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Subject:Re: What about OLD computers?? From:Dossy Shiobara <dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:34:01 -0500
Nancy Allison wrote:
> Our local Boy Scouts troop collects unwanted electronics and recycles
> them. "Shredding" of hard drives is offered as a security measure.
>
> I'm not sure what that means -- must ask -- but surely a bin of teensy
> hard drive fragments would be pretty daunting for all but the most
> determined spook or hacker.
... or, bored teenager who has nothing else to do other than surf
MySpace/Facebook and sift through computer junk.
_Allegedly_, when I was a teenager, many youths spent their free time
brute-force hacking corporate voicemail systems, calling card numbers,
credit card numbers, and so on. It's amazing what an intelligent,
determined and curious teenager can accomplish in a few months given ~8
hours a day (those hours between 3:30pm and midnight), seven days a week.
I don't know where this "determined hacker" stereotype comes from. It's
the bored teenager you have to worry about.
--
Dossy Shiobara | dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com | http://dossy.org/
Panoptic Computer Network | http://panoptic.com/
"He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
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