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Updated 2023-07-12: Hello, Guest! Welcome back, and be sure to check out this follow-up post about our outage a week or so ago.
I bought a pallet of macs
- Thread starter K55
- Start date
Which suggests that he's been gone from /location/ for 15 years or more. It was a nice thought, but I expect he's adapted to the loss by now...
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zimwhatzim
Well-known member
I have always tried to get computers / data back to folks, but they've never responded. I bought a IIGS years ago and there was some PowerBook in the box too that the guy didn't tell me about, or didn't know about. It ended up being his future wife's laptop (it was from when she was in med school). Anyway, there was SO much hilarious content on that thing. Talking about her then boyfriend, lots of recipes etc. I figured it was pretty personal stuff so I found her on Facebook when I was still on that creeptastic site but she never got in touch to get the laptop back. Oh well. Good for you for trying anyway. Keep us posted.
zimwhatzim
Well-known member
Why was a public link redacted? If he put it out there publicly (which he did) it's public information.
Byrd
Well-known member
No, it's because people are stupid enough to throw out a computer and assume all their data goes with it. I've come across countless computers with highly personal information that in the wrong hands could be used quite successfully in identity theft.
I don't really understand why the OP decided to put it up and attempt to contact the owner - chances are they'd give two sh*ts you that you did so
zimwhatzim
Well-known member
I was talking about the guys homepage that is archived. He put all that out there. No need to redact that.
His address is/was most likely in a phone book. That's public info as well. You aren't going to steal someones identity with their phone number and home address.
I agree folks throw out some crazy info though. We deal with identity theft daily at the bank...
People posts their resumes publicly all the darn time. It's seriously not a big deal. You aren't putting your SSN on a resume.
His address is/was most likely in a phone book. That's public info as well. You aren't going to steal someones identity with their phone number and home address.
I agree folks throw out some crazy info though. We deal with identity theft daily at the bank...
People posts their resumes publicly all the darn time. It's seriously not a big deal. You aren't putting your SSN on a resume.
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How I usually handle this is: If the data appears to belong to the person I got the machine from, I'll ask them "Hey, you left old files on this machine, do you want copies of them?" but if the stuff belongs to somebody else I'll just wipe the drive. I'll admit I've found some pretty strange stuff on used computers before, but I wouldn't post any such content publicly.
A few times fears of data security have ended annoyingly for me. Last year, someone local was selling a bondi iMac in nice condition but decided to bail on the sale at the last minute because they couldn't figure out how to reformat the HDD to get rid of their personal data. I offered to do it in front of them or remove the hard drive and give it to them since 4GB IDE hard drives aren't of any great value to me, but they didn't know enough about computers to realize such an action would be effective.
A few times fears of data security have ended annoyingly for me. Last year, someone local was selling a bondi iMac in nice condition but decided to bail on the sale at the last minute because they couldn't figure out how to reformat the HDD to get rid of their personal data. I offered to do it in front of them or remove the hard drive and give it to them since 4GB IDE hard drives aren't of any great value to me, but they didn't know enough about computers to realize such an action would be effective.
zimwhatzim
Well-known member
Depends on how you were going to remove the data. Reformat won't really get rid of it unless you do a multi-pass with zeroing it over.
All that info that was posted by the OP was public. You cannot use any of that, even combined, to steal someone's identity.
All that info that was posted by the OP was public. You cannot use any of that, even combined, to steal someone's identity.
I asked an admin to remove a note I'd made to where someone currently works. I'd then noted that while disparate bits of public information are, of course, public, and thus not subject to a tort action under revelation of private facts, that at least in NJ pulling together bits of public info from disparate sources to a central source can give rise to such a claim. I cannot speak beyond the piece of info I'd asked to be redacted, but there are typically three other common law invasion of privacy torts...
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zimwhatzim
Well-known member
I highly doubt this guy is going to find this particular forum and initiate litigation, lol...but hey whatever you guys want to do. I'll speak no more about it, it's beyond silly at this point and turning into a p'ing-contest real quick. Sorry I didn't have a chance to consult our legal council on this one 
, I only speak from an infosec perspective.
, I only speak from an infosec perspective.
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A reformat won't, but physically removing the drive and giving it to them to destroy as they see fit would ensure that I didn't get their data. This is an option I'd happily offer in most cases of old hardware I want to buy. Probably the only time I really really want hard drives is if they're an odd type that I can't just replace with a CF card/modern SCSI disk/drive from my spare parts bin.
Data on old systems is a touchy subject.
Realistically, the best policy is just to delete it. Don't post about it online, don't make a backup copy for yourself, don't try to contact the previous owner.
Most of these efforts end poorly and in most cases, the good intent is interpreted poorly and the concept/hobby of retrocomputing is often dragged through the mud as a result, with people essentially swearing of the idea of passing along old machines.
There are counter-examples, such as when retro-computing enthusiast's found Douglas Adams' Mac, but that almost never happens. There are probably far more really creepy examples of people who helpfully tried to contact somebody about their old data.
Realistically, the best policy is just to delete it. Don't post about it online, don't make a backup copy for yourself, don't try to contact the previous owner.
Most of these efforts end poorly and in most cases, the good intent is interpreted poorly and the concept/hobby of retrocomputing is often dragged through the mud as a result, with people essentially swearing of the idea of passing along old machines.
There are counter-examples, such as when retro-computing enthusiast's found Douglas Adams' Mac, but that almost never happens. There are probably far more really creepy examples of people who helpfully tried to contact somebody about their old data.
zimwhatzim
Well-known member
Yeah, I can definitely agree with that. It's unfortunate. Folks just want to help, but it's tricky as you said.
K55
Well-known member
Weekly update thing:
Well the guy never responded , maybe Bunsen scared him off .
Anyway I cleared out the van and brought all of the reasonable good quality machines into the extra room in our house.
I started to take apart a plus so I could grab a extra screw and came across this:
Rust in peace xx( . Battery blew and rusted through the case, the motherboard, and the crt. The case was cracked too...
Anyway I started work on the 128k, which was also rusted:
This was fixed after a bath in vinegar, and then rust coated:
It boots (don't have any floppies for it, and it isn't a 2 sided model, and I don't have a keyboard or mouse :-/ )
This had to be the most worstest badish repaired mac I've ever seen. I had to sub in a plus analog board because the flyback transformer on the original was a paperclip soldered onto the wire, the capacitors were all replaced with 50v """made in china""" versions, and the board exploded once I checked everything was working.
DID I MENTION THE FLYBACK TRANSFORMER WAS A PAPERCLIP :O
Anyway I'm going to try and find a mouse and keyboard for the 128k/512k now. If anyone has a offer, pm me something.
Back next week or twoish~~~~ :rambo:
Well the guy never responded
, maybe Bunsen scared him off .Anyway I cleared out the van and brought all of the reasonable good quality machines into the extra room in our house.
I started to take apart a plus so I could grab a extra screw and came across this:
Rust in peace xx( . Battery blew and rusted through the case, the motherboard, and the crt. The case was cracked too...
Anyway I started work on the 128k, which was also rusted:
This was fixed after a bath in vinegar, and then rust coated:
It boots (don't have any floppies for it, and it isn't a 2 sided model, and I don't have a keyboard or mouse :-/ )
This had to be the most worstest badish repaired mac I've ever seen. I had to sub in a plus analog board because the flyback transformer on the original was a paperclip soldered onto the wire, the capacitors were all replaced with 50v """made in china""" versions, and the board exploded once I checked everything was working.
DID I MENTION THE FLYBACK TRANSFORMER WAS A PAPERCLIP :O
Anyway I'm going to try and find a mouse and keyboard for the 128k/512k now. If anyone has a offer, pm me something.
Back next week or twoish~~~~ :rambo:
