Forecasting Global Generation of Obsolete Personal Computers

Obsolete Computers

There’s a ton of great information here from the Environmental Science & Technology Journal… following is a brief synopsis from their web site, click the link for further information… good reading for just before bed time… it gets pretty technical… The long and short of it… There are a lot of obsolete computers out there, and the outlook is for an increase.  Environmentally sound recycling practice is a critical issue

E-Scrap 2010: Emerging economies, growing waste stream

Electronic waste (e-waste) has emerged as a new policy priority around the world. Motivations to address e-waste include rapidly growing waste streams, concern over the environmental fate of heavy metals and other substances in e-waste, and impacts of informal recycling in developing countries. Policy responses to global e-waste focus on banning international trade in end-of-life electronics, the premise being that e-waste is mainly generated in the developed world and then exported to the developing world. Sales of electronics have, however, been growing rapidly in developing nations, raising the question of whether informal recycling in developing countries driven by international trade or domestic generation. This paper addresses this question by forecasting the global generation of obsolete personal computers (PCs) using the logistic model and material flow analysis. Results show that the volume of obsolete PCs generated in developing regions will exceed that of developed regions by 2016−2018. By 2030, the obsolete PCs from developing regions will reach 400−700 million units, far more than from developed regions at 200−300 million units. Future policies to mitigate the impacts of informal recycling should address the domestic situation in developing countries.

Source, References and Credits.

Information security is serious business… It seems that it takes events like the one described here by Evan Francen at FRSecure, to get peoples attention… but wait… “This could never happened to us”…. really?

Victims:

“patients who received medical services at South Shore Hospital – as well as employees, physicians, volunteers, donors, vendors and other business partners associated with South Shore Hospital – between January 1, 1996 and January 6, 2010″

Number Affected:

“approximately 800,000″

Types of Data:

“individuals’ full names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, medical record numbers, patient numbers, health plan information, dates of service, protected health information including diagnoses and treatments relating to certain hospital and home health care visits, and other personal information. Bank account information and credit card numbers for a very small subset of individuals also may have been on the back-up computer files”

Breach Description:

“Back-up computer files containing personal, health and financial information of thousands affiliated with South Shore Hospital may have been lost by a professional data management company.”

The rest of the story…

About FRSecure:

FRSecure LLC is a full-service information security consulting company. We are dedicated to providing value to our clients through well designed, implemented, and managed information security solutions. Our mission statement:

We take the time to understand our client’s business and align information security initiatives with their goals and objectives. In so doing, our clients benefit from solutions that help to drive business and add to the bottom line. Information security does have to be a cost center.

FRSecure works with businesses of all sizes, in all industries. We understand that our clients are in business to make money, so we design secure solutions that drive business, protect sensitive information assets, and improve their bottom line.

Jul 14, 2010 | 04:50 PM

By Tim Wilson
DarkReading

Two Major Breaches Caused By Loss Of Physical Media

Online attacks might be getting more sophisticated every day, but two incidents last week are reminding the industry that the loss of physical storage media is still among the most common causes of data breaches.

Recent studies indicate that the theft of physical media remains one of the most common causes of data breaches. Both AMR and the California DHCS have discovered that the hard way.

read more…

Scandal: Most “Recycled” Computers are Not Recycled
posted by Howard Fosdick on Wed 7th Jul 2010 16:58 UTC

Last month, I described how the computer industry encourages planned obsolescence in order to sell more product. This business model exacerbates the problem of computer disposal because it artificially shortens computer lifespans. This increases production and, ultimately, the numbers requiring disposal. One result is that  e-waste — electronics waste — is one now one of our most pressing environmental challenges.

There are about one billion PC’s in use worldwide. There are an additional several hundred million sitting in basements and attics awaiting disposal. Given average lifespans of only two to five years, a tidal wave of computers requiring disposal sweeps towards us. In the United States, the vast majority will not properly disposed of.

What toxins do consumer PC’s contain? Where do they end up? And what can you do about it?

Read More…

Howard Fosdick (President, FCI) is an independent consultant who specializes in databases and operating systems. He’s been active in computer reuse and recycling as a hobby for over fifteen years.

1942 lbs of Secure Data!!

1295 Drives Shredded This Morning, at the customer’s location… “zero” data breach, “zero” landfill. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty good day!!  – Please call us or click the “quote request” button on the right side of this page.

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“House bill 2221, the Data Accountability and Trust Act, sponsored by Rep. Bobby Rush, would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to publicize regulations requiring people and corporations engaged in interstate commerce who own or are in possession of electronic data that contains personal information to establish security policies and procedures. The legislation also would authorize the FTC to require the standard method or methods for destroying obsolete nonelectronic data and would require information brokers to submit their security policies to the FTC in the case of a security breach notification or at the request of the FTC. The FTC would be required to audit an organization’s security practices following a breach. ”

https://www.sdbmagazine.com/news/news.asp?ID=9307&AdKeyword=data+security+bill

Today we received a cease and desist notice from NAID (National Association for Information Destruction). In speaking with the NAID membership director we were informed that there was no record of an application being received by NAID and that we, were indeed not a member. This was alarming to us, as we believed that we were members on NAID.

A quick search through our files turned up an application signed and dated September 2009. More digging is being done to determine if there was a corresponding credit card charge for NAID membership dues. In the mean time we have removed the NAID logo from our website and will refrain from disseminating any printed material containing the NAID logo.

From its inception, RenovoData Services has always intended to be a member in good standing with NAID. We see NAID as a “better business bureau” for the information destruction industry, bringing credibility to member companies. We see great value in belonging to the organization and displaying the NAID logo.

We are committed to resolving this issue quickly. If we indeed are in error, we will rectify the situation and seek membership in NAID immediately. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused our clients and/or partners.

We will rectify this issue immediately. In the interim, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.

Frank Gustafson
President/CEO
RenovoData Services, Inc
952-715-3301

Eighty percent of e-waste is not recycled properly. Much of it ends up overseas in cities in developing countries such as Accra, Ghana, and Guiyu, China.

The shipping of cathode ray tube (CRT) computer monitors and televisions from the United States to overseas countries is not illegal. Rules set up in 2007 by the EPA stipulate a company only needs approval from the EPA and approval from the receiving country to ship the e-waste. As long as both parties agree, no law has been broken. These rules do not apply to other electronics such as computers.

But according to the General Accounting Office, the EPA’s enforcement of these rules has been lax.

A tool to curb e-waste, but one the United States has refused to ratify, is an international agreement known as the Basel Convention. Since the 1990s, it has restricted trade in hazardous waste by other countries.

Economics is the big player in this drama. According to an October 15, 2008, report in Business Week, in Hong Kong, the e-waste import center of Asia, a container of unprocessed monitors and televisions that sells for $5,000 can net profits of $4,000, according to people familiar with the trade.

The CBS 60 Minutes report “Following the Trail of Toxic E-waste” exposed the truth about Guiyu, China, a city run by people who don’t want to lose the lucrative toxic moneymaker. According to the report, computers are broken up for recycling using the most primitive of methods: bare hands, a coal fire to melt lead solder, and what CBS called a medieval acid recipe to extract gold. Scientists have studied the area and discovered that Guiyu has the highest levels of cancer-causing dioxins in the world.

The workers are peasant farmers who can’t make a living on the land. Destitute, they’ve come by the thousands to earn $8 a day breaking down computers.

According to CNN, some signs of progress are being made, however. Nokia, Philips and Samsung are setting up voluntary collection and recycling systems in countries where they are not legally obliged to. Apple claims its products are now almost entirely free of the worst toxic chemicals.

Information gathered from:
Oct. 15, 2008; Business Week E-Waste:The Dirty Secret of Recycling Electronics.

August 10, 2009; CNN: Sifting through the mounting problem of e-waste.

August 30, 2009; CBS: Following the Trail of Toxic E-Waste.

Hard drives containing defense department information were purchased in 2009 at a street market in Ghana for $40, according to a documentary aired on PBS.

In a press release sent out on December 23, 2008, RBS Worldpay, the online payment arm of the Royal Bank of Scotland, admitted a hacker extracted personal information on 1.5 million card holders, including 1.1 million social security numbers.

In early 2009, the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma, discovered that a computer “zip” disk containing personal information has been in public circulation since 2000, according to the group Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

It doesn’t take a lot of research to find incidents of severe security breaches by the U.S. government and companies. And that in itself is disturbing.

Producer/Correspondent Peter Klein and a team of graduate journalism students from the University of British Columbia set out to record the health and environmental hazards of e-waste around the world. The result was the documentary “Digital Dumping Ground” shown in June 2009 on PBS. But e-waste is not the only danger Klein and his team found.

In Ghana, they found hard drives from the United States and elsewhere sold in an open-air market. Here Klein and his team purchased for $40 a hard drive that came from Northrop Grumman, the U.S. defense contractor. The drive contained sensitive information about multi-million dollar contracts with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

Some hard drives are sold to criminal gangs that mine them for credit card data, Social Security numbers and other identifying information.

In February 2009 the Ponemon Institute surveyed 43 companies that had suffered data breaches in 2008. “For a majority of companies, it was not their first time,” said Larry Ponemon. “Eighty-four percent of cases were repeat offenders, and only 16% were new.”

The loss of personal information and the possible consequences are not something the American public takes lightly when it affects them. In healthcare after a data breach, 6.5% of customers will leave their provider. In financial services 5.5% will end the business relationship.

Information gathered from:
Ponemon Institute; Fourth Annual Cost of a Data Breach Study, February 2009
PBS press release; “Ghana, Digital Dumping Ground”
RBS company press release
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse; A Chronology of Data Breaches