Watch this disturbing video about office copiers

[kenny]

Wow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKr5WgVVN8

 

[Enerchi]

WHOA! that is scary... hmmm it does give you pause for thought.

 

[lulu]

I had no clue. Thanks Kenny!

 

[JewelFreak]

Yike! And now all the i.d. thieves who didn't know about this source are well informed, thanks to CBS. Spooky stuff.

--- Laurie

 

[Enerchi]

Yike! And now all the i.d. thieves who didn't know about this source are well informed, thanks to CBS. Spooky stuff.

--- Laurie

I know! sometimes, the balance between inform the masses so they can protect themselves vs. "lets tell criminals a whole new technique" ---- gets a tad blurry!

It does cause you to ponder... what happens to "my" company's photocopier when they replace it??? At least --- that thought went thru my head! Yikes!

 

[iLander]

So for those that didn't want to click through, the CBS news video shows that every copier has a hard drive, and that hard drive stores am image of every copy made on the machine. This is horrible news, especially if you dispose of a copier. Ever.

Kenny, why do you think this is? There's no reason to make the hard drive retain this information. It could be a temporary memory, that holds the image only until the machine is turned off. No need for a perpetual record.

I don't know about anybody else, but this sounds like "Big Brother" to me. Is this why, whenever they prosecute white collar criminals, you see the news team standing in front the building and an officer is behind them wheeling out the copier?

 

[kenny]

Kenny, why do you think this is? There's no reason to make the hard drive retain this information.

While I'm not certain I can speculate ... follow the money, as they say.

A copier scans a page once whether you want one copy or 300 copies.

If there was no hard drive then when printing 300 copies it would have to run the scanner 300 times, causing great wear and tear on a scanner mechanism which I'd guess is much more expensive than a hard drive.

The link says they DO make copiers that can erase the data after the copy job is done but those cost $500 more and buinesses are all about profit not kindness.
But I think the more the word gets out the more pressure there will be on companies to get these newer copiers that are not potential lawsuits on wheels.

 

[TooPatient]

Kenny, why do you think this is? There's no reason to make the hard drive retain this information.

While I'm not certain I can speculate ... follow the money, as they say.

A copier scans a page once whether you want one copy or 300 copies.

If there was no hard drive then when printing 300 copies it would have to run the scanner 300 times, causing great wear and tear on a scanner mechanism which I'd guess is much more expensive than a hard drive.

The link says they DO make copiers that can erase the data after the copy job is done but those cost $500 more and buinesses are all about profit not kindness.
But I think the more the word gets out the more pressure there will be on companies to get these newer copiers that are not potential lawsuits on wheels.

The office copier I used at work had much less memory. We could have upgraded it to be larger, but that was expensive. The memory allowed the machine to accept large faxes, scan large documents, etc. It was a great benefit that it didn't delete the memory when shut off as it had to re-boot mid job some times and the memory allowed it to just keep going again.

That said, it is disturbing to think about all the information that could be gotten out of a machine like that.

The machine I used to work with had a menu that I was able to go in and clear all of the memory. I did that about once a month. Security never crossed my mind. I had to do that or the memory would be all filled and the machine wouldn't work right.

 

[JewelFreak]

Is the memory truly deleted, TP, or is it like a computer hard drive -- just cleared to record over previous data? I'll bet whatever is there could be retrieved with a forensic program, even if "deleted," like a regular computer.

In the video somebody said the memory is there because some businesses (and certainly gov't agencies) run off the same forms a zillion times -- say, monthly -- & it's more efficient to press a button to activate it.

I don't think it's unkindness, Kenny, so much as unintended consequences. Makers should include a hard-drive wiping app & I hope this publicity will get them to do it. OEM cost to them would be a couple bucks, which customers would pay willingly.

--- Laurie

 

[kenny]

I'm certainly no computer expert!!!

But my understanding is when we "delete" something, or throw it in the trash and even "empty" the trash on a Mac the data is not "gone", it's just harder to get to.
That data's location on the hard drive is merely made available to be written over in the future if needed.
Computer geeks can still get to the data we "deleted".

BUT, if you format a hard drive all the existing data get removed and overwritten with just empty space.
I believe if you do this even the FBI, CIA and even Steve Jobs' ghost cannot get back the data that used to be on the hard drive.

If I'm wrong someone please correct me.

 

[Tuckins1]

Wow. I used to work in a doctor's office when I was in college, and when I think about all of the things that went on that copier...

 

[VRBeauty]

My workplace follows privacy protocols that include requiring every employee must take privacy and data security training every year, and (drum roll, please) setting every copier so that stored data is erased once a copy job has been completed. (I can see this in action; a little "data erased" message flashes on the copier display.) I assume similar protocols exist in the medical, financial services, and other fields that are legally required to protect customer privacy.

The rest of you are on your own.