No excuse for surplus computer mistakes

computerIt was bad enough that seven state surplus computers offered for sale were found to still contain confidential information such as Social Security numbers and personal data about Medicaid recipients. Worse, the surplus property program had used inmate labor until January 2007, mostly female inmates from the Topeka Correctional Facility. A spokesman for the Kansas Department of Administration assured the Topeka Capital-Journal that the computers were never turned on when the inmates were around, but nothing about this investigation inspires much confidence — including assurances that it won’t happen again.

6 Comments

  1. Political_mama
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 8:46 am | Permalink

    Yeah and letting inmates into the office warehouses isnt a good idea either. Of course you never heard about that.

  2. MaxGrobnik
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    Yet another example of Big Government Incompetence.

    You really want Government controlling your Health Care?

  3. DavidB
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 12:04 pm | Permalink

    LOL, Max.. I want doctors and myself in charge of my healthcare.. not insurance companies that DENY me treatments my doctors recommend, so they can keep their 30% of each healthcare dollar.

    You keep aiming at the same target, but you keep missing every time!!!

  4. GMC70
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 12:30 pm | Permalink

    Ya mean delete doesn’t really delete???!!!

  5. bth
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 12:33 pm | Permalink

    Anyone who has worked with computers knows to remove and destroy the hard drive before ’surplussing’ a machine.

  6. leeinsfo
    Posted June 30, 2008 at 2:11 pm | Permalink

    No, generally speaking, deleting a file simply marks the hard drive space as available. There is software anyone can download for not much money that will help one find deleted files. That’s great if you’ve just deleted an important file of your own, but criminals can use these same programs to find confidential data on surplussed computers.

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