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1.  

   Works for Ex-Girlfriends too

   

   Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:01pm

   
   

   "I'd run over the phone. Maybe give it an acid bath."
   
   that is sage advice for ex-girlfriends if they know too much about you too. Especially if she's a mistress.
   
   ON-Topic however, that's a little strange advice to run over it or give it an acid bath... There are legal implications in both of those suggestions.
   
   If I remember correctly, most states have mandatory disposal requirements for things containing lead, mercury and other such lovely substances we dont want in our landfills>water.
   
   Not to mention not many folks actually have the acid available to them.. Seems if you try and buy acid in decent quantity nowadays, you get marked as a terrorist.

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2.  

   Hammers work.

   

   Bryan, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:15pm

   
   

   Remove the battery smash the phone to bits with a hammer then smash the bits agian. Place all the bits of bits in a bag and recycle.

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3.  

   Why not?

   

   Mark, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:15pm

   
   

   A local news station here in Austin just ran a piece on thi. They too suggest that we run over the device with a truck.
   
   Why not just donate them? http://phones4charity.org.

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4.  

   magnet

   

   Poker Wizard, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:26pm

   
   

   I just keep a big electro-magnet in the garage. wipes everything. just dont let it to close to the car. or any thing you dont want wiped

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5.  

   Re: Why not?

   

   semi smart, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:35pm

   
   

   Dude, do you work for the VA?

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6.  

   Re: Why not?

   

   Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:40pm

   
   

   I understand if you didnt RTFA and still want to post, but can you at least read the synopsis? What, every person that works at this halfway house for technophiles is above suspicion? Come on. The entire article is about how used phones can be a security risk and you suggest "Why don't you donate them?"
   
   OK, here's my reply:
   
   Article states "Old Toys are dangerous for kids."
   Mark replies "Why not donate them to poor kids?"

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7.  

   BOOM

   

   William, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 1:43pm

   
   

   Aren't cell phone batteries prone to exploding if you you breach them and they are charged. That's all I need an exploding bucket full of acid.

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8.  

   Rich Arrogent Bastards

   

   The Man, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 2:02pm

   
   

   "Why don't you donate them?"
   
   You think poor people want your old useless crap? How about your underwear, maybe someone wants those too. After you are so great that everyone must want the junk you throw away.

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9.  

   My old mobile phone says...

   

   Yo ho ho..., Aug 30th, 2006 @ 2:53pm

   
   

   ... that I'm too cheap to spend $300 on a new mobile phone -- so I still carry my old mobile phone.

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10.  

    Donate?

    

    MEopi, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 2:58pm

    
    

    Isn't donating to the poor like donating muffin bottoms to homeless shelters?
    
    *Apologizes for Seinfeld Reference and makes a real point.
    
    Maybe I’m behind the times but I don’t refer to a palm pilot, pda, smart phone, all in one, treo, black berry, digital life, as a phone. To be honest most of those advanced users don’t use the phone function all that much so it’s hard to call it a phone. Yes, those devices have sensitive info on them and I’m surprised it was legal to resell some of those devices (thanks sarbanes oxley) but I think using the term cell phone is a bit Mccarthisc, since most Cell phones (read phones that are cellular and are only phones and IM devices) don’t have that much on them.
    
    *Apologizes for MCCarthy Reference

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11.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 3:08pm

    
    

    Wouldn't removing the SIM cards/Memory sticks/ etc and destroying those accomplish as much? If we're talking REALLY old phones, sure, destroy the phone. But seriously, there's a chip... that holds the info... on your phone... I haven't had a phone with wholly built in memory for several years (and I am not carrying an advanced phone)...

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12.  

    Sensitive info?

    

    PhysicsGuy, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 3:46pm

    
    

    it's called a blowtorch... i know for hard drives that data can almost always be recovered unless it happened to get in the way of an immensly hot heat source, hell, with *supposedly* a little quantum mechanical engineering you could rewrite over a sector with arbitrary bits a baagillion times and due to a "magnetic fingerprint" the data could still be recovered.

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13.  

    Re: Works for Ex-Girlfriends too

    

    Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 3:49pm

    
    

    Seems if you try and buy acid in decent quantity nowadays, you get marked as a terrorist.
    
    or a hippie...

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14.  

    Re:

    

    Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 4:05pm

    
    

    Most phones don't use the SIM card as the primary memory. You have the option to store (some of) your data on the card, but most of your data is stored on the internal memory.

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15.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 4:18pm

    
    

    why not just flash the device? most phone with sensitive data should be easily connected to a computer, takes about 10 minutes to flash and there is nothing but the operator information on the device.

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16.  

    Great Targets

    

    Adam_v1, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 4:33pm

    
    

    I always take my old phones and PDA's to the shooting range and use them as targets, cant think of a better way to destroy them and have fun at the same time.

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17.  

    Re: magnet

    

    zarquon, Aug 30th, 2006 @ 6:04pm

    
    

    the flash storage on cell phones and other devices is not affected by magnets. you're thing of magnetic media such as hdds and floppys.

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18.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Aug 31st, 2006 @ 7:07am

    
    

    I always take my old phones and PDA's to the shooting range and use them as targets, cant think of a better way to destroy them and have fun at the same time.
    
    Thanks Adam_v1, now the terrorists have won.

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19.  

    Suspect Study?

    

    Dan, Aug 31st, 2006 @ 7:57pm

    
    

    So nobody else that reads this blog gets suspicious whenever a "security company" releases a "study" related to "insecure devices" that their products make more secure?
    Note that while the AP article they link to about their "study" says that "a lot of info is easily erased," there is no indication in the article that any of the sellers actually thought to try to clear the memory on the devices.
    Good info to know/reminder for those who keep everything on their phone, I suppose, but it just reeks to me of a publicity stunt. But then I'm pretty cynical.

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20.  

    Re: Works for Ex-Girlfriends too

    

    gruffman, Sep 1st, 2006 @ 9:54am

    
    

    Just pull the battery out after you delete all the entries in your phone using the software in the phone. Next donate it to the old folks home in the local area. Unlike the poor folks who will just pawn it or something, they will most likely use the phones to call their kids. Old folks usually are not so nasty as the younger more technically nasty and savy types hanging out on the steetcorners.

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