"John Rumm" wrote in message
news:42926bbb$0$26105$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-
(same goes for wiping / destroying old hard drives prior to disposal)
We haven't disposed of any.
What have you done with them then? (or have you not been playing with
computers long enough to have outgrown your first 20MB drive?)
Well, we haven't had all that many, only been using computers since 1989 and
we rarely change them unless they die. Spouse won't throw anything out, he
keeps things 'against the day' and has a drawer full of such things. It
would take a very determined person to a) find the drawer (we're untidy
folk), b) find the hds among all the other stuff and c) have equipment which
could read them. Same with all the 51/4" floppies we have. He has an ancient
Compaq (sp?) so that he can read old correspondence if he needs to. He never
does ...one day the machine could be useful, say for knocking down a house
....
Which reminds me - what adhesive will stick CDs to an outside wall
painted with masonry paint? There, that's d-i-y.
How permanent do you want it? Impact adhesive will do it pretty securely,
as would epoxy. Mirror tape may be better if you want something less
permanent and the wall is not too rough. Also don't underestimate blue-tak
for a temporary fixing.
I'll use impact, thanks.
Ah! I suspected that you wouldn't resist that bait :-)
I can resist anything except temptation ;-)
Unoriginal.
If you shred all paper evidence of your life and won't commit anything to
I don't, did I give that impression?
Well, you did give the impression that you don't keep records you consider
to be sensitive or vulnerable. At least, that's what you seem to be urging
me to do.
the pc (except your website, curiously) how can you check on past
The website has some sales stuff plus a fair amount of the information I
use to answer customer questions... I don't rate much of it as
particularly sensitive. Having said that a bit of detective work could get
you more information no doubt.
I rest my case.
transactions, if you need to? If you have a business surely you have to
have evidence if only for your accountant?
Personally I keep a fair amount of information, but there comes a point
where a twelve year old bank statement has little value.
Except for historical interest. In five hundred years time, if there's
anyone left, historians would love them.
So when the filing cabinet will accept no more I get all ruthless on it
and shred the old stuff ;-)
No, get another filing cabinet. That's been our solution :-) Not, of course,
just for bank statements ...
I also keep plenty of computerised information - but it is simpler to keep
adding storage to deal with that one ;-)
Filing cabinets are cheap. Second hand.
For business and tax purposes then one obviously needs to keep everything
for at least six years anyway.
Stuff that still falls through the letter box (Mailing preference service
stops most of it) such as the partially completed credit card or loan
application forms some companies seem to love sending out, gets dumped
straight into the shredder though.
Yes.
Very wise I might say... (no fan of debt myself). I like CC cards for the
security they bring to some classes of purchase however.
Not for much longer, I understand.
Why is that?
I haven't taken much notice but I understand that some people have expressed
doubt about the security.
I am a little less trusting on the DD front since I like to have a little
input into the settling up phase to catch any mistakes sooner.
To date there have been no mistakes- and before you start talking about
toddlers running into roads I'll say that I'm no toddler and ask how long
a history do you need to have trust in a process? We've used it for
decades.
To be fair I only recall handful of billing mistakes in the last ten years
or so. I do like the freedom to choose which account things are paid out
from though. So things like credit card bills get the minimum monthly
payment met by DD (in case I forget to pay on time - that way there is no
late payment fee), but then the balance I will pay manually.
Our credit cards are dedicated to certain types of purchases and matched
with different bank accounts. It's not difficult to set up. But having two
methods of paying is a bore, we pay the whole lot by DD every month. No
worries, no effort.
Tis the thing about usenet, if its not a new thread then it must be a
reply to a post...
So you ARE being personal.
Sometimes, mostly not.
But how does the reader differentiate?
True, but not for transacting online payments ;-)
But data mining can tell someone who's interested an awful lot about you
just from Usenet ...
Very true - especially after ten years of posting to it. All those little
bits of information added together probably divulge a fair amount.
And you still do it.
Then you and your highly able colleagues must make sure that the
defences you design and implement must be secure.
Nice idea, but alas it does not work like that.
Why not?
Are you saying that you're incapable of designing a secure system?
Yes! (blunt enough?)
Honest. Why not?
The criminal implication has not been the only one people have cited.
If it weren't open (as some think) to criminal activity would you agree
to having an ID system?
Depends on what you mean by an ID system.
Oh come on! The one this thread is about.
If there was a way of buying an ID card that had a reasonable level of
trustworthiness, but was not linked to a central register (or at least one
of the scale proposed), and it was available to those that wanted it, then
I would say fine so long as it is not going to cost 10's of billions of
tax payers money.
So if it were secure and cheap it would be OK?
Tell you what, if it were secure and people were PAID to have it, they'd all
be in favour, would they?
Hmm.
With the current proposals I object on several levels however, not just
the prospect for criminal misuse of the data.
When this thread began people objected for different reasons. I suspect that
many people would object whatever was proposed because they simply don't
want to be traceable by anyone for any reason. My argument was that if you
have nothing to hid you have nothing to fear.
No, I expect most have not given the issue any serious consideration and
are more interested in what happens next on Eastenders....
Yes. But so what?
Don't you think it is a great shame that in the past people have fought
and died to win the freedoms and the choices we have now, and yet a good
majority seem prepared to let some of them slip away simply due to apathy?
Ah that argument!
The one I answer by saying that people have and still do fight and die for
religious freedoms and choices and yet a good majority ... etc.
Mary
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