The Copier Remembers You, and Caroline Kennedy

Most people who use high-volume copiers at work think little of the process: Run off a few copies, lower the lid, and you’re done.

But what you may not realize is that after you’ve made your copies, the images are still in the machine, along with anything that’s been scanned, printed, faxed or e-mailed. The images are stored on the copier’s hard drive, which can pose a security risk if it’s not wiped clean before the machine is sent to a recycling center or sold for reuse, according to a recent report from CBS affiliate KOVR-TV in Sacramento.


One of the TV station’s reporters went to a wholesale warehouse with its expert, John Juntunen, founder of the Sacramento-based Digital Copier Security, and saw hundreds of copy machines shrink-wrapped and ready to be sold.

“You're looking at 15, 20 thousand documents each,” Juntunen told the station, adding that they’ll stay there until new documents push them out or someone cleans the drive.

By simply tapping a few buttons, Juntunen was able to print documents on one of the printers, a confidential child-support application among them. On another copier used by a construction company, he found financial statements marked “confidential.”

The KOVR crew took their investigation a step further, taking their evidence to people whose personal information was included in the documents. Harold Boyd, whose wife Marilynne had an IRA application on one of the machines, couldn’t believe retrieval of the document was that easy. “They have the address, the Social Security number, they have the date of birth. I mean, it's ridiculous,” he said.


It is indeed a recipe for trouble, as those are key ingredients needed by identity thieves to open new, fraudulent accounts in a person’s name. A senior analyst with Digital Copier Security suggests that laws governing the handling of private information aren’t being enforced when it comes to copier data.

Imagine if data from machines once used by doctors, lawyers, or government officials was so easily accessible. It seems like a compelling reason for employees to take initiative and ask office or equipment managers about their own copier hard drive disposal policies. If safeguards are not in place, they should be.

KOTV’s reportorial coup de grâce came by way of a customer who bought a used copier from the Sacramento warehouse and shared it with the station. On a document containing many names and numbers, one stood out: Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the famously private daughter of JFK who briefly ran for the Senate last year in the state of New York. A day after the station called Schlossberg’s home number and spoke with her husband, Edwin, the former candidate’s assistant called the station to say thanks for bringing the issue to her attention. In days where data privacy is so critically important, it does seem to warrant the publicity.