Let this be a lesson to you - make sure you fdisk your hard drive before selling, donating or scrapping.
-Trevor
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
fdisk doesn't actually zero out the files. It only wipes out the file allocation tables (or whatever they're calling them in your system). So someone with the right software tools could STILL get the content of your disks after a mere fdisk operation. You would need to zero it all out. There are utilities that can do that - including Explorer Plus and Power Desk, both of which I have happily used.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Not even that does it sometimes. There are many programs that allow you to find files on a hard drive, even if it's been low level formated (zeroed out) up to 10 times. But the problem here is more that she asked them to backup a bunch of files on her old computer and the techs were stupid enough to move them to one of the floor models, which was then sold with all the data still on the hard drive. This is why you 1. Don't buy computers from major retailers. 2. Don't expect major retail technicians to know what they're doing (This includes Geek Squad, for those who were wondering).
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Degrees of relative security.
Someone with enough motivation and the proper equipment can potentially salvage data, unless you take exceptional precautions.
Short of melting down my hard drive, I suspect anything I do to securely delete my data will only slow down a motivated NSA search.
However, simple precautions are a relatively quick and easy means of ensuring nobody will accidentally stumble across your data, intact and ready to be used.
Its the difference, I think, in locking your car door, lojacking your car or leaving the door unlocked with the keys inside and the motor running.
Chain stores Don't buy refurbished or floor-displays. I have and will probably continue to buy new computers from chains, but I don't buy computers that have been in use by someone else.
And this is, of course, hoping the machine you picked up hasn't been opened, used and then repackaged. But I think a chain is less likely to do this than a disreputable mom-and-pop store.
And don't expect quality excellent tech support - sometimes good is too much to hope for.
-Trevor
Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :
I disliked Circuit City. I feel really bad for the lady. I dont know if i would be "emotionally" unstable or whatever she claimed to be. Even if someone was reading my journal. Its only one person..
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
When I gave my old, dead computer away, I zeroed the drive, then used a system utility that writes random data over the entire drive something like seven times, and then zeroed it again. And I was giving the computer to someone I trusted. A former Hatracker, actually. If I was trading it in, I would probably have gone through that whole process two or three times. You can never be too careful when it comes to your data.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
If it was limited to her journal, maybe.
I don't know the extent of what information she had stored on her machine, but if it included things like tax returns, her SSN, bank account information and so on...that could be more complicated.
Circuit City might win this legal contest, but it would be like protesting a rape charge by claiming to be a pedophile.
The bad press from this may seriously impact their tech support center, particularly in light of growing fears about identity theft.
-Trevor
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
This is just another example of how the corporate world, in almost all cases, feels that it should not have to take responsibility for anything, ever. I'm kind of really tired of business having all the rights and individuals having all the responsibilites pushed off on us.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
And that makes the corporate world different from the rest of us how, exactly?
I don't recall the last time someone stood up in court and said, "I confess your Honor. I did the crime and I await your sentence."
Most of us have done the "but it's not really my fault because..." dance at least once in our lives. The people running the company are not much different in that respect.
-Trevor
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
The problem is, the corporate world often gets away with it, even in very serious situations. And even when they don't "get away with it", penalties are seldom that serious, and are usually civil in nature. The individual executives that perpetuate abuses rarely see any consequences; when any individual is held to account, it is someone much lower on the corporate ladder. In the very rare instances where corporate leaders do have to take some responsibility, they are quickly "rehabilitated" and suffer no lasting personal or financial harm.
Individuals, by whom I mean real people, not corporate entities, at least in serious situations, rarely escape responsibility even in situations that are inadvertant or accidental in nature.
I know that I will take heat for this position, because corporate entities are considered sacred in the United States. But I think it is a real problem that corporations, the fictional "corporate person", seem to have more rights and are expected to take less responsibility for their actions than real, actual people.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Actually, I don't think you'll take any heat for your position.
Unless someone will correct me, I don't believe we have any rabidly pro-Big Business posters on this forum.
But I think Big Business gets away with it more often because they have the deeper pockets to fight the lawsuit if they deem it necessary.
In much the same fashion that wealthy individuals can bog down legal proceedings in court and take apart the prosecution's case point by point because they can throw enough money at the issue to cloud, distort or spin the interpretation of facts in such a way as to create reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. (sorry if I started rambling here - I have a headache forming)
This is not to say, nor do I believe you implied that Big Business is always at fault. The Wendy's story last month is a perfect example of why companies go rabidly defensive first and then sort out the particulars.
-Trevor
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:Unless someone will correct me, I don't believe we have any rabidly pro-Big Business posters on this forum.
I can think of at least two, although not what you'd call prolific posters. Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Pffft - fine, just go ahead and prove me wrong.
-Trevor
Posted by hugh57 (Member # 5527) on :
What you're seeing here is a situation where Circuit City found themselves in a legally questionable, perhaps even untenable, position, and now they expect their lawyers to get them off the hook. All this mumbo-jumbo about "expectations of privacy" is just lawyerspeak for "My client is in trouble and I'm paid a lot of money to get them out of it. This argument is the best I've come up with."
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I'd just like to take this opportunity to say that I've been to that specific circuit city several times and bought things from it.
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