confidential info on old harddrives.

From: bluoval <bluoval_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Sun May 30 15:15:59 1999

Tony Duell wrote:

> >
> > I wasn't following this thread but here's my opinion.
> > A buy a house and everything it contains. There just happenes to be a treasure
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> There's the first difference. In most cases you're _not_ buying a computer
> and all the data on the hard drive.

If I buy a computer w/ a hard drive, what ever data it might contain is mine also.
The seller is/was responsable for the data on there, not the buyer. the seller
should've deleted what he thought was sensitive information. Unless the data is
copyrighted, I have every right to do as i please with it, which would most likely be
erasure.

>
>
> If I buy a computer and the seller says 'Here's the master disks for all
> the software I installed, and here are the licenses which I'll help you
> to transfer to your name', then I think it's reasonable to assume that
> you're getting that software as well. If he says 'BTW, I've left the
> source code to a <whatever> that I was working on on the hard disk,
> please take a look' then, again, I have no problem in reading said source
> code.
>
> THat is _not_ what we're talking about.
>
> > map in there leading me to a pot of gold. who owns the gold? ME.
>
> Suppose you buy a house+contents. Stuffed down the back of a chair are
> some old personal letters, bank statements, etc. Do you really think you
> have the moral right to publish them? I certainly don't.
>

I wasn't talking about morals. I'd probably find the previous owner and give it to
them, if they wanted it. otherwise I'd trash it. I have no use for old letters and
bank statements....


>
> I must admit that if I bought a computer and found some previous repaired
> had left the schematics or a diagnostic module inside, I might be tempted
> to keep them and make use of them. That's a far cry from personal data,
> though.
>

There have been many books published from people's personal data... diaries, love
letters, ect.. especially items found on/around important dates and events.
Letters/ pictures/diaries from the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WW, WWII, ect...
sketches and drawings for some wacky invention..... all of these things were , at
one time by someone, considered personal data. many times we learn from them. Do
you think these people would have wanted their data published by some person who just
happened to find it in an attic, in a house he just bought? probably not, but
historically they're priceless.
Received on Sun May 30 1999 - 15:15:59 BST