Those of you replacing computers might want to think about the following
item, from the NewsScan list (www.newsscan.com). There's a bunch of
programs out there that will "wipe" a hard drive clean. One is included in
Norton Utilities, but there are also many freeware and shareware ones. (Do
a Google search on "free drive wipe program").
Jon
JUNKED HARD DRIVES YIELD LOTS OF PERSONAL DATA
MIT graduate students Simson Garfinkel and Abhi Shelat bought 158 hard
drives at second hand computer stores and eBay over a two-year period, and
found that more than half of those that were functional contained
recoverable files, most of which contained "significant personal
information." The data included medical correspondence, love letters,
pornography and 5,000 credit card numbers. The investigation calls into
question PC users' assumptions when they donate or junk old computers -- 51
of the 129 working drives had been reformatted, and 19 of those still
contained recoverable data. The only surefire way to erase a hard drive is
to "squeeze" it -- writing over the old information with new data,
preferably several times -- but few people go to the trouble. The findings
of the study will be published in the IEEE Security & Privacy journal
Friday. (AP 16 Jan 2003)
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20030116/D7OJBBBG0.html
Jonathan Falk
Pine Tree Folk School
RR 2, Box 7162
Carmel, ME 04419
(207)848-2433
<http://www.ptfolkschool.org>
**Folkschool-list archives are at:
<http://www.mint.net/folkschool/helpnet/archives.htm>
Sponsored by Pine Tree Folk School
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