Technology and the Average User

I found this article today: http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/06/one_year_ago_ha.html#posts?GT1=8211

Everyone is up in arms because this gentleman had his hard drive sold that was supposed to be destroyed. Does the gentleman in question have a right to be upset? UNQUESTIONABLY! He even was technologically saavy enough to KNOW he had personal information on it and that it was a potential issue.

The bigger question is this: We are giving technology to everyone to use in all aspects of our lives now and we are not educating the people in how to keep themselves safe. Recommendations now when sending in computers for warranty work? take your hard drive out and make them use one of their own. Once the computer is out of your hands, you have no control over it. If it is the hard drive that is the issue? BACKUP your data and use one of the 400 million programs to clean that hard drive (and no, cleaning it once is not an option...it takes 7 - 10 times of 0's and 1's writing to clean the disk and THAT isn't even foolproof).

The issue here, is that as a consumer and a person that uses technology, you must understand how the technology works, how it can be used and essentially be paranoid. If that means you have to get nasty or you have to get things in writing to make a person legally responsible, then so be it. Understand what you are using and what the consequences are. Be polite, be firm and YOU are the one that must decide when the risk is acceptable or not.