recycling center computers and laws regarding personal information

ron7000 · 14 Feb 2016

any one know how true it is, and the details around it,
for any landfill, transfer station, or recycling center that accepts electronics including computers and laptops, that once they accept it from someone throwing it away they have an obligation under law to protect personal information on that equipment?

for instance i can go to a transfer station and usually take stuff, like if someone throws away a lawn mower or a wood table/furniture and it's against the dumpster it's not uncommon for someone else to load it into their pickup.

can the same thing be done with computers? because i wanted to scrounge an old one for free but was told that was against the law or at least they are enforcing that now.

fireberd · 15 Feb 2016

Laws differ by locality. In my Florida county, anything that is left at the county "dump" becomes the property of the facility. Someone can't come along and pick up anything.

As far as protecting personal information, I don't see that they have any obligation to do that. If I discard something for myself or for a client and it includes a hard drive, I destroy the hard drive so nothing can be obtained from it.

Mellon Head · 15 Feb 2016

Where I am in Canada, they will not allow you to have a computer once they've taken it for recycling, even without a hard drive in it. I wanted to get a replacement screen for a laptop and found one at the depot, but they wouldn't let me have it even if I took out the drive and RAM before hand. They wouldn't even let me buy it.

I suspect that it has more to do with selling the equipment to recycling companies than it does protecting people's privacy.