Information Privacy am I paranoid?

[sandbox 0]

Hi everybody, I ran into an interesting situation the other day, and I want to see what you guys think. One day I found an abandoned computer case and monitor sitting next to the dumpster at my apartment complex. Being the compassionate computer lover that I am I couldn't just leave it sitting there all alone awaiting its doom, so I wrapped it in swaddling clothes (okay, not really) and brought it back home to live with me. Inside I found a hard drive, floppy drive, motherboard, modem, graphics card, RAM, CD-ROM, processor, power supply, internal cables, etc.--all ten fingers and toes!After putting on my safety goggles (okay, not really, but safety first kids!) I plugged it in and turned it on, but alas, the computer did not respond. I replaced its power supply with one from my own computer, and WHAMMO, the thing came to life with a windows logon and everything.And I mean, everything...pictures, names, addresses, phone numbers, chat conversations, and on and on. I couldn't believe anyone would be so careless with their information. I've only recycled one computer, and I formatted the disk first. I try to never use the same password twice on two different accounts. Sometimes I even switch account names when I go from one place to another. Is this paranoia, or good information hygeine?I know that privacy is a touchy subject, but I'm curious how careful everyone else is with their information when they go online. Have you ever stumbled across anyone else's information on accident? Have you ever had your identity stolen?

[Gyad 0]

Wow...Thats lucky.I felt bad for the guy who threw his computer away though.CoughStupidCoughI think he's lucky that you won't do anything with this info. (I think...)I never had my identity stolen, but I did get hacked somewhere.

[sandbox 0]

I think he's lucky that you won't do anything with this info. (I think...)

185725[/snapback]

Yeah, I deleted everything. I was curious at first, but then I felt so creepy so I deleted it. Yuk!

 

I'm no angel, but I tend to try to do the right thing. It could have been very messy for this guy if his info ended up in someone else's hands.

[Galahad 0]

Damn, some people don't think at all :(You could've sold that info for some good money :D just joking :PThis guy, or a girl, was more than lucky to stumble accross you, and you being you, deleted the info... But, if it were some kid, who has the hots for hacking and cracking, and he stole his/hers identity... That woul've been very, very messy...I try to take care about my information, what info I give to people, and how much, is by my own choice, and thankfully (knock-knock-knock on wooded desk), my identity was never stolen (or at least I think so )The fact is, times have changed, and you should even be carefull who you give your name to, because everyone is trying to scam something, here and there... People should pay attention on their privacy... But, not to exagerate either Not telling anything to someone, for long time, can have counter effect on people :(Privacy, privacy, and more privacy

[OpaQue 15]

WAS IT A P4 ?? I bet it has to be an old P2 or P3(if you are lucky!) :PAnyway, I will never throw my computer in that way.. Well, Atleast I had an old P3. after setting up a new machine, I gave the old PC to one of my relatives. And Also did a nice format so that no personal stuff was left in it :-)

[sandbox 0]

It was an AMD K6-2 400, I think. If it was a p4 I might have given it back to the guy! Can you imagine? Um, excuse me sir. I believe this is your computer. Are you sure I can have it? Okay, so I'd probably keep it, finders keepers and all.

[FuChelle 0]

Wow! Whoevers computer it was is really lucky that no-one else found it first. I could never even imagine being that careless with my information. I would guess that the previous owner didn't know that much about computers, and when the power supply wasn't working, they just figured it was all completely useless and just chucked it, not realising it could be fixed.You're also very lucky you found it. You got a free computer!Onto the privacy issue, I'm with you. I'm very careful with all of my info. I have a system with my email addresses and stuff that I'm signed up to, and their passwords...they're not all different but I try to make it so no-one who knows one of my accounts can get into another one using the same password. I'm also very careful with the info I store just on my computer...I have a certain family member who has a tendency to go though and check out everyone else's info that they have stored on the computer...Very annoying, but I guess in a way it's good because it makes you more aware of ways in which you can protect your own info.Whoevers computer you found is very, very, VERY lucky! Jugding from what you found on the computer, they weren't aware of what other, less honest people, can do with them....or they just weren't expecting someone else to be able to pick it up and use it.

[bsdpowa 0]

Exactly what I wanted to say.You could use that information and make some $$$ with it.Dude, use common sense! Do you really think anyone else would be so kind and remove your privat data if he would found your computer and take it home? Na-aaah! "Don't do others what you wouldn't like others to do to you" - that is BS in my opinion.If people would stick to that there wouldn't be wars, hunger, murders...today.Do whatever it takes in order to survive, because we know only one law on Earth, the law of jungle, strongest survives.OK, I've gone too far now but what I want to say is that you should use wisely what you get because you may never get second opportunity.

[Jesse 0]

Well there is no way I would be picking things up from the side of a dumpster. There are some things that are on peoples PCs that can cause them a lot of pain and heartache if the information was leaked out or given out to someone else.You got the PC thats fine, what I would have done personally though is reformatted it and not even looked at what was on there. It could have been a company PC or anything.

[brainless 0]

congrats to your free computer =) deleting everything would only be my second choice, something similar happened to me a couple of months ago in one of the university's computer rooms:I went in to use a pc and noticed that someone left a floppy disk hand-labelled "University" in the drive. Knowing that some people consider storing their data on a floppy disk (or, more modern people: a CD- or DVD-RW) and carrying that around is all they need to protect their data from accidental deletion or loss (or even unauthorized access), I had a look at the data on it.I've been able to figure out whom this disk belonged to within a couple of minutes and sent the owner an email that I've taken care of the disk and would drop it off at their doorstep somewhen later that day...well, this person was, as she wrote me the other day, very lucky: On this disk was the only copy of her Doktorarbeit (the "old" --the last Doktorarbeiten will be written in 2009-- german version of a Master's Thesis), which she's already been working on for some months...