Wipe clean old computer hard drives

8/13/2005

She may or may not still be there, but in 1998 a woman lived in Perrysburg. She was a student at BGSU, and had one son, born in 1990. I'll refrain from revealing the name of the son, as well as any last name or other information that could actually identify her.

The reason I know these things, and more, actually, is rather simple. At some point after 1998, she gave away or sold a laptop computer at a garage sale. As I am a technologist the buyer asked me to look at the computer and, if possible, make it usable.

Left on the laptop computer from 1998 were both the federal and state tax returns for this woman. This included her name, address, date of birth, and Social Security number, a well as matching information for her son. If I was involved in identity theft in any way at all, here were two identities that could be exploited and that were, in effect, given away.

My course of action, luckily for her, was to securely erase the entire hard drive with a privacy utility.

I actually could have retrieved much more information about the woman. As it is, I hope this is sufficient as an urgent warning to all of us that we really don't need to make it easy for others to take advantage of us. Shred your private papers, and wipe electronic devices clean before disposing of them.

You might not be as lucky as she was.

Mitch Gorsha

Sylvania

First of all, I mourn the 19 marines from the same battalion, out of the Cleveland area, who lost their lives in Iraq.

As a former Vietnam Army combat veteran, my heart goes out to their families. When we lost men in our company, they were generally from different parts of the country and states. To have lives lost from the same state and area is, I believe, unconscionable. Too many of their lives could interconnect.

The Department of Defense needs to find a way to separate these men into different units in a war zone.

This is not being done yet, as far as I know.

They are dropping the ball on this.

ROGER SEIBENICK

Sylvania

The Supreme Court has been a supreme joke going back as far as the Dred Scott decision in 1857. In its ruling, the court upheld slavery.

No matter who is selected to be on the court, the decisions rendered will be like "Halloween": trick or treat.

NATE WASHINGTON

Bricker Avenue

Weapons of mass destruction? Not there. Mushroom clouds? Nope. Iraq connection to al-Qaeda and 9/11? Not so. Iraqi insurgency in its final throes? Fourteen Ohio soldiers killed.

I say keep George Bush and impeach Dick Cheney!

Anthony Thiros

Lambertville