[Hidden-tech] Re: Recycling dead computers?

[Will Loving]

As one who has collected computers for use in Zambia and elsewhere in the
developing world, I have to express a certain degree of dismay at the
suggestion that people remove the hard drive and destroy it by putting a
nail through it. While this may completely deal with any security concerns
regarding data that may be scavenged from the hard drive, it also makes the
computer essentially useless except for physical level recycling.

Taking a computer apart for it's raw materials is a form of recycling, but a
higher level of recycling means extending the life of the computer and the
initial energy and resources that went into creating it. A comparison can be
made to cars in that a well-maintained used car is often the most energy
efficient vehicle to own over it's lifetime (taking into account the
resources required to build it). Similarly, the best 'recycling' means
making a no longer needed computer available to someone else who has need
but cannot afford new or even used equipment.

Any computer that is powerful enough to run a relatively recent web browser
(say Netscape 4 or IE 5) is of use, especially in developing countries.
While there are some programs, especially in the US where a devoted
individuals can take any equipment at all and scavenge the correct parts to
make something work, this is simply not practical for computers going to
Africa and elsewhere. The technical resources, background and know-how do
not exist where these computers are going.

To make a donated computer be of use to the receiving organizations -
usually schools and NGOs - they must be fully functional including having a
hard drive and installed OS. World Computer Exchange, with whom I have
worked for a number of years, requires this at a minimum. The cost to
diagnose, test and repair non-functional machines on this end is prohibitive
and the task of finding spare parts or even being able to download drivers
and patches (usually over a dialup connection) is beyond the time and
technical resources of most NGOs.

Having said all that, I understand the concerns of people about the data on
their hard drives. In my experience, it is extremely unlikely that anyone
receiving your old computer in Africa will have the knowledge necessary
scavenge the drive for personal data of any value, especially if you use
some of the suggestions that others have posted and to wipe the drive and
then do a clean system installation from the original install disk.

I would consider the chance of it happening far smaller than the likelihood
that your trash collector or paper recycler  coming by once every week or
two, will pick through trash and find useful personal data. It's not that
the data isn't in there if you looked hard enough, it's just not worth the
effort. Pair that highly unlikely scenario with the opportunity to help
someone who could really make use of your computer, reduce your carbon
footprint and extend the life of the material resources used and I think the
choice is clear.

To see a slideshow of donated computers in use in Zambia, go to
http://newvisionforafrica.org  The slide show is a couple of years old and I
will be updating it in the next few weeks to shows the results of 6
additional cargo containers (about 2400 computers) arriving at schools in
Zambia.

Will

Will Loving, President
Dedication Technologies, Inc.


on 5/23/08 2:04 PM, Chris Woods at cswoods at gmail.com wrote:

> Hey Chris,
> 
> That's true about Mac OS X secure erase although I have found that
> when I get to end of life (this was on Tiger) the amount of memory I
> had was insufficient to overwrite/buffer all the non-OS sectors (it
> kept locking up in the middle; disk corruption can cause this too) so
> I went to the hammer and nail method (the materials can be recycled
> just as readily in that form) which takes only two or three well aimed
> blows ;-). Also, 35 overwrites is time consuming (maybe 20+ hours)
> which may or may not be decisive for some folks.
> 
> Keeping things simple for folks on the list, without a sector by
> sector scan there is no telling what might be leftover on the disk
> even when NSA approved techniques are used. I would expect them (NSA)
> to scan each disk sector after employing Mac OS X secure erase to
> verify the result. Otherwise, the possibility remains that there is
> lingering data. For that reason, the nail through the platter method
> provides reasonable piece of mind for an otherwise invisible process.
> Alas, Windows folk have no secure erase feature but hammer and nail is
> platform independent.
> 
> 
> Chris


-- 

William M. Loving
Dedication Technologies, Inc.
7 Coach Lane
Amherst, MA 01002-3304   USA
will at dedicationtechnologies.com
Tel: +1 413 253-7223   (GMT ­5)
Fax: +1 206 202-0476