privacy concerns

**metaljacket** · 11-14-2011, 06:01 PM

Ok, the idea is to let my son handle the esscrap part of the business but I will help him bird dog for computers etc. In talking to a client that I have worked with for years whose wife is a physician I mention that I am getting my son involved with ewaste. He has no clue but I explain and he indicated that when his wife moved into recent medical facility there was a closet full of computers and servers. He hired part of the moving crew to clobber the computers etc. with a shovel and ruin the hard drive and the balance was pitched into the dumpster because he was rightfully concerned about privacy concerns and patienc information etc.I wonder how many times that has been done. he went on to mention that he had computers in the attic for same reason.

Now I am sure that this is a computer escrap 101 quetion but am not naive enough to post this without having tried to research though the archives. However did not find relevant information after entering search criteria such as hard drives, privacy concerns, legal issues and others.

So if someone could give the correct search criterias I will do my homework or if someone would like to volunteer the information It would be appreciated.

**metaljacket** · 11-14-2011, 06:14 PM

As in the example above assuming I had been able to purchase the computers or simply pick them up does the buyer or aquirer give some sort of guarantee that any private information would be erased or destroyed or is that solely the responsiblity of the owner.

**TheFatMan** · 11-14-2011, 06:43 PM

First off when it comes to the medical field, they have HIPA in place. It's a system where all personal information must be discarded of properly. Second of all, when it comes to taking information off hard drives, just use a magnet. Take the HD out, run a magnet all on it, scrap it out and tear it down. The end. It's relatively simple. Aside from setting a HD on fire or melting into a nice filling for the dentist, you can pretty much get anything off a hard drive if it's been reformatted or not. They have a dozen million utilities for doing this. Best way I know of is with a magnet.

**Ewasted** · 11-14-2011, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by TheFatMan

First off when it comes to the medical field, they have HIPA in place. It's a system where all personal information must be discarded of properly. Second of all, when it comes to taking information off hard drives, just use a magnet. Take the HD out, run a magnet all on it, scrap it out and tear it down. The end. It's relatively simple. Aside from setting a HD on fire or melting into a nice filling for the dentist, you can pretty much get anything off a hard drive if it's been reformatted or not. They have a dozen million utilities for doing this. Best way I know of is with a magnet.

I can't say I agree with the above.

When dealing with HIPAA, "just a magnet" isn't exactly compliant... i posted something earlier on another thread. You need to do due diligence with this stuff. You DO NOT want to cut corners with something that not would destroy your reputation, but can put you behind bars.

**parrothead** · 11-14-2011, 07:18 PM

With Hippa, it might need to be done on sight. No biggie, bring enough tools to get to the hard drive ind destroy the data right in front of their eyes. there are various means of doing this, and there have been a couple threads on here about it, but not a bunch.

**Mechanic688** · 11-14-2011, 09:04 PM

Aside from setting a HD on fire or melting into a nice filling for the dentist, you can pretty much get anything off a hard drive if it's been reformatted or not. They have a dozen million utilities for doing this. Best way I know of is with a magnet.

If your reselling the H.D. then a Military Wipe will do it. If your breaking the H.D.'s down then you can do like Fatman said or simply take a stack of platters and drill a couple of holes in them. Still sellable for reclaiming purposes.

**TheFatMan** · 11-14-2011, 09:27 PM

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

If your reselling the H.D. then a Military Wipe will do it. If your breaking the H.D.'s down then you can do like Fatman said or simply take a stack of platters and drill a couple of holes in them. Still sellable for reclaiming purposes.

Drilling them out is a genius idea. Niiiice. I'm stealing this and running with it.

**Mechanic688** · 11-14-2011, 10:11 PM

Drilling them out is a genius idea. Niiiice. I'm stealing this and running with it.

That way no one can put them in another H.D. and spin them to retrieve any info. On good one's we use the military wipe and it makes it so nothing is retrievable. If it's good enough for the D.O.D. then it's good enough for us,,,lol

**Ewasted** · 11-15-2011, 06:52 AM

I think what you guys aren't understanding is these units must be destroyed beyond reasonable doubt. Any doubt can still drag you into court and start your legal fees ticker. Drilling a whole doesnt eliminate the data. My friends lab can retrieve data off of a platter the size of your pinky nail.

Regarding the onsite work, you may want to make sure you meet the insurance requirements of the client. What happens if you leave a piece behind and someone trips and falls because of it?

I don't want to stop you guys from making money here, I do want to play devils advocate and try to keep you safe.

Regarding DOD, what about failed sectors that arent overwritten? Can you prove there are no failed sectors? These are questions you would get pegged with on a stand under oath.

**Torker Man** · 11-15-2011, 08:46 AM

I just give the hard drives back to the client, up to them after that.

**ARCOA** · 11-22-2011, 09:24 PM

There are no legal requirements regarding destroying hard drive data as far as scrappers go. The owner of the hard drive is responsible for destroying the data. HIPPA requires that medical offices destroy the data on the drive prior to it leaving the office. If someone gives you a computer to recycle you have no legal responsibility to destroy the data on the hard drive of the PC. UNLESS!!! Unless you have provided them with a written guarantee of data destruction. The owner of the PC is responsible for their own data.

Now moving on, look at it realistically. Is someone hanging around outside your scrap yard trying to grab hard drives to send to Nigeria where someone can recover the data? Probably not. If you sell a used un-wiped hard drive on eBay are there legal concerns? No. Moral concerns? Yes. If you want to look at the R2 Standard for electronics recyclers you can handle drives in a number of ways. 1. Shredding 2. Data Wiping 3. Degaussing 4. Drilling or Punching a hole through the platters. The standard basis it's requirements on wether or not the average geek will be able to recover information from the drive after you have done whatever method you use to the drive. Can information still be recovered from those drives? Yes but only if you work for one of the worlds largest spy agencies. Very few people in the world have the technology to recover information from a shredded or hole punched hard drive.

Use common sense. If the hard drive had your information on it what would you do with it. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. A very simple rule to follow. Be reasonable about it. Is the KGB going to try and get info off of that hard drive? Just ,make sure the average computer geek and can't get info off of it.