July 25
Examining E-Waste in Africa, Where Our Electronic Trash Ends Up
A recent TV report on location in Ghana gives a glimpse into the conditions of the scrap yard/slums that e-waste is being collected and dumped in. The health concerns are plentiful. Toxic materials are being burned and the air, water and ground contaminated. Our other interest in this is the digital aspect we’ve talked about before on Platter Chatter. The security risks of old computers and hard drives that end up here continue to rise. Unwiped data devices are common and an easy target for organized crime and identity thieves (see Data Shredder for information about wiping hard drives). They call this area Sodom & Gomorrah, and it is an e-wasteland.
Report by Sean O’Shea for Global News and Journalists For Human Rights “Examining e-waste in Africa”, Jul 23, 2012.
Category: data loss prevention
Tags: data security, data shredder, e-waste, environment, recycled computers, wiping
