5 ms·

Is there really a point? If you fold the iPad in half, put it in a garbage bag with a bunch of food waste and throw it away, I think there's a 99.999...% chan

Is there really a point? If you fold the iPad in half, put it in a garbage bag with a bunch of food waste and throw it away, I think there's a 99.999...% chance it ends up in a landfill. Nobody will grab it out of the trash because it's folded in half, obviously ruined, and covered in gross food waste anyway. The scenario in which this fails is the FBI/etc are already watching you specifically very carefully and are going through your trash carefully. But if this is the case... good luck man. I don't think any amount of drilling will get them to give up and leave you alone.

Traubenfuchs 3y ago
This. If you are a "person of interest" you can not escape, if you are not... why bother beyond protecting yourself from petty criminals?
detrites 3y ago
Plenty people would absolutely grab a folded-in-half iPad out of the trash. Scavenging parts for one (eg, a flash chip...). The drilling in this case is to destroy data, not to stop someone investigating. There can be great legitimate reasons to wish to do so, for example, a lawyer, journalist or doctor wishing to preserve innocent persons privacy. The reason doesn't have to always be nefarious as you maybe are imagining it to be.
carride 3y ago
Not environmentally friendly. Should send all your old devices to be recycled. Plus you might start a fire [1] in the garbage truck ;s [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772099
klyrs 3y ago
Picking through landfills for data sounds gross to you, but people do it. Find the keys to a crypto wallet, and you've won the lottery. Folding your iDevice in half won't remotely cover it.
- joenot443 3y ago
  Do we have any evidence or any stories of this actually ever happening? It’s among the most far fetched yet oft-repeated hypotheticals I hear these days. Think of how rare it would be to find a working thumb drive or ssd in a landfill, amidst the mountains of literally everything else. Then think of the intersecting scenario of someone being foolish enough to store keys on a device they later throw out, while also leaving that wallet active elsewhere. I’m sure in a landfill somewhere such a treasure exists, I just don’t think anyone’s ever, ever finding it.
smoldesu 3y ago
> it's folded in half, obviously ruined, and covered in gross food waste anyway. And still has your data on it. Last night's lasagna won't stop Mulder and Scully from taking it back to the lab, and in any year past 2010 it's fairly easy to extract the data from undamaged flash storage. The "point" is that zeroing out these devices is hard, and recovering their data is comparatively simple. If you want to thwart the law, you'd better be ready to make some precision modification to your hardware.
- altairprime 3y ago
  > If you want to thwart the law Or, if you want to comply cheaply with the law, when data you may possess on an unresponsive device could be subject to data handling and disposal laws.
altairprime 3y ago
This is not a legally-sound solution for secure data destruction of patient or client data, and could result in financial penalties and/or jail time, depending on how severe the violation. (I am not your lawyer, this is not legal advice.)

Traubenfuchs 3y ago

This. If you are a "person of interest" you can not escape, if you are not... why bother beyond protecting yourself from petty criminals?

detrites 3y ago

Plenty people would absolutely grab a folded-in-half iPad out of the trash. Scavenging parts for one (eg, a flash chip...). The drilling in this case is to destroy data, not to stop someone investigating. There can be great legitimate reasons to wish to do so, for example, a lawyer, journalist or doctor wishing to preserve innocent persons privacy. The reason doesn't have to always be nefarious as you maybe are imagining it to be.

carride 3y ago

Not environmentally friendly. Should send all your old devices to be recycled. Plus you might start a fire [1] in the garbage truck ;s [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35772099

klyrs 3y ago

Picking through landfills for data sounds gross to you, but people do it. Find the keys to a crypto wallet, and you've won the lottery. Folding your iDevice in half won't remotely cover it.

joenot443 3y ago
Do we have any evidence or any stories of this actually ever happening? It’s among the most far fetched yet oft-repeated hypotheticals I hear these days. Think of how rare it would be to find a working thumb drive or ssd in a landfill, amidst the mountains of literally everything else. Then think of the intersecting scenario of someone being foolish enough to store keys on a device they later throw out, while also leaving that wallet active elsewhere. I’m sure in a landfill somewhere such a treasure exists, I just don’t think anyone’s ever, ever finding it.

smoldesu 3y ago

> it's folded in half, obviously ruined, and covered in gross food waste anyway. And still has your data on it. Last night's lasagna won't stop Mulder and Scully from taking it back to the lab, and in any year past 2010 it's fairly easy to extract the data from undamaged flash storage. The "point" is that zeroing out these devices is hard, and recovering their data is comparatively simple. If you want to thwart the law, you'd better be ready to make some precision modification to your hardware.

altairprime 3y ago
> If you want to thwart the law Or, if you want to comply cheaply with the law, when data you may possess on an unresponsive device could be subject to data handling and disposal laws.

altairprime 3y ago

This is not a legally-sound solution for secure data destruction of patient or client data, and could result in financial penalties and/or jail time, depending on how severe the violation. (I am not your lawyer, this is not legal advice.)