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Forbes On-Line reports that: “Selling your old phone, once you upgrade to a fancier model, can be like handing over your diaries.” Maybe that’s why those guys at the cell phone recycle center are always smiling? More from Forbes: - “A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet…Trust Digital of McLean, Va., tested 10 different used phones and…recovered information was equal to 27,000 pages - a stack of printouts 8 feet high”. If you’ve sold a phone on eBay or given one away to someone you really don’t know that well, the article will probably give you that sinking feeling. Although the analysis focused mainly on the re-selling of high-end devices by frequent upgraders, the risk obviously extends to recycling more basic models as well. Perhaps there is a business opportunity for entrepreneurs who can, for a minor fee, lobotomize used electronics before a trip to the recycling center or simply prep them for shipping to a donator-named third party.

Photo credit: The Clean Air Partnership .

Originally from Treehugger on August 31, 2006, 7:18am