Isn't that just ducky. What was I saying this morning about Big Brother? Sometimes it seems as though the science fiction stories I read in my youth are coming true.

14 years ago I was working a highly confidential proposal that was going to be presented to the Dept of Energy. We had flown into the town where the presentation was to take place but while in the air, several slides were changed during a dry run. Enough slides that we couldn't just swap out pages so, we had to rerun 23 sets of a 300+ slide presentation. The only vendor in this little town was also running copies of the other two competitors.

I spent 25 hours straight (i.e., no sleep whatsoever) watching the guy and making certain his files were deleted the best he could after the entire job was done. He was a super nice guy and seemed honest but business is business so we took the precautions.

Jodi-

According to the news report you can purchase a copier that automatically deletes the image. However the problem is that most people are unaware that it even saves the image.

Ugh - is it Armageddon yet?

The clincher was the CEO from a Sharp division confirming that this is a bomb waiting to go off. (My words, not his.)

Yes saw a report about it a while bak but forgot about it I wonder if our home scanners and copiers do too.

I saw that on TV and was shocked. It's scary to think that government copiers and those of hospitals, courts, etc. are surplussed when obsolete...and the confidential information is there for the taking. It is so easy for foreign governments or terrorist organizations to buy used equipment and learn all our secret and personal data.

Maybe a division of the I R S might buy the old ones? Before they get to the terrorists?

I thought better of the additional comment that popped into my head - drat that naughty mind!

o j

What is the point of a copier making and retaining a hard copy? Can't that be eliminated on new machines?

Chisue, it's not a hard copy, it's a digital copy.

Minnie, yes, the printing/copy machine at home have this feature too.

Chisue, the copy/printing machine have this feature in order to make multiple copies of the same item/page much faster.

It save information temporarily in the "Temporary" folder. It can be in our computer or in the "buffer" of the copy/printing machine. We can set it to delete it at a certain time (such as daily) or we can search for that "Temporary" file in our computer or copy machine and delete all the files ourselves.

Let me put it in simple terms. All digital devices: Computers, copy/printing/scanner machines, microwaves, digital cameras, etc., have memory storage components to store data. In instances where the data are not personal, there's no harm, such as in the microwave. But in instances that stores personal information such as in the computers, digital cameras, cellular phones, etc., we need to be careful in how we dispose these computerized machines.

Remember, even if we delete the data, it is still there. It doesn't disappear. It's just meant that the particular portion of the memory is allowed new data to override over it. Only then, the deleted data would be gone from the storage unit.

Yes, that is true. That is why most copiers now double as Fax machines and printers. The copy is saved to a hard drive and can be emailed, printed, faxed or copied. Kinda makes you wonder when you use the local convenience store machine to copy or fax.

Copiers have been saving digital copies for years.

I would NEVER use a local convenience store or library copier if I wanted to copy something sensitive. Never, ever. I'd rather take it to work because I at least have some confidence that when the work copier's lease is up, someone will delete images from memory. That's how it's been handled where DH and I work (different employers). And, yes, in larger companies, copiers are leased - not purchased.

At the agency where I work, all of the multifunction copier/printer/scanner/fax machines are set to wipe the data on a specific schedule. All hard drives, no matter the source, are put through a DoD wipe before being destroyed.

Thanks for the full information. I've been concerned about wiping my personal computer before recycling it in the past. This is 'way scary.

Why do they use hard drives? The age old answer. Money. Hard drives are cheaper memory than RAM (random access memory) that should be used and would be deleted upon power down.

And just writing over the data doesn't mean the data is destroyed either. I've done enough forensic data recovery to know that.

"And just writing over the data doesn't mean the data is destroyed either. I've done enough forensic data recovery to know that."

That's why we use the Department of Defense wipe on all hard drives, then destroy the drive.