At 01:25 AM 4/7/98 -0500, you wrote:
>> Except, that people may feel it's easier (and/or safer) to just destroy the
>> machine than it is to try and make sure no one can read their data. What
>
>It's rarely done, most people aren't that superstitious of electronic
machines.
Perhaps not in the past, but now that the average village idiot is using
quicken and tax programs... They may not have used Dad's imsai, but they
don't know that his old tax returns aren't in that old box.
>> I agree that people should be responsible for their own data, but I also
>> feel that we, as collectors, need to hold ourselves to a higher standard,
>> so that people will feel comfortable giving us their old machines.
>
>If they actually gave us the machines. Most times they're swapped or sold
cheaply.
Whether or not they give them for free or for $, they have to feel
comfortable doing it, or they won't do it.
>Bad similarity...no one is paying you for confidentiality.
Okay, surely you know someone to whom you don't tell anything personal
because you know it'll be all over the office/neighborhood/local news
within the hour. If people don't believe they can turn over their
computers without having to worry about their tax returns showing up on the
internet, they won't do it.
>> Most of the people here probably know how to wipe a hard drive so it can't
>> be read. (My best guess is a low-level format, then fill it with worthless
>> data? Good thing I have nothing to hide!) But the average AOL user
>> doesn't. When Grandpa passes on, you don't want the grandkids trashing all
>And many have had to use level 3 read/write data destruction if they've
worked for
>the government. If the goverment is required to insure a clean machine to the
>point of even installing a new hard disk prior to public sale, why should the
>average Joe be protected in his or her sloppy handling of their private
matters.
>If you get right down to it they risk public viewing just by installing
anything
>on the hard disk and connecting to the net.
I'm not advocating responsibility for the user's sake. If you care about
the neighbors seeing you nekkid, pull down the damn shades. The reason I
advocate it is because I don't want my neighbors boarding up their windows
because they don't know if pulling down the shades is enough.
I don't want people trashing significant machines because they heard about
someone who knew someone who had a friend who heard about someone who gave
a computer to a collector, and then those quickcam pics of the wife au
naturel (that he thought he deleted) ended up on the 'net. Whether or not
its true, and whether or not someone has pics like that, doesn't matter.
The technoidiots will trash machines rather than take any risks.
Don't believe me? Ever heard of the Good Times virus?
>Not more of the one, but a picture or two of each machine. I realize
you're just
>working on the site but a picture really makes the site interesting to
those not
>familiar with the machines. A prefect example is the dual drive on a
Rainbow. How
>many people can even grasp the thought of putting a floppy in right way in
one
>slot, upside down in the other?
I'm working on that. I've got 6 rolls of film to go to Price Club this
week. Then I have to scan them, edit/crop/resize them, build a list of the
pics (with dimensions and captions), come up with some snappy text, look
for some links, and dig up the specs of the machine so I can build the web
page. Whew. Don't worry, I'll get there. 8^)
--------------------------------------------------------------------- O-
Uncle Roger "There is pleasure pure in being mad
roger_at_sinasohn.com that none but madmen know."
Roger Louis Sinasohn & Associates
San Francisco, California
http://www.sinasohn.com/
Received on Wed Apr 08 1998 - 00:25:23 BST