On Thursday, February 6, 2003, at 01:35 AM, Henri Yandell wrote: > I have a question on this one. Do the people who accept computers as > donations accept computers without hard-drives?
Generally, a computer without a hard drive is one that would mean the donator would have to invest in an expensive replacement that often is bigger and more modern than the donated computer. In my opinion, it only would encourage someone to go out and buy a cheap WinTel box that can be picked up new for around $300 for a low end cheapo computer. > With all the [to reuse a phrase] FUD [Fear Uncertainty Doubt] that the > media builds up about people reading our lives from our old hard drives > which we didn't realise we ought to take an ax to, how do people > accepting > computers go about reassuring the person donating that they are safe While this is a valid concern, there are programs out there like norton's system wipe. I would be more concerned with donating a computer to a thrift store where you don't know who is going to get it. Working in a facet of Law Enforcement I see identity theft every day, but I have never seen a case where someone scoured a hard drive for personal information. ID thefts are more low tech than that... you should be more worried what goes in your trash can than what goes on your hard drive. Allen | The next meeting of the Louisville Computer Society will | be January 28. The LCS Web page is <http://www.kymac.org>.
