Copiers Do More Than Copy onto Paper...

I was not aware -- and maybe you aren't, too -- that the data on documents copied on today's digital copy machines is being stored in a computer chip in that copier, so that if a person takes the hard drive out of the copier and runs a forensic software scan on it (software available on the internet), s/he can access every single thing that has ever been copied on that machine.  Considering how we use copiers to xerox tax returns, medical records, and innumerable other sensitive documents, this fact should give us all pause.  CBS News recently did a story about this, and correspondent Armen Keteyian wrote about it on their news site.

"In 2008, Sharp commissioned a survey on copier security that found 60 percent of Americans "don't know" that copiers store images on a hard drive. Sharp tried to warn consumers about the simple act of copying.

"It's falling on deaf ears," McLaughlin said. "Or people don't feel it's important, or 'we'll take care of it later.'"

All the major manufacturers told us they offer security or encryption packages on their products. One product from Sharp automatically erases an image from the hard drive. It costs $500.

But evidence keeps piling up in warehouses that many businesses are unwilling to pay for such protection, and that the average American is completely unaware of the dangers posed by digital copiers."

I know that I, for one, will consider where and how I make future copies of my own personal documents.