CANADA OFFERS DATA-DESTROYING SHREDDERS TO THE PUBLIC

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=ad51be09-a453-424e-ba97-3bb639e6fb19
Government offers data-destroying shredders to public
Worried about identity theft in a discarded item? For a small fee, shred worries away
VICTORIA — The government has been doing it for a year, and now anyone with names, addresses, bank account numbers and yes, any little secrets, can ensure their privacy by having their hard drives and other data-storing devices torn to tiny bits.The provincial government is offering the use of its “shredder” to anyone getting rid of a computer, PDA or any kind of device that carries sensitive data and wants to ensure it never again sees the light of day.”This guarantees that anyone in the private sector or government can have their assets destroyed and they will never have to worry about something that will stare them in the face from the front of a newspaper or be used for illicit or fraudulent purposes,” said Art Fee, director of Asset Investment Recovery, which houses the government’s two data-hungry shredders.

The larger of the two shredders has been in use since last summer and tears through hard drives and other devices in seconds, leaving behind only shrapnel — bits and pieces no bigger than three-quarters of an inch in size.The second shredder has been in use only a few weeks. When it’s done with your BlackBerry, cellphone or hard drive, all you’ll find are confetti-sized pieces of plastic and metal.”For us as a government we want to make sure people know we are treating the information they entrust to us properly, that we are looking after it,” said Olga Ilich, minister of labour and citizens’ services.The public can use the shredder — affectionately known as EDDEI, which stands for Evil Destroyer of Delicate Electronic Instruments, and it sports a small picture of heavy metal band Iron Maiden’s zombie-like mascot Eddie from the band’s Killers album — for a fee of $2 or less depending on the type of device being shredded.

The money raised will be used to maintain the machines, which cost a combined $185,000.
“In the last year alone the [big] machine has paid for itself, not in traditional financial accounting terms, but more in that it has provided the security necessary. It’s piece of mind,” said Fee.The machines have ground up five tonnes of hard drives, cellphones and the like since Christmas, with expectations the volume they will spit out will triple once the public becomes aware of the service.The remains of devices are shipped to recyclers and sorted for plastics, glass and metals.Proceeds from the recycling go to Asset Investment Recovery’s general revenue to partially cover costs.Asset Investment Recovery sells or auctions items that come out of government or public service agencies, like office furniture and seized items.But the site is also a drop-off point for the public to recycle electronics like computers, monitors, televisions, printers and fax machines.The public can drop off any of those items at no charge and they will be shipped to a recycler who will break them down to their components for re-use.

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May 7, 2008 at 2:15 PM