• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

A perfect example of stupidity

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Zenmervolt said:
Because if you notify them in a very memorable way, they won't make that mistake again. While I agree that a simple, "Hey, just wanted to know that I picked up a discarded external HDD for repair and it turns out that it's full of your personal data, including SSN and banking details" along with a link to a good system-wiping software (like DBAN) would be a bit more "polite," I can completely see the argument in favor of "shocking" the person into better security habits.

ZV
Click to expand...
No good deed goes unpunished. If you send a shocking email, he'll track you down and have the police arrest you for identity theft. It's really in your own best interest to not send him anything.
 
ShawnD1 said:
No good deed goes unpunished. If you send a shocking email, he'll track you down and have the police arrest you for identity theft. It's really in your own best interest to not send him anything.
Click to expand...

If you send the E-mail I described, he can't have you arrested for anything, especially if you mention that you've wiped the drive.

Hell, even if you send the fully shocking E-mail, it's still not identity theft since the identity theft statutes all require criminal intent. An E-mail letting the person know that their information is out there is slam-dunk evidence that there's no such intent.

ZV
 
D1gger said:
I am getting rid of two old computers this weekend, but the hard drives will be destroyed before being taken to the recyclers. There are just too many good data recovery programs out there and neither of these computers currently will boot, so it makes it tough to use DBAN or another truly secure formatting tool.

It is amazing how often it does happen that data is simply left lying around on old storage devices.
Click to expand...

I took three computers to Salvation Army last weekend. The hard drives got the disabled by my sledge hammer.
 
Atomic Playboy said:
Maybe his mother threw it out without asking him. Happened to me when I went away to college (fortunately it was just a monitor and not a hard drive, but I have no doubt she wouldn't have erased anything if she had simply pitched all my computer parts).
Click to expand...
I'm glad my mom listens to me about computer stuff. 🙂
At one point, she was concerned about donating an old computer to Goodwill because of snippets of information she got from me over the years about data security. I's so proud. 😀

Yeah it's not 100% foolproof, but DBAN is a pretty safe bet. 🙂

But wow, at the very least, still qualifying as negligent, do a quick format. It'll at least look empty.

And as far as my home PC goes, I run RAID 5, and any sensitive data is encrypted. One drive wouldn't be of much use, and even having all of them would likely require having the proper controller available.


ShawnD1 said:
No good deed goes unpunished. If you send a shocking email, he'll track you down and have the police arrest you for identity theft. It's really in your own best interest to not send him anything.
Click to expand...
"And if you try to backtrace this and report me to the cyberpolice, and they show up and forcibly remove me from my house, software running a timer-dependent deadman switch on a remote server will activate, and post a link to a ZIP file of your "private" pictures to 4chan's /b/ section. Have a nice day!"
 
Last edited:
kranky said:
Honestly, I don't see any necessity for them to be able to do that. Give me someone who understands the big picture and doesn't know how to hold a screwdriver rather than a hardware pro who doesn't understand architecture or data structures.
Click to expand...

Yea, hopefully they have enough money to hire someone to fix the machines running their precious apps. Book smart, no sense. F that.
 
I have a drill press and collection of bits for this purpose. Once I can't use them, nobody else can either 😀
 
SlowSpyder said:
People are dumb. People also do not realize once something is deleted doesn't mean it's gone...
Click to expand...

It is staggering how little care people show towards their personal information once its on a computer - right down to the cleaverly named 'passwords.doc' file.

I shudder to think to think about all that information flaoting around out there because of stupid/poor information security practices
 
JulesMaximus said:
BTW-I have some IDE hard drives lying around my house that are probably well over a decade old. I'd never throw those out. Wanton desctruction for the lot of them!
Click to expand...

This is my problem. I have a few IDE hard drives stowed away but I did not erase them before storing them. Now, I don't have an IDE interface handy anymore to get on and erase them if I wanted.
 
LOL! Funny to see how this thread was resurrected...

@Dennilfloss: same-old, same-old.

Sorry folks, no more pics... Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted to see them, anyway.
Naked fat (and hairy) people, or fat (and hairy) people having sex = disturbing. I can't imagine anyone thinking that snapping such images is a good idea, because the rewatchability factor is ten to the minus one thousand. My eyes still sting from all the Lysol... 😀

In the end, I'm glad that I got a free HDD enclosure and a good lesson in privacy; being able to pass that lesson around and getting a funny story out of it was an added bonus. And many of your comments were priceless. Thanks for playing!

Oh, by the way - did you guys know that the newest version of the freeware CrapCleaner does a pretty thorough job of erasing/deleting/formatting hard disk drives, up to (and including) NSA specifications?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top