19 Jan
2012
19 Jan
'12
8:41 a.m.
--- On Wed, 1/18/12, Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net> wrote:
So if people brought him all those computers with the
understanding they'd be recycled .... but instead he kept
that all for his personal enjoyment, and now he's trying to
make a huge profit from them .... that smells bad.
How? A recycler isn't bound by any kind of law that says that everything they take in,
they must destroy - except for the individual cases where there are contracts with, for
example, the government, to destroy sensitive equipment. If you bring a PC to a recycler
to get rid of it, there is nothing wrong with them reselling it, or selling the parts,
etc. That's why it is *your* responsibility to erase any sensitive information off the
hard drive first.
It's just like a junkyard. They buy wrecked/broken cars and sell them for parts or
scrap metal. For example, I recently needed a mirror for a Camry. I bought one on eBay
from a scrap metal dealer. Someone probably wrecked the car and sold it to him, and
he's harvesting parts off it and selling them at a profit. I'm happy, because I
got a mirror cheaply and easily, and he's happy, because he sold me a mirror.
Tell me where this is a problem? It's how the whole surplus/scrap market works. There
is nothing at all wrong with a recycler profiting by selling used machines or parts.
It's what they do for a living. If it weren't for surplus dealers, and recyclers
selling useful stuff, this hobby would be a hell of a lot harder.
-Ian