sure you turn off automatic login!). this is perfectly acceptable. they dont care that you dont want them looking at your personal files.

 

[priller]

Please don't call me an idiot, but I hope you are being sarcastic, right?

No, haven't heard of any apple employees doing it but why risk it?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...-porn-trafficker-in-slammer-for-10-years.html

 

[Macky-Mac]

Just the other day there was a thread here posted by somebody who was upset beecause the repair tech used the poster's computer to play around on myspace. I find it hard to believe that some bored repair guys don't occassionally amuse themselves by looking around to see what's what on the computers they're repairing.

Back up you stuff before you take your computer in for repair.......and remove anything you don't want others to see!!

 

[DizzyRose]

How will they know if it's pirated in the first place?

You could possibly put any files into an encrypted .sparseimage file, and don't add the pass to keychain.

 

[HLdan]

It's not the Apple employee's duty to report a customer to the police for stealing software even if the software is Apple's own product so they can't do that. The only thing that will happen is they will refuse support for the software. However pirating software is not something I would ever recommend telling people about including this forum because it's not something to brag about.
I will now take this time to recommend that the OP start buying Mac software so OS X will get more support from the developers.

 

[chrono1081]

Depends on the tech.

It all depends on the tech working on the computer. Most people dont care what you have and wont look, most have pirated software themselves and some may see you have some and want to "borrow" it. As far as calling the police the only time Ive seen the police called is in child pornography cases (like one someones desktop) or stolen computer cases where if a tech find its its the law to call police. (This is personal experience). But from pirated software goes I doubt they would say anything.

As far as pirated software it will always be wrong but a lot of people have done it, myself included when I was younger, now that I am older I buy my software or occasionally I will try software from a pirated copy only to buy it later if I like it (although its still wrong for me to do so).

 

[agentphish]

Why not purchase the new one, transfer your own files, securely format and then return the old one for a refund. No love lost on your credit card.

Good luck.

 

[whooleytoo]

I don't know about Apple Stores, I remember a company here taking a Mac into an official Applecentre years ago for repair, only to find an in-house software package that had been on their hard drive was pirated when it was in for repairs!

 

[GimmeSlack12]

No, haven't heard of any apple employees doing it but why risk it?

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...-porn-trafficker-in-slammer-for-10-years.html

Haha, I don't think the OP is concerned because he has child pron on his machine. This is your source for people getting arrested for the items on their computer? A little over the top don't you think?

 

[Nabooly]

Yes, yes they will. And when they do, they have a little red button under their desk, which makes a call to the police (similar to those in gas stations). Don't expect to make it out there without handcuffs (depending on how much pirated material [porn] you have on there )

 

[priller]

Haha, I don't think the OP is concerned because he has child pron on his machine. This is your source for people getting arrested for the items on their computer? A little over the top don't you think?

No, its the fact that they can & do look through your files.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

No, its the fact that they can & do look through your files.

Right, I hear you on that, but the chance that they'll arrest anyone for having an illegal copy of MS Office is approximately 0%. Seriously, I find it kinda funny the OP was jittery about this in the first place. Dude, relax. It's like someone being worried about the RIAA actually suing them for downloading music. The odds are definitely in your favor.

 

[priller]

I agree that they won't call the police over pirated files, I didn't mean it sound that they would. Just an example of employees going through customers personal files.

 

[RedTomato]

This is a more important question than you might think. It's not just about hiding your naked Tomb Raider jpgs.

As a school governor, I sometimes have confidential documents on my computer. Legally, I'm responsible for not allowing other people to have access, even accidentally, to these documents without reasonable cause.

My father is a doctor, and he also has to be careful about patient files and client confidentiality.

There is also the UK Data Protection Act, which means if you have a mailing list or any list of people's names/addresses/contact bumbers, that you have collected (with their permission), and it's stored on your computer, then you can't let a third party see it.

I don't think it applies to your personal Address Book, but it might apply to the memberlist of a Yahoo group or Google group that you set up, where subscribers don;t see each other's addresses, but you hold the master list.

As mentioned, a password protected Zip file, or disk image will work, or backing up to an external and deleting the original.

Am not sure about setting up an Admin account, as I think the Admin has access to all other accounts.

 

[richard.mac]

This is a more important question than you might think. It's not just about hiding your naked Tomb Raider jpgs.

As a school governor, I sometimes have confidential documents on my computer. Legally, I'm responsible for not allowing other people to have access, even accidentally, to these documents without reasonable cause.

My father is a doctor, and he also has to be careful about patient files and client confidentiality.

There is also the UK Data Protection Act, which means if you have a mailing list or any list of people's names/addresses/contact bumbers, that you have collected (with their permission), and it's stored on your computer, then you can't let a third party see it.

I don't think it applies to your personal Address Book, but it might apply to the memberlist of a Yahoo group or Google group that you set up, where subscribers don;t see each other's addresses, but you hold the master list.

As mentioned, a password protected Zip file, or disk image will work, or backing up to an external and deleting the original. …

good advice. encrypted disk image is the way to go IMO

… Am not sure about setting up an Admin account, as I think the Admin has access to all other accounts.

by default another Admin account only has access to the public folder (and maybe the sites folder) in another users's home folder. so if you store your files in the documents folder or music folder or whatever, the other Admin account wont have access to those files. the account can however read the home folder so dont store your private files in the home folder directory. only root has access to every file on the system and this is not enabled graphically by default.

 

[digitalnicotine]

I don't condone pirated software. The child porn example is not the same by any stretch, because that is a criminal offense, whereas stealing software is a civil offense? There will be no arrests made, whether or not they discover pirated software on your laptop. The worst case scenario would be them informing the software company, as some do have sections on their website to report this type of activity.