Old Data

From: Aaron Christopher Finney <aaron_at_wfi-inc.com>
Date: Mon Mar 30 22:42:43 1998

On Mon, 30 Mar 1998, Seth J. Morabito wrote:
> I'm curious to know how people deal with old data found on systems
> they rescue/restore. The question was put in my mind recently by

A very important question for people involved in this hobby....

It kind of depends. I am a sys admin professionally right now, so I too
have a religion based around the personal privacy of users. But as the guy
responsible for what information people have access to, I am well aware of
what's on any systems that are sold/given away. Certainly something
important would have been backed up (Hubble stuff) but something sensitive
would almost certainly been erased. My company images and stores medical
records, about as sensitive as you can get. Short of the magnetic eraser,
any drive that leaves my immediate line of sight gets wiped as clean as I
can get it. Scientific/technical information that I come across I like to
look at, and sometimes it inspires me to learn what the heck they're
talking about. I'm not going to make copies and send it to the Chinese
government or anything, so I don't see any harm done by it. Of course any
personal mailboxes or notes get erased before my curiosity even knows they
ever existed.

Some people have looked at me like I was the most depraved criminal in the
world when I mentioned reading about this or that electronic device or how
interesting the schematic for a doo-dad was on an old system. It's a
personal choice, and they are responsible for putting it in your hands
anyway. Just have a little respect for personal privacy and use your own
judgement.

Aaron
Received on Mon Mar 30 1998 - 22:42:43 BST