Oregon ranks third in the nation and is considered a “smart city” in sustainability which includes recycling according to a new government report.  Click here to see the results for all the cities nationwide.

However, there have been two shows I’ve seen on e-waste and cybercrimes that have been bothering me.  Not only because of the subject matter but also because I feel our left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing and it is affecting all of us worldwide.  Does e-waste=cybercrime?

The first show I saw was on PBS’ Frontline about toxic dump sites. I had written three posts (E-Waste & Recycling Part 3, E-Waste & Recycling Part 2, and Recycling Electronics part 1) about e-waste and it being dumped in China.  I got to feeling better about the whole subject of e-recycling by the time I wrote the second post when I learned there were recyclers here in Oregon not dumping in China all the e-waste we’re religiously recycling.

But wait a minute, just when I thought things were ok, the Frontline show said not only are recyclers dumping in China, but they’re also dumping in Ghana, India, South Africa, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc.   India is generating its own e-waste as 7 million computers were sold there last year alone.

What did the producers of the show find in those places?  Hundreds of millions of pounds of e-waste — computers whose data hadn’t been completely erased being sold to criminals with all your personal and private data along with computers that had sensitive security data from many segments of our government, from Northrup Grumman with sensitive government contract information, computers from school districts with the name of the school still on the computers, as well as computers from banks and financial firms. The hard drives from those computers were being sold for only a couple hundred dollars to the scammers.  In many situations, in fact in too many situations they already have your bank numbers and have been robbing you blind and clearing out accounts from the e-waste we think we’re all recycling–we’re recycling it right into the hands of criminals. The criminals were watching pictures of your family, looking at your wedding photos and retrieving all your private information.  Women were cooking and melting circuit boards for the gold from the mother boards as well.  Someone in the show said the only way to get rid of the data is to take a hammer and pound the hard drive.  In spite of all our e-laws, or what recyclers say, it’s too expensive to safely dispose of all our e-waste.  And the problem will only get worse and grow larger.

The second show I saw was about cybercrime on The Charlie Rose Show and how that is one of the biggest threats against our country and our security, yet the government is dumping their e-waste with sensitive security data, and our information right into the hands of those who can inflict terrorism on all of us and our country.

What usually happens when I write a post is I temporarily place it in my “draft” file until I either have it completed or am ready to publish it.  By the time it’s ready, there usually is another story breaking that adds to my post, reinforces what I say, or adds fuel to the fire.  That’s what happened with this post.  As soon as I had it completed came the story of the massive cyber-attack on this country’s computer and Internet services.  Perhaps the U.S. ought to be looking at all the e-waste that is being dumped in foreign countries, as many of our email addresses and this country’s private and secret data is still on those computers, to determine its connection to cybercrime.

Also, I’ve been posting local e-recycling events on my blog, but feel I can no longer do that in good conscience knowing where all our e-waste is going.  Maybe after posting this I’ll hear from someone again like Free Geek who can reassure me that this isn’t happening.  However, I doubt if I will be feeling better any time soon!  Do you?

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