With a few keystrokes and a little bit of time, an investigator -- or a hacker -- can dig deep into a hard drive and retrieve numbers for credit cards and bank accounts, imprudent e-mails, and visits to the friskier parts of the World Wide Web.
When NTI founder Michael Anderson found out about a computer-recycling drive Oct. 25 in Clackamas County, part of him cheered, but part of him cringed.
He supports the charitable donation of computers, but not without limits. This is a man who keeps the hard drive for every computer he's ever had -- about 10 or 15 -- sealed in its own Ziploc bag.
For an identity thief, a computer-recycling drive could be a gold mine, Anderson said.
NTI announced Thursday that it will donate its hard drive-scrubbing software to Clackamas County and to the recycler conducting the event, Seattle-based Total Reclaim, to make sure the computers are donated safely.
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