Some Fire Sale: BlackBerrys, Full of McPalin Info Sold for $20 Each
Earlier this week the Washington Post wrote that the McCain - Palin campaign was having a fire sale on all sorts of equipment, from laptops to TVs to desks. Fox 5 in Washington, DC decided to check out the bargains, and snagged two Blackberrys for $20 each. No chargers, but a great price, and plenty of confidential info as well.
Not one, but both BlackBerrys have proven to be prime examples of what happens when equipment is sold without being properly wiped.
The first BlackBerry contained more than 50 private phone numbers for campaign leaders, politicians, lobbyists and journalists, as well as hundreds of emails from early September until a few days after election night.
The emails didn't have anything particularly sensitive, but the private phone numbers ... well, Fox 5 checked some of them.
"Somebody made a mistake," one owner told us. "People?s numbers and addresses were supposed to be erased."
"They should have wiped that stuff out," another said. But he added, "Given the way the campaign was run, this is not a surprise."
The second BlackBerry was even more of a treasure trove: photos from the GOP Convention, a personal calendar for campaign events leading up to the campaign, and more than 260 contacts full of private email addresses, phone numbers and addresses for McCain supporters.
FOX 5 called former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore on his personal cell phone number, gleaned from the Blackberry. He said:
"It makes me quite uncomfortable. It?s a matter of principle. I gave that information to McCain headquarters and to have it sold is bothersome.
You don't know who got this information. There's possible harassment. And there's an enormous amount of campaign intelligence that shouldn't be sold for such a low-value."
Based on the fact that Fox 5 was 2-for-2 on this, it's very likely other people buying equipment from the McPalin fire sale received a wealth of unexpected information. While Fox 5 said they will not reveal any of the personal information they found, what about others?
While this is McCain - Palin data, it could just as easily happen to you, if you sell or donate used equipment of some sort. Cell phone, PCs, laptops, hard drives: you need to be sure you wipe them completely before disposing of them.
http://snafu-ed.blogspot.com/2008/12/get-your-blackberrys-full-of-mcpalin.html
