Please post your answers to these questions (minimum 150 words) and respond to at least on post. Use articles from the Internet to support your answers. (30points) [Deadline: February 20, 2009]
Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information pile up inside our cellphones, and deleting it may be more difficult than you think. Information stored on discarded phones can be restored revealing private, sensitive and possibly damaging content to anyone. How have phone manufacturers dealt with this issue? Do they have an ethical responsibility to address this issue?
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194 comments:
I like how Sprint has their phones with a sims card. People can just transfer their sim card and all their information CAN go with it. In some cases people save their information to their phone instead of their sims card. in that case yes there is dangers in selling their cell phone. But for those who save all their information to their sims card as long as they have that sim card the information on it goes with it. they can store contacts, texts, even ringtones and pictures.
creating phones and selling phones should have the responsiblity of create a device that deletes all old data history from other past users. this information left in the phones can be information that destorys someone. people can do what they can to get rid of all numbers and such.
It not the manufactur issue to deal with that if the owner wonts to sell his/her old phone. Becouse it is the owners responsibility to save all there content on the sims card and not there phone for people to try an restore
I don't think that the manufacturer has any responsibility on this issue. It should be the responsibility of the owner of the old cell phone to go through it and delete any past numbers or valuable information that was stored on it. It is not like the phone grabs a hold of it and will never let go. So I really don't see where this should be a problem where the manufacturer has to step in and correct someone else's mistakes.
I feel that it is the previous owner of the phone responsibility to delete the old history information. I believe in recycling resources, but i would never sell my cell phone back to the company I purchased it from. This ordeal is not the manufacturers problem or fault with people having individual's information just out there to see. Don't sell your phone back or delete all the information and history.
Well i think that some phone manufacturers have come up with the sim chip. they use this chip to hold all of the data in your phones. These chips can transfer from phone to phone so that you have all your personal info. Sprint has the online back up database that transfers with your phone when you get a new phone. I also think that the owner of the old phone should delete all their info before they give the phone to someone else or something of that sort.
I do not know if the phone manufacturers have dealt with the issue at all. I do not think they have any ethical responsiblity to do anything about this problem. The consumer should go through the right steps to dispose the phone in a proper manor that will protect their information.
I feel like the manufacturers holds no responsiblity for problem. When recycling a phone a person runs the risk of somebody getting their old phone and restore their old information or the person could take the proper steps to delete the information.
There are many places to discard used phone safetly. People should take the responsibility to discard them properly. i dont think the manufactor has an ethical issue regarding this. It is the consumers problem to make sure their personal and private information doesnt get in the wrong persons hands.
It is the responsibility of the person to delete any personal information on his/her phone.
I dont believe that it is the cell phone companies responsibility to take care of this issue. For one thing, nobody is forcing you to sell your used cell phone and relinquish all of your private information. Also, nobody has twisted your arm in order that you leave personal, harmful, damaging information on your cell phone in the first place. It is certainly the responsibility of the owner of the phone to wipe the hard drive of the phone before reselling it, or to not use the phone for extremely personal business if you are planning to resell it!
i think its the peron who gets the new cell phones resopnisblity to delete thing that they dont want other people to know
I believe that the manufacture and the person selling the phone are both at fought for the information being easily recovered. I believe the manufacture should come up with a way to remove the info when a new phone is purchase.
I believe that cell phone companies should put a disclaimer somewhere in the literature about the phone. I also think that won't help everyone. There are a lot of people who are very cell phone illiterate and they would never that someone could find information about them through their old cell phone. If you look in the user manual of every phone it tells you the code needed to completely erase every piece of data on you phone. So I feel that people should read the user manual when they get a new phone.
A lot of newer phones come with sim cards so when it comes time to upgrade the new phone can take the sim card or the infromation can be transferred. If the simcard is an older model and will not fit the new phone it would probably be smart to save the numbers from the old phone and destroy the old simcard if you are worried about security. When it comes from phone lines being tapped most likely the government has something to do about it and we are all vulnerable. Also when text messages are sent the messages can be saved by the phone company. It may be invasion of privacy but they say its for national security issues...Imagine that just like everything that is said and done, everything is heard or watched to protect the nation
The responsibility should belong to the consumer, but in our legalistic society everyone wants to blame their issues on someone else.
I START WITH SAYNG NO THE MANUFACTURE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DELETION OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM YOUR PHONE. tHEY HAVE MADE IT TO EASY. T-MOBILE COMES WITH A SIM CARD AND ITS JUST THAT EASY TO SAVE ALL INFORMAION TO THE SIM CARD AND REMOVE IT FROM THE PHONE. ANY INFORMATION LEFT (WHICH THERE SHOULDN'T BE) CAN EASILY BE REMOVED BY PUTTIG IN YOUR MASTER CODE AND DELETING EVERTHING YOU PUT OR PROGRAMMED INTO THE PHONE. BESIDES T-MOBILE ALL PHONE COMPANIES HAVE MASTER DELETION CODES THAT ACCESSABLE IN THE PHONE SETUP AND CAN BE USED. SO IF "YOUR" BUSINESS GETS PUT OUT IT'S NOT ONES FAULT BUT "YOUR" OWN!
I personally think that a person shouldnt store information on a cell phone. Cell phones are easyly stole and they are lost quite frequently. I dont feel that the company should be responsiable for deleting this information. if a perosn is dumb enough to store this information then i feel that the owner of that phone to think about that before turing it back in . I dont think that our personal information is that hard to get anyway. If someone really wants your personal information they will do anything.
If you sell your old phone, i mean its common sense you should know to delete numbers and or private messages or pictures.
I would never get rid of my old phone in the first place. I dont care to go through the trouble of deleteing my history and if my new phone breaks I can use my old phone until I can get my old on fixed and would want all the history still on it. But thats just me.
Ok first off don't say anything over a cell phone or some type of electronic communications that could ruin your life. If you are that scared of someone recovering your information from your old cell phone then just take a hammer and smash it then no one could find anything out about you or best of all don't turn the dang thing in. That's all I gota say about that.
I only keep personal phone numbers on my phone and I never put any private information on my phone. I figured that there was probably a way to restor information on a cell phone. I think that cell phone companies should inform customers of this fact, but they should not be responsible for the individuals using the product. It is not the cell phone companies resposiblity to make sure data is taken completely of a cell phone. If that individual is willing to take the risk of putting sesative information on a cell phone then they are responsible for properly removing the information permanetly. Also according to various cell phone company websites, T-mobil and Verizon are actually installing portable chips in their phones so that customers can store and revmove information safely. I beleave Phone manufactures have handled the issue to the best of their abilities.
people should be responsible for deleting anything off their old phone they dont want seen. it may turn out to be an anoying and difficult task, but it is still possible.another option would be cell phones with removeable chips that you can save data to. i also agree with jessicary, in that the people taking them arent trying to find dirt on people, they are trying to conserve out resources.
I really did not think about any problems with deleting information off of a cell phone. I have not heard it mentioned before. If the consumer is able to delete any information off the cell phone then the companies are off the hook. But, if the consumer is not able to delete the information then the cell phone companies are completely responsible to do so. This applies only if the consumer is willing to cooperate with the cell phone companies and bring their cell phones to a drop off area specifically for this.
I believe donating your cell phone is a good thing. A lot of people think the data on the phones is deleted for them, but it isn't. You can delete you info from the phone, but it may still be on there. It's up to the cell phone manufacturer to provide information to it customers on how to fully delete your info. It's there responsibility. You can reset your phone back to manufacturer settings also. Some manufacturers are providing software to do wipe out your info for you, according to ABC7Chicago.com (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=special_coverage&id=4872078)
Usually when i get a new phone my old phone is in such bad shape, so I do not really sell it.
Cell Phone Security:
Most portables have special procedures which allow you to protect your password or erase the data in their flash memory. There arealso vendors like Trust Digital who offer software security solutions. They do I think have a responsibility towards this issue and are addressing it. Their best solution thus far I think is to run over it repeatedly with the tires. No sleep loss there.
It is difficult to delete all of the information on your phone when you go to get rid of it. There are people out there who are very capable of restoring personal information. There have been situations where someone hacked into the cell phone and was using the camera to spy on the person. If there are people who can do that without even having the phone then I am sure there are people who can restore information. I don't know if there is much the manufacturer can do about it. People should be careful with their phones just like they are careful with the computer because cell phones are now becoming just like a regular computer.
I think the person should be responsible for deleting there information once they have upgraded to a new phone. I do think it is the responsibility of the manufacturer of the cell phone is traded in there is no posssible way to retrieve any of the previous information. If both of these are followed then there will not be any problems.
I do not feel that the manufacturer should be held responsible for this. If a person gets a new phone, he may have old pictures or personal stuff that he does not want to get rid of, he could just keep his old phone. Therefore, he would be able to go back and look at his personal stuff. Also, he could talk to someone about transfering his personal things over to his new phone. The manufacturer should not be held responsible of deleting a person's personal things if the person gives them their old phone.
This dilemma is nothing more than being responsible with personal information. If you think that the phone has case sensitive information that could be detrimental to your life, DONT GET RID OF IT. It is not the cell phone manufacturers place to implement a "wipe clean" feature of a cell phone just as it is not of any computer manufacturer. I believe the cell phone in the future will replace the laptop and that more drastic measures will need to be implemented to secure the information, but the disposal of the information should be left to the owner.
Cell phone recycling by the buisness that takes the phone is a good process. They delete any info or transfer info to a new phone by use of a sim card. Yet there can still be hard data on the phone that could have personal information. To truely insure that that data does not get into the wrong hands the owner should delete all information that they feel is inportant. The companies that take recycled cell phones should feel obligated to make sure all per4sonal data does not reach anyone who it doesn't belong two but that can never be 100% monitored. An artical by "SEAGATE" SATES that one should delete all data them selves be fore giving there cell phone to a recycler. This will prevent any info from getting to sites such as Ebay were harddrives are soled that still have personal info on them. This does give the companies involeved in the process alittle responsibility but still most of the responsibilty falls on the owner of the phone.
I think you should have to delete what ever is on the phone. If you are scared about what people may find you shouldnt have put it on there. People get mad about these things but they are the ones who sold the old phone and the new owner can look into anything and see what the old owner did. I think it is a personal problem!
I believe that with the rising technological advances that we have today, then cellphone maufactuers can easily make some sort of device that could track down a stolen cell phone, if it were stolen. But, as far as them being responsible for it I dont believe that it is there responsibility If someone's cell phone and all its information is stolen. That's why you must sign a some sort of contract, so that if this kind of thing were to happen both you and the company are safe.
I think that it is not the cell phone company's responsibility to clean old phones of all their information before they recycle it. I think that if a person knows there is private information on their phone they should delete it themselves. If their is something I want to keep private on my phone I delete it myself.
i feel that if you do not want something repearted against u then u should not send it in a text or anything in writing. that why i am always careful aabout what i text because if a person has something on u and its in writing it is hard to deny it. however, i do believe that we should still recycle the phone because recycling will slave our planet one day.. go captan planet!
I think that people should be responsible to delete the information on their own phone. Then if they can not figure it out by their self then have the manufactors show them how.
It is not the responsibility of the cell phone manufactures to deal with this issue. You are the one that bought the phone. If you don't want any personal information given away don't put it on there. Some people are pretty dumb, so i'm sure that it will continue to happen.
What is nice now is that usually you can take out your memory chip on most cell phones now. Doing this eleminates most problems that you have with security. Other way is by taking a magnite to the memory chip also.
Every cell phone manufactor should which over to sim cards. No one can get a hold of your personal information unless they get a hold of your sim card, but you should also delete everything personal on your old phones.
i agree and then i disagree, you can always delete the information that is at hand.
it is good to recycle your phone for a number of reasons, for example at the verison phone company you can donate your cell to women that are abused so they can have a quick way to call 911. If you have personal information on your cell then you should delete it, and basically that all that you can do, unless you have a sim card to which you can put it from your old phone to your new phone
I think the one who owns the phone should take full responsibility with deleting any personal information he/she has one their phone. They should not hold the manufacturer responsible for deleting anything.
I think that the person turning the old phone should delete as much as possible. I have donated old phones be for and that was one of my worries, but because i'm so old school i didn't have much information in my phone. If you turn your phone into a major cell phone company then the company should be responsible for deleting all information before giving those old phones out.
I think that the manufacturer should post a warning regarding information left on cell phones. They also should be responsible for giving the user/purhaser the tools to delete this information so that it is not accessible by anyone else.
It is definately NOT the manufacturer's responsibilty! You have control of what information you put on your phone... make sure everything is erased when/if you sell it. Plus, most all phone today have sim cards, so once you take your sim card out, all your information is stored there, and not in your phone.
The person should delete everything off the phone, but there always different kinda ways that a person can get your personal things off of a cell phone. One good think now with some companys they have this sims card. So people can transfer their sim card and their information will go with them.
I always sale my old phones because i feel like i delete everything out of it. Also, you have to look at the type of person you are saling this phone too.. i never really sale it on the street, usually to my friends or family. there is no real dilema here, i think that everyone should be responsible for deleting everything out of their phone if they are going to sale it!!!
I think the phone companys should create a device that can delete all personal information off of the phone.
I believe that when buying a cell phone, it is then your personal property. When you feel the need to delete something off of your property, it should be deleted and unable to be found again. That way when a cell phone is passed on from one person to another person, the phone would then start from scratch. I believe that if a persn hits the delete button o thier cell phone and they are under the impression that this information is gone, it is a violation of privacy for cell phone companys or any other individual to restore that information back onto the phone.
i dont think there is much that the manufactor's can do about it. i think that there has been an improvement since the sim cards are in phones now. now you can take it out and transfer it to your new phone. i think that defers a lot fo problems with people retoring deleted data. but i think that before you recycle a cell phone that you should make sure everything is deleted so that it cant be restored to protect your privacy
When i discarded my previous phones i didn't have to delete anything because all of my information was on my sim card. Most carriers like Sprint,AT&T, and T-mobile have sim cards so most important information could be deleted. I think that if enough people knew about their personal information being retrieved out of their old phones, they would try to contact their carriers. I dont think that people who ask to recycle phones are trying to get people personal information. I think that they are simply trying to save money.
Scame and frauds used some of the cell phones information to get to someone .so the best thing to do before hand it over to the phone company is to delete all the infomations on it. I dont think there are so mush for the company to do. The owner of the phone should delete whatever infomations they store befoe sell it.Creating phones and selling phone should have responsibility to creat a device that delete all old data history of all past users.Also some of the cell phone company websites, like T-Mobil and verizon are actually portable chips in their phones so that customers can stoer and remove information safely.
Scame and frauds used some of the cell phones information to get to someone .so the best thing to do before hand it over to the phone company is to delete all the infomations on it. I dont think there are so mush for the company to do. The owner of the phone should delete whatever infomations they store befoe sell it.Creating phones and selling phone should have responsibility to creat a device that delete all old data history of all past users.Also some of the cell phone company websites, like T-Mobil and verizon are actually portable chips in their phones so that customers can stoer and remove information safely.
Please remember to make sure your posts clearly identify who you are. Unidentified posts will not receive any consideration for points.
There are some good things and bad things about recycling phones. Sometimes the recycled phones to to unfortunate people so that in case of an emergency they can dail 911. The bad thing is that personal information can be exposed to an unwanted person. I thought that it was relatively easy to delete information off an old phone, but i guess not. Honestle, i don't know what the cell phone companies could do to prevent people's information from being restored, but i hope they can do something!
Deleting data history from your cellphone is not a guarantee your personal information will not be able to be retrived by someone in the future. There are software sold on the internet that can be used to retrive this data. Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a newer model can be like handing over your personal information to a complete stranger. And this can be very damaging two the original owner.
Phone Manufactures have dealt with the privacy issue by using software to track hackers down. Phone manufactures should have an ethical responsibility to address the issue because people’s privacy is at risk. Most people in the U.S. upgrade or sell their old cell phone at least once every year. A way to be safe when using your cell phone is to save information to the sim card instead of saving information to the actual cell phone. The reason for that is to prevent hackers from going back into information you once deleted from your cell phone. The sim card allows you to transfer your old information to your new phone. Other safety ways when using your cell phone is to not save private information such as account numbers or passwords. There are some risks involved however selling your cell phone is recycling and can benefit society.
I think as a person with Add, It will be very useful and helpful to put podcasts out there of recorded class sessions and lectures. It will help the students recall important information for quizzes, tests, and reports.
I think that if you don't want anyone to see any of your information that you shouldn't put your information out there.
i believe its the owners responsability to protect their information from their phone. personally i would never sell my cell phone back to the manufacture knowing they could go through all of my old stuff. i would never recycle my phone no matter what. cell phones are personal, i believe technology is improving and the government is abusing their powers and getting into our personal space. enough said(manuel munoz)
I dont think you should sell ur old phone because somebody can steal your private information on it and use it for no reason. I think the phone manufacturers have handled it by letting us get rid of our old phone for our new one. I also think the phone manufacturers and customers have responsibilities to the issue.
I do think there is an ethical responsibility to address this issue because your business should be your business. I was reading one case where there are websites that will give away some of your information such as your incoming and out going calls. This information is sometimes used by law enforcement agencies in their investigations. The main issue is not only law enforcement can get this information. Other people can also get this information such as criminals, stalkers, or people trying to do identity theft. I feel cell phone companies should sue the websites that give out such information and should get the sites banned.
I do think there is an ethical responsibility to address this issue because your business should be your business. I was reading one case where there are websites that will give away some of your information such as your incoming and out going calls. This information is sometimes used by law enforcement agencies in their investigations. The main issue is not only law enforcement can get this information. Other people can also get this information such as criminals, stalkers, or people trying to do identity theft. I feel cell phone companies should sue the websites that give out such information and should get the sites banned.
A1 Alex it think that if your really talking about something that no one needs to see or hear you should talk directly yo that person. there by not coming accross this perticular issue. if for some reason you do put something private in your phone; i agree with derrick you should take it upon your self to delete it
I think it is up to the user of the phone. They are the ones putting their some what private information into their phones. We know that when you use a phone it the service provider can see who yo uhave called or text.
I am somewhat confused on this topic... on one hand i do feel that the phone providers should be responsible but on the other hand it should not be out entirely on them. I feel like the phone holder should make more of a conscience effort to make sure that all perrsonal information and data is free from the phone if they choose to sell the phone or loose it ir whatever.but i guess there are always back doors to getting information but i think its more up to the phone phone holder.
As eveything in life someone will misuse the good of a situation and make them bad. I see recycling cell phones as a great idea. Media such as sim cards and such shold be erased and reused to cut back on damage done to destroying things to reproduce more.As i mentioned though there is going to be thaat guy who uses it to get the phone number to the woman he/she is stalking
In my oppinion I don't believe that companies are responsible. I do feel that they need to try and find a solution for this major issue. Revealing someones personal information is unethical. That is why I feel that companies have an ethical responsibility to address this issue.
78Yes, the cell phone industry has a major responsibility to protect the cell phone carrier. With technology growing it is becoming more and more personal.
Ok. I dont really see any real issues in this phone security thing. whats the big deal? erase the information out of your phone, and then recycle.
I think the owner of the phone should be responsiple the the security on his/her phone. The manufactural only made thephone it is left with owner to protect the phone. If a person thinks her/she has a personal information tht needs tobe kept, tha phone is definitely not a goodplace to keep it.
I think a cell phone is just what is, a phone. Should one choose to use it for more than that purpose, they are accountable for any information they choose to store in it. Therefore, I don't think the phone manufacturers have an ethical responsibility to address the issue of ones sensitive information.
I think a cell phone is just what it is, a phone. Should one choose to use it for more than that purpose, they are accountable for any information they choose to store in it. Therefore, I don't think the phone manufacturers have an ethical responsibility to address the issue of ones sensitive information.
Yes, the phone companies should have some sort of ethical standard in which potentially sensitive imformation should be deleted. However it is also on the shoulders of the owner to make sure that they are responsible in the use of their phone and in the control of the information they have saved on it. The recycling and/or reuse of old cell phones is a fantasic idea because it helps cut down on the possible dangerous chemicals that coat the circuts and batteries. In my opionion the two easiest things to do are
1) Ask the phone company to clear the phone while you are there
2) Remove the SIM card and any additional memory cards you have from the phone and destroy them personally.
No i do not feel it is the manufactures responsibility to address the problem. If the consumer feels they are vital things they would not want to be seen by others, before selling their phone or phones he or she should restore the memory to the origin manufactures settings. simple issue solved.
Life is all about changes. It does not matter if its our cell phones or hair styles. However,the original cell phone was created for calls only.It is our own falt when we "over personalize" things we want to change. The manufactor plays no part on the cell phone sercrity.
I recently bought a refurbished phone from T-mobile. While I was searching through the phone to check out the features, I saw about 25 text messages left in the outbox and pin numbers to credit cards. I was shocked, thinking, why would they leave this info in the phone? I think when you donate or sell your old phones; it is a wonderful thing, because it keeps those harmful chemicals out of the waste system. However, if you don't want your info still floating around, you should clear your sim card, remove it from the phone and then clear any memory from the phone. When companies receive these used phones they should also take the time to check to see if any info was left behind. If both parties take responsibility, it is a win win situation!
Cell phone security is a high popular subject today. I believe that the phone companies do have an ethical responsibility to the issues at hand due to the fact that privacy is a major issue. However, this goes both ways in my opinion. People should not sell their personal items such as a cell phone. nevertheless, America is always trying to stay on top of the latest thing so in order to be able to do that i guess you got to sell your posecisson.
I looked on the tmobile site in their privacy area. It states that the memory of a phone is always deleted by them when they receive phones back.
phone companies are setting up cell phone recycling centers, however, this still leaves your discarded phone, and it's sensitive information in the hands of an associate at these center. There needs to be an easier solution to removing your personal information.
Cell phone companies are setting up recycling centers. While these recycling centers should be secure, what is stopping the agents at these recycling centers from stealing your personal information. There should be an easier way to remove your personal information from the cell phones prior to returning them to recycling them. The phone companies should provide a download that will clean all your data off the phone.
When someone purchases a cell phone it is their responsibility to control the things that they are storing in it. Cell phones are portable devices and can be lost at any time. No one ever thinks about if their cell phone is ever lost. They dont think about who ever finds it may look through some private information you didnt want seen or heard. The phone manufacturers should not have to deal with these issues because they are just there to sell you a great phone. What you put inside your phone is ypur business and your responsibility on what goes in and out of it. It is the consumers responsibility and no fault of the phone manufacturers.
BF Cell phones are a way to communicate
Josh Thornley
First of all, I dont think that the manufacturer should be held responsible for any information that is passed down through the cell phones. Manufacturers do not require their consumers to pass down their cell phones when newer models come out. Since you have voluntarily sold your phone to another user, you are the only one responsible for the information you give them. Cell phones used to save all of the data to the phones hard drive, but in order to help reduce the number of users that have unsuccessfully deleted all of their info off their phone before selling it they have started using SIM cards and other removable storage devices in the phones. This makes it easier for not only the user to transfer their data from phone to phone, but it also saves the user of the old phone from having all of this info on their phone that they dont want.
Cell phone users that pass on their old model cells are taking the possiblity of there identity at their own risk. I feel that the phone manufactures do not have to be resonsible for the discloser of any information held on the phone.Many people however, when getting a new cell phone will not have to give the old phone back due to the fact that the old models are out of date. To conclude, I feel that that the cell phone manufacturers are not ethically resonsible.(jonathan cory jones)
I don't think it should be the wireless industry's responsibility to protect a cell owner's privacy after the cell phone purchase. An individual run the risk of having their personal information exposed when they sell or donate a computer or lose a personal organizer. Are we going to hold the computer and paper idustry accountable as well? A cell phone user has the option to store or not store personal information on their phone. If that person feel so strongly about being vulnerable, then that individual should not donate or sell their cell phone. They should destroy the device.
All manufacturers holds some responsibilty to keep customers happy.They should have something in place to protect the customers privacy. Only buy the phones that have something to protect your info. You can buy Mobile Armor guard to stop attacks on information being open to the public.Buy a Sims card to put in the cell phone.
According to the manufacturer there is a way to delete all info from your phone but who keeps the instructions! Cell phone digest says each breach of security costs anaverage of $182. per record. I think when the manufacturers have some type of legal action taken against them they will make erasing the data on company and individual cell phones more of a priority and more user friendly. It will take a legal issue to make them more responsible.The bottom line is always the mighty dollar.
There are many pros and cons to recycling your old cell phones. The main thing people worry about is their privacy but if properly deleting i really dont thing there will be a problem. Recycling your old phone prevents battiers which contain many toxins from just ending up in the trash. If they reach the trash its a very strong chance they will end up in our water supply some way or another. Also alot of recyling organizations donate and raise money for local charities. Taking the time to recycle an old cell phone just doesnt help the environment but others as well!!
I think that the cell phone security issue is very serious.We think that when we trade our phones in for an upgraded one, all our information is being deleted.But that's not the case always.One major recycling program says it's best to not only delete data but to shred the SIM cards.Cell phone manufaturer's are becoming more aware of the issue and are creating software that will totally wipe out all personal data. FrancesKR
well certain phone companies like T-mobile and nextel have sim cards that allow you to take your information with you when you switch or upgrade your phone. Anything you say on an analog cell phone can be easily overheard by someone using a scanner. Digital cell phone transmissions are scrambled for better protection, but eavesdroppers with the right equipment may be able to unscramble them. in an article based in 2005, the phone company argued in a particular situation of a customers cloned phoned, that they were not responible for a cloned or stolen phone and the charges that accrued due to the theft. in my opinion, cell phone companies should be able and willing to take that type of responsibilty to investigate all charges and determine if a claim is false or not.
Most people store information into there flash. There are good and some are bad. The think people should earse information on the phone when they turn there phones in. The manufacture usually have instruction on how to delete all the important. sou you should be safe.
Privacy in your old phones is an issue if you use your phone to hold personal information. Sim Cards are a way phone companies have delt with this issue. But some information is still on the phones memory, such a pictures. SO the Sim Card isn't a fool proof system, but it does help. i think phone companies could make progress in this area by making it easier to delete personal information and such off your phone.
Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries.This is a very true statement dealing with the phone companies these days. Phone companies are have private pin for each wireless service so that you cannot activate a phone when it is cut off. This will hopefully stop the intrusion on others information that could one day be used against them. Cell phone companies deffinetly have a ethical responsibility to addreess this issues because it is your customers information that they are revealing and they do not want any trouble with there customers.
Cell phones are meant to be for personal use only and if by ignorance the user decides to give a used phone out then it is that persons problem. Most cell phones have capabilities of saving information to sims card which could be removed before transfer.If the user had saved information on to the main phone the person should refer to the phone manual on guide to delete any information that might been saved.Basically phone manufacturers disclose the capability of phones and how to operate them.To me there is no responsibility on the part of phone companies if any body willingly give out its old personal phone.
Manufactores should make sim cards for all cell phones. It will prevent imformation from being stored on the phone and saves time when the person gets a new phone. The manaufactore responsiblity is to make sure u have memory and space to save things. IT is your responsibility to make sure u delete everything.
No phone manifacture should not be responsible for what ever demage you have cost to your reputition only because you give a phone that have sensitive information away. If you know you have sensitive information in a phone and you upgraded, donot give that phone away.
First of all, it is not a good ideal to sell your old phones because it is easy to steal your information.remenber that you may think you deleted all your information but usually their are things you may not be able to delete.
Obviously the issue has not been dealt with if it still exists. When a person purchases a phone all these things should be explained to them. Some way should be created to where sensitive information in phone can be deleted for good without a risk of anyone exposing it.An issue such as this can promote crime and an invasion of privacy. This is a problem that could manifest it self if not handled properly.
Most phone manufactures allow you keep your sims card to your old phone, or will help you apply your old card to your new phone for activation. I never really had any trouble as far as dealing with this problem. To my knowledge; my phone company has always been helpful and responsible about transferring information from one phone to the next, and yes they should have an ethical responsibility towards this issue.
Reususing a cell phone that has been deleted of all of the prior customers information is a good thing. That would be consider as recycling and it could help out in so many ways.If you could sell them at a lower price that would be good for someone who can't pay for those new high price sell phones.
I never had problems with any of my previous phones. The information I kept on those phones were stored on my sim card. According to the New York Times popular practice among sellers resetting the phone often means sensitive information appears to have been erased, but can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet. I don't believe it's the manufacturers job to deal with this issue. I don't feel this is their responsibility. It was the owners decision to sell their phone so they cant blame anyone but themselves if people get their information.
The cell phone companies have chosen to up grade the technology of cell phone security by one have a sim card. This card allows you to remove this card from phone and place it in another, this way if you chose to sell your phone or up grade to a new phone all of your information will be stored in the new phone. Also cell phone companies have given customers the option of having a locking mechanism on there phone. customers can lock there phone witha code that they chose and if the phone is lost then no can use it or retrieve there private information. Cell phone companies are ethically bound to the customers to protect there information if they want customers. Customers want to know that there private information is protected. Sources are as follows: www.cit.cornell.edu/cellphone/security and www.informat.com Sharon Osborne 5pm class Monday and Wednesday
Consummer are at risk of privacy invasion and identity theft when selling their old phones. They are not sure how to completely delete sesitive information saved in their phones. I strongly believe that the phone manifaturer has an ethical responsility and obligation to address this issue.The phone manifacturer should creat an easy 1 2 3 process to delete and or easrase information permanently when the phone is no longer in nneed.
Well, personally I would never sale an old phone due to the ovious which was stated in the oringanl message. But for those who do sale there phones yes it is up to phone companys to address the issue, either by helping to recycle the phone by celling it back to the origanal company or by coming up with some type of system where everyone is sure they are safe if they delete information than it is really deleted. Phone company have tried to solve this issue by usinng sim cards and other removable devices that allows a costomer to remove there info and carry it with them to the next cellular device that they may purchase.
Dominique Williams
I feel that first and foremost the cellphone security lies in the hands of the owner. They should definitely keep that stuff locked down. Ideally one would know not to keep sensitive information on their cell phone. cell phones are some of the most commonly stolen items. I also feel that once your purchase has been made any information stored in the physical memory of the phone is of no consequence to the service provider.
Ithink it is the responsibility of the owner of the cellphone to delete all the informations on the old cellphone before giving it back to the manufacturer. On the other hand, the owner may not be able to. This because he/she may not know much about the cellphone.But if it is recycled immediately and the manufacturer is trustworthy,nothing will be known or tapped from the owners information. I will never let my information get to a wrong hand.Prevention is better than cure.
I do not believe that cell phone manufactures have a responsibility to create phones that delete old information. It is up to an individual whether not they want to keep their old phone and it is up to them to get their personal information out of the phone. However, I think that the use of information cards, SIM cards, helps in this issue. If a person saves all of their information to the SIM rather than the actual phone it makes transferring very easy. I think that if a person has an ethical dilemma with possibly giving personal information in their used phone they should just keep it.
I think anyone who decides to sell his cell phone should be responsible for deleting all his information stored on the phone. Phone companies made Sim card avaliable so people can store their personal informations, so if your information is passed to someone else you are to be blamed.
It is good to sell an old phone, but dont blame the manufacturer or phone company for letting your information out. If u dont want your information out, simply delete your information on the phone before selling it.
Well if people are going to discard their phones for other people to use, they should know not have private things that can destroy them and their identity. It's cool if you have a sum card and no information is left on it, but verizon phones do not have that luxury. I think it seems pretty easy to delete ur personal stuff from a phone. If you can't, then manufacturers should be able to find a way if they want people to recycle.
Information can always be traced no matter if deleted or erased. You should always clear messages phone # and pictures from your cell phone prior to turning them over to a company. You can always take your data card and use itin yur next phone. Phone companies should not refurbish and resale phones if they cannot clear the information from the previous owner.
Many cell phone manufacturers have made deleting sensitive information on their devices much easier over the past few years. I have personally used about a dozen different cell phones over the past 2 years, ranging from different blackberries, pocket pc's, pda's and just your standard flip-phone. Most smart phones have a "reset" option that resets and restores all of the orginal factory presets, so that all of your information is wiped out in its entirety. As for normal phones, most of them now have the option to delete "all messages" or calls made/received. I do not believe that the companies have an ethical responsibility to offer these features, however it makes their phones MUCH easier to sell!
It is not the manufactures responsibility to make sure your information is cleared off of your cell phone. When you buy a new car off the lot unless they state a warranty coming with it, you leave the lot with the knowledge of "if something goes wrong with this car I have to pay for it out of pocket." Most phones nowadays come with slots for SD Cards, Sim Cards, Mini SD Cards, and etc. The owner has other options of saving personal information rather than just saving it to the phone. We as people have gotten to the point where we complain and bicker about anything if we can't get it our way.
Kaitlyn Reid- I don't think that cell phone manufacturers have addressed this issue much. Most of the time you just have to buy a new cell phone and they never mention anything about the old cell phone that was lost or stolen. I do think that they have an ethical responsiblity to address this issue more. It is important with the growing number of cell phones that companies are making sure that our personal information is safe. I think they still have a lot of work to do in that department.
(Ashley Hutcherson): I actually had no idea that this could happen. I have gone through several cell phones. I never sold my phone though I have siblings and we usually pass the phone around until it can not be used anymore in which we still keep as toys for my younger brother. The phone companies have to be aware so when a person wants to sell their phone back the customer should be made known that this could happen before they sell it back to the company. Also there should be a way that a person could delete everything, but I did not know that.
Phone manufacturers have invented SIM (Subscriber Identity Module)cards for their clients. These cards hold all of your personal information as well as your contacts. You should save all of your information directly to your SIM and never to your phone. While, phone manufacturers do not have an ethical responsibility to address this issue---I feel that to alleviate this problem is just plain ol' savvy business sense! Keep customers happy which leads to repeated business! But I do agree with VON when he says it is not the company's problem if the owner wants to sell his old phone.
Also be aware, that these SIM cards are as damaging as they are helpful!
I think there should be some way of deleting everything completely off of your phone, because it could have really private information on your phone. So i think it should be the servers responsibility to have a device that deletes everything off of the old phone. (corie plott)
Most cell phone companies, for example cingular, like the one I use has something we call a SIM card. The SIM card allows you to save all your information to it, and when you change phones, your infomation goes with you. This allows you to give away your phone as if was new. The cell phone companies that do not use the SIM card do not have ethical way to adrees this issue, because once the person is done using the phone, there is no way to get the information out. This includes phone numbers and even messages. This invades the persons privacy and the company has no way of changing this.
AMBER ODOM
5:00 PM CLASS
i personally have a motorola Q9m which allows me to store data etc.. in my phone and then if i want i can transfer everything into my computer (pictures, excel data, microsoft word, numbers, etc..) and then it is very easily deleted manually or i can take it to the store and get what i want deleted off of it...
Some phones have sim cards and others you can take to the store and get the staff to switch over data from your old phone to the new one as well as delete incriminating stuff.
John Weaver
Cell phone security is not a topic that I have heard much about. I believe it would be in one's best interest to keep personal information off your phone whenever possible. I understand that your gonna have pictures and other people's numbers on your phone. Do not put your Social Security Number or Bank Account Number in your phone though. Your best bet if you plan on selling your phone is not to put any information on it that you will have to worry about later.
I read online via google that most phone companies during the present time have very effective ways to deal with cell phone security. Old discarded phones that people chose to donate to charities may contain sensitive information. The manufacturers who donate the cell phones oftentime "refurbish" the phones before sending them along to certain places. This day in age, most cell phones contain SIM cards which carry all of your contact information and everything saved in your phone altogether. The ease of switching your SIM card to another phone (that is compatible with your service provider) has made the issue of cell phone security much less of a problem than it was in the past.
In my honest opinion I think that it is frightening for my personal item to be able to be retrived once deleted. We all have taken intimate pictures of loved ones and have sent messages that were inappropriate for whatever reasons.. We did not intended for these "personal" items to be displayed or broadcasted to the general public. If our privacy is not protected we are subject to all types of choas. I think that the FCC may need to have striter regulations on these types of circumstances. Marqueia
I feel that some phones don't have the security they should. T-mobile phones have sim cards which saves everything to the card and not the phone. This allows anyone with an old phone that wants to discard it they can do so with out their personal business getting out to others. So when people save all their information on their sim card they don't have to worry about their informatin getting out to others it will be on that same card.
i like the sim cards that Sprint has. a person can just transfer their information from one phone to the other. but it is the person's responsibility to take off or delete anything before selling it.
Two things that are making cell phones more dangerous than ever is Eavesdropping. Anything you say on an analog cell phone can be easily overheard by someone using a scanner. Digital cell phone transmissions are scrambled for better protection, but eavesdroppers with the right equipment may be able to unscramble them. the other is Fraudulent billing. It is possible for thieves to intercept a cell phone signal and clone the phone's ID numbers (its Electronic Serial Number and Mobile Identification Number, or ESN/MIN). The result is the equivalent of a stolen calling card.
I believe the owner of the cellphone is responsible for deleting the information on it, and not the cellphone company.
Now this is interesting. You could sell your phone to a mass murderer, then in a few weeks wonder why people from your old contact list kept dissaperaing. Now the likely possibility of that is probably pretty much past perfectly slim, but nobody really knows. But I do not believe the average person knows quite how to bring all that deleted data back up into your old phone, so you shouldn't have to worry about a bomb shelter quite yet. My only advice, if you are going to sell your old phone, make sure that everything is completely gone from the memory and sell it to someone you already know. Or you can just subbmerge it in water to destroy evidence forever.
Phone manufacturers have developed two plans for deleting a previous user's personal information.One way is through The Cell Phone Data Eraser which offers instructions on how to erase all your sensitive data from your cell phone with individual PDF instructions organized by manufacturer and model.(Adam Pash,www.lifehacker.com). The other is by deleting every single piece of information individually. Although this method may be time consuming, but by doing both methods a user can ensure that private information is definitely deleted off of the cell phone. Cell phone manufacturer's have an ethical responsibility to ensure the privacy of each user, as well as, ensuring that some of the parts of a cell phone do not harm our environment. Aside from appearance,functionality, and convenience consumer's should also look into a cell phone manufacturer's privacy policy when purchasing a cell phone.
Phone manufacturers have developed two plans for deleting a previous user's personal information.One way is through The Cell Phone Data Eraser which offers instructions on how to erase all your sensitive data from your cell phone with individual PDF instructions organized by manufacturer and model.(Adam Pash,www.lifehacker.com). The other is by deleting every single piece of information individually. Although this method may be time consuming, but by doing both methods a user can ensure that private information is definitely deleted off of the cell phone. Cell phone manufacturer's have an ethical responsibility to ensure the privacy of each user, as well as, ensuring that some of the parts of a cell phone do not harm our environment. Aside from appearance,functionality, and convenience consumer's should also look into a cell phone manufacturer's privacy policy when purchasing a cell phone.
OMG HECK YES....when you trade your phone u lose personal memories and much more... im in complete agreement with the fact that moral responsibility commands the cellphone companies to handle this issue. This should not be overlooked by the phone companies. Ive seen rencently that big name cell phone companies are useing the sim card as a safe why to transfer information making it less able to pull up old stuff that was stored to ones' phone. im still kinda disapointed with verizon--they have done very little in comparision with the other phone companies.
In Response to von said...
It not the manufactur issue to deal with that if the owner wonts to sell his/her old phone. Becouse it is the owners responsibility to save all there content on the sims card and not there phone for people to try an restore
i say no...you bought your product from this company and on a MORAL level the company is compelled to resolve this issue. This is somones identity and life we are talking about not just another "buck".
I dont think it is the responsiblity of the manufacturers to deal with this issue. It is the responsiblity of the owner of the phone to save all information to the sim card instead of to the phone itself. There are places to discard of old phones, people should take the responsiblity and do this.
It's your resposiblity of what you put on your phone. Before you donate the phone,make sure a professional cleans it out.Or save things on your memory card. If it's too personal just keep it.
(Gavin Arvizo): I believe that when a consumer re-sells a item such as a sellphone, even if they are unaware, it is their responsibility. However, it is the secondary buyers's moral responsibility not to actually attempt to restore that private information. There is memory sticks, and sim cards, that that information can be stored to. Instead of directly on the phone. Manufactures must give consumers information and tools on how to better delete delicate information. It is there moral responsibility to their valued customers.
This is a real good one because firstly,this involved customers and manufacterers.This is business and all a cell phone company is about it's money.They are not really concern about you.It is our responsibilities as consumers to keep up with our personal records or information.We SOULD NEVER SELL OR GIVE CELL PHONES TO ANYONE WITH PERSONAL INFORMATION ON IT.This is Samuel Glekiah
Did you know that people can bill their calls to your cell phone account? According to technologist at Cornell University,they can. that is unsettling. I'm convinced there is no such thing as privacy of any kind anymore.There are some "countermeasures."Check them out! They are posted on the source website I used at: (http://www.cit.cornell.edu/cellphone/security.html)
Cell phone manufacturers do not have any ethical responsibility to address cell phone security. It is the responsibility of the cell phone owner. The cell phone user should ensure the privacy of his information. If he changes a cell phone, he should destroy the old one to preserve his privacy. Service providers could play a role in security.
GRACE EKE
It should not be up to the phone company to go back and delete phone numbers, pictures, or videos on someones phone. If your not wise enough to delete these yourself then that is most definently your problem and not the companies. But the problem with this is that the company come plug your phone into this device that can pull up all your deleted info, past calls, and etc. So, either way the companies can still hack in if they wanted to or if there was a need to do so.
Debbie Hurst
Cell phone manufactures are helping to prevent identity theft of an old cell phone that is given away, by giving instructions in the user manuel for that phone,however if one find it complicated to remove information, then the person can notify their cell phone provider, or get assistant to remove all the information completely from the cell phone because removing the SIM card will not do it alone, and the person should cancel their telephone service. Cell phone manufacturers do have an ethical responsibility to address identity theft due to giving away an old cell phone, they encourage safe recycling, therefore they provide a recycle bins, and it helps with keeping earth Green;safe enviroment.
When you sell your old phone, I would think that you would take out your SIM card, the card that holds all your personal information. Therefore,when you sell your phone you should take out your SIM card.
Maggie
Jasmine Johnson
The flash memory used in cell phones is slow to completely erase data so manufacturers have speeded it up by bypassing complete erasure. Encrypting passwords and other sensitive data stored on your cell phone, and “locking” the keypad while your phone is not in use, can help prevent unauthorized access even after your cell phone is no longer in service. Permanent data deletion usually requires several steps. Remove the memory or subscriber identity module (SIM) card from the phone. That’s an important first step in deleting information, but you likely will need to do more to erase all the sensitive data on your device. You can command a cell phone to delete certain data, but that will only delete the references to where the data is located; the actual information stays on the phone’s operating system. I absolutely think that it’s the manufacturers’ responsibility to handle this issue because most people trust that when they delete something from their cell phone, that it’s deleted. Why even have the delete button if it’s not deleting things properly?
Jonathan J
I do think the cell phone companies should be held to making sure that all info is deleted from the phone before giving it to someone else down the line. It’s just the ethical and moral thing to do but they’re too busy worried about the resale of the phone, recycling the phone, or giving it away to a charitable cause which all ultimately benefits the cell phone companies so there not so worried if phone numbers are still stored, addresses, pictures, or etc. So ultimately it falls on the consumer turning the phone in for credit to empty it completely of pictures, names and addresses, phones numbers and whatever else may be stored on your phone. Also switch out your SIM card or make it has been deleted also. So when you want to do something the right way and know that it’s been taking care of do it yourself. Delete your stored info, trade your phone in, and walk away assured that no one will ever get your little black list of secret phone numbers.
I been with T-mobile for about 7 years. Every time i upgraded I take out my sim card and place it in my new phone.I think that just removing your sim card is good enough. When reomving sims cards from a t-mobile phone the old phone womt even start up without one. So I think that the sim card was a great idea.
Should we really feel that deleting personal info. is anyone responsibility other than our on? Yes, information is available for someone to veiw. But I would truely hope that anything incriminating or damaging is deleted REGARDLESS! But then again its really not any different than loosing your phone and someone veiwing your personal data. The unfortunate thing is we keep yell the words, Our Privacy but with technology and how leisure we are in utilizing it...there is no real privacy anymore. To sum it up its YOUR phone and YOUR information so it is also YOUR responsibility to delete all info prior to recycling, selling, or upgrading. As far as deleting but still being able to retrieve is the down side of something good.
Vivian Davis... Knowledge is power. The first problem I have with this is the lack of attention this has gotten from the media. It is important that everyone is aware. Most people beleive that once you've given up a phone its over. Its not quite that easy. Say if you erased your contacts and removed your sims card. This seems like enough but its not in the least. Cel phones have somthing called flash memory which can be accessed with or without your sim card. Most cellular recycling companies such as re-cellular, do it for the client but even then do yoou really know the hands it passes before it gets there. But, not to worry. Many web sites will help you with full erasure. All you have to do is enter the make and model of your phone. Also in your user guide there should be instructions on how to set youe phone back to manufacturer settings.
Before selling, replacing, or discarding the cell phone users must make sure that they delete all personal informations completely. In the past, phone manufacturere takes little steps to prevent informations stored on used phone from leaking. But there are many software that users can use to ensure their informations are completely erase, one of those is wireless recycling. http://www.recellular.com/recycling/data_eraser/default
Although, it is the responsibility of the phone manufacturer to make sure that user's information does not leak, but it is the sole responsibility of individual to ensure that no sensitive information is left undeleted when turing their phone in.
Before selling, replacing, or discarding the cell phone users must make sure that they delete all personal informations completely. In the past, phone manufacturere takes little steps to prevent informations stored on used phone from leaking. But there are many software that users can use to ensure their informations are completely erase, one of those is wireless recycling. http://www.recellular.com/recycling/data_eraser/default
Although, it is the responsibility of the phone manufacturer to make sure that user's information does not leak, but it is the sole responsibility of individual to ensure that no sensitive information is left undeleted when turing their phone in.
Before selling, replacing, or discarding the cell phone users must make sure that they delete all personal informations completely. In the past, phone manufacturere takes little steps to prevent informations stored on used phone from leaking. But there are many software that users can use to ensure their informations are completely erase, one of those is wireless recycling. http://www.recellular.com/recycling/data_eraser/default
Although, it is the responsibility of the phone manufacturer to make sure that user's information does not leak, but it is the sole responsibility of individual to ensure that no sensitive information is left undeleted when turing their phone in.
From richie
If people are going to put incriminating photos/text messages on their phones, they should realize that access to that is available if through means if you don't sell your phone via blue tooth. Since today many people do not realize that cell phones have a hard drive just as a computer would; they can store information in long term memory. When a person switches their phone from one phone to another phone, they should have the option of erasing their old phone's memory completely. Many phone companies fight this with the use of a SIM card, which is a card that can store info from phone to phone. Although, some companies use a SIM card this leaves their information saved onto the phone. Which becomes not the problem of the manufacture but of the owner of the cellular device.
Although many peoples cell phones have a SIM card many people should be aware of the info of any kind to be on their phone
Cell phone manufacturers do have some a responsibility to insure that their products can be safely reused. It is also in their best business interest. People are more likely to upgrade to a new communication device when they know the old one can be cleared of any personal information. I was able to find a web site that provides a “Cell Phone Data Eraser Program” with instructions for most cell phones and PDA’s, (http://www.recellular.com/recycling/) . Most manufacturers have data removal information available but it is nice to have it easily available. I really don’t think there is much more that should be done. I would be nice if cell phone retailers provided the recycling and erasing service but they should not be obligated to do so. I mostly agree with the post from marcidarcy that the consumer should have the responsibility instead of making it an ethical issue for cell phone companies.
Uchefuna Singleton
Many companies have handled this situation by adding SIM cards to their company’s cell phones allowing the costumer to have a safer and secure cell phone. I do believe it’s the companies responsibility to make sure that when a customer trades in a cell phone or buys a new one that their information will not be carried on to the next phone or person. However to be on the safe side me as a customer I would delete all my information the best that I could before I trade in my cell phone. Although some companies have SIM cards there are some that don’t for example Metro PCS. The way that they allow you to handle it is to delete your information and letting you transfer all your numbers to your new cellular phone. Although all these companies have their own methods on protecting your cell phone, how safe can we really be after trading in something that has had all our previous and private information.
I never thought about this Now. I didn't understand or think that people use this information for their own rewards. Your entire life is out there for the whole world to use. You don't think about this when you trade all you think about getting a newer and cuiter phone, you don't think that when your information is download into your new phone that it still exist in the old one. WOW!
I hate to seem naïve but I have never thought about cell phone security in this sense. Like millions of other people I am cell phone user. I never seriously gave a thought to what happens to my phone once it was discarded. Fortunately, since I am such a techno fob I only use my cell phone for the basics.
I think phone manufactures should bear the responsibility of cleaning their phones before they are resold. I believe by removing your sim card before upgrading can help prevent your information being left on the phone. However, what if there is theft or your cell phone is lost. That sim card along with any information stored is gone. I did visit a very informative web site that gave some great tips -10 Steps you can take to protect your calling records
http://www.consumercal.org/article.php?id=360
-Victoria Murphy
I'm not sure if they are necessarily responsible because once you no longer want your phone, it is really not the manufacturers fault if someone steals your information because you decide to sell or give it to someone. I guess the responsibility is back on you to try to discard everything on your cell or maybe just don't put anything on the cell phone that you might regret later.
Personally I believe you should not sell your old phone to random people, solely because of the personal information they have an opportunity to find about you. Examples: where your girlfriends, where you live, social security numbers or anything else of the sort. So all in all I believe there should be a certain routine you should have to follow to get an upgrade, to prevent these types of events from happening on a continuous basis.
Flash memory is inexpensive and durable. But it is slow to erase information in ways that make it impossible to recover. So manufacturers compensate with methods that erase data less completely but don't make a phone seem sluggish.Phone manufacturers usually provide instructions for safely deleting a customer's information, but it's not always convenient or easy to find. Research in Motion Ltd. has built into newer Blackberry phones an easy-to-use wipe program.
Palm Inc., which makes the popular Treo phones, puts directions deep within its Web site for what it calls a "zero out reset." It involves holding down three buttons simultaneously while pressing a fourth tiny button on the back of the phone.
But it's so awkward to do that even Palm says it may take two people. A Palm executive, Joe Fabris, said the company made the process deliberately clumsy because it doesn't want customers accidentally erasing their information.
Jody A. Lee
I think that it is both the cell phone companies and the individuals responsibility to delete personal information from old phones. If an individual wants to re-sell or donate their cell phone than that person should be responsible enough to delete information that they might not want circulated. Also, companies that except old cell phones for charity or resale should also have the common courtesy to delete this information for the interest of new and old customers. Otherwise the company would risk portraying an unprofessional reputation.
I think manufactures have a responsibility to protect the consumer to an extent, especially when the phone just dies and you can't retrieve your pesronal inormation manually. As stated previously a lot of service providers offer the use of sim cards for not only security, but ease of transferring your personal information from one device to the next. I also think phone companies should have an ethical responsibility to address this concern because the average cell phone user does not know their information can stil be available for someone else to access. I know i did not! Charlene J.
I think manufactures have a responsibility to protect the consumer to an extent, especially when the phone just dies and you can't retrieve your pesronal inormation manually. As stated previously a lot of service providers offer the use of sim cards for, not only security, but ease of transferring your personal information from one device to the next. I also think phone companies should have an ethical responsibility to address this concern because the average cell phone user does not know their information can stil be available for someone else to access. I know i did not! Charlene J.
Weekley
To tell the truth I am cell phone technology challenged. I am not sure what a sims card is although my children and husband have tried to explain to me. For what ever reason there is a generation of people who are hooked on that crackberry I mean blackberry. They don't realize that there is always something more to it than meets the eye for example: taking a photo with your phone and you lose it the person who finds it now takes it to a cell phone dealership and as they are transferring numbers and whatever else they have access to everything on that phone. It happened not to long ago here in Atlanta, with a young lady who took her phone in to be serviced and the the dealership's employee downloaded some private intimate pictures and put them on the internet. Not only what he did was illegal, it was morally and ethically wrong. Can you possibly imagine what is lifted off of the old cell phones that did not have a sims card previously. What makes it worse is that there are teenagers that are being charged with felony crimes for sending nudity through cell phones. www.msnbc.msn.com
Teens sending nude photos via cell phones
Pictures meant for boyfriend or girlfriend are ending up on the Internet
By Stephanie Reitz
updated 2:39 p.m. ET, Wed., June. 4, 2008
HARTFORD, Conn. - Passing notes in study hall or getting your best friend to ask a boy if he likes you or, you know, LIKES you, is so last century. Nowadays, teenagers are snapping naked pictures of themselves on their cell phones and sending them to their boyfriends and girlfriends.
Many of these pictures are falling into the wrong hands — or worse, everyone's hands, via the Internet — and leading to criminal charges.
Some parents are aghast.
Cell phone porn scandal hits U.S. school
Japan fights children's cell phone addiction
Study secretly tracks cell phone users
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
D Lewis
I think if you your phone has important and sensitive info,you should not get rid of it.It should not be the manufacture responsibility to secure your info when you get rid or sell a phone.
i think that a cell is so close of being our best friend these days. we hold on to it. we dont leave with out. we could even check the internet with our cell phones. we put personal pictures in it. as well as personal information. i think every cell phone should be operated by a chip. that way when we change cell phones. we would be able to just insert the info into the other cell phone. and it would be in there automatic. the have different web pages to get in phone. such as metro pcs.com, sprint pcs. verizon.com
Cell phone manufactures have a responsibility to the people they provide cell phones to. Many cell phone manufactures are now placing very small reset buttons under the battery inside the phone. It is nearly impossible to accidently reset your phone, although it is quite easy to delete all sensitive information. All the cell phone user has to do to delete this information is press an extremely small button; usually a sewing needle or something of that size will do the trick.
Selling a used cell phone can be dangerous to your security, although if the proper security precautions are taken it is very unlikely that any old data could be accessed. It is important to always delete all: messages, phonebook entries, memos, calendar data, call records, voice recordings, videos recordings, pictures, and any other personnel data that may be stored within your cell phone. If your cell phone has a reset button you can just simply press that. All phone personnel data stored within the phone should be destroyed, although it’d be smart to make sure there is no remaining information stored to the phone.
April Weems
Selling and buying a phone is at your discreet. It is a mechanical device that most of us feel that we need more than a computer. The information we store in a cell phone we can actually purchase a pocket size address/phonebook and input that information to be save and still have at our fingertips. Having to delete all the information in a cell can take hours. If you want to make sure the information on your phone is destroyed ask your provider how can you destroy the information stored on your old phone. My phone manufacturer indicated to me that they do not have a ethical responsibility to address the issue but they do make sure that every phone that is return the memory chip is erased and destroyed.
kenny rhea
I didnt know that. I thought when you deleted a message or a picture it was actually deleted, for good. I realy think the cellphone companys should address this and perhaps take care of it. Luckly for me i keep all of my old phones that still work for the numbers or if i might ever need anything off of them. so i dont have to worry about someone finding them unless they break into my house and steal them.
Blessing Ukonu
Your old cell phone can betray all of your secrets, so getting rid of your old cell phone can be a real threat to your privacy if you are not careful.The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to only delete your information, and also remove your sims card on your old cell phone before donating it to charity.
i think both the individual and the manufacturer are to be blame. In the sense that individual should remember to delete their information on the phone before giving it out or selling it. Manufacturer should also note that not all deleted informations are actually deleted fully from the phone, there are some people who do not have the idea or are into modern technology. manufacturers should give more enlightment on how to properly delete all personal information from their phones.
Iyana Hodge
Unfornately,we live in a world with dishonest people who choose to steal peoples sensitive information for their own personal gain.If you are old enough to purchase a phone then you should be responsible for your own actions.Sprint/nextel has a simscard.However,I agree with Von its not the manufacture's responsibility to delete anything stored in your phone.Even with all the security guidelines you just cant trust anyone to handle your info. In addition, everyone should keep in mind whatever you store on your phone can easily be traced,so be mindful before storing anything:pictures,text,phonenumbers,anything that can be retreived and cause damage to you.
Jacob Byrd
As much as the previous owner should take reasponsibilty for ensuring that their information is erased from the phone, manufactuors should make doing this simple to the consumer. With the newer phones coming out, users are having a hard enough time unlocking all of their phones potential in the first place, so when it comes time for the user to get a new phone, companies should have progrmas that ensure that all the information is deleted off their phone before providing it to another consumer.
Joshua Whatley
Now you have these memory cards that can store everything on them. To my knowledge at least everything. People use these so that hey can easily just transfer their memory, so that they can take whatever they had in the phone out. There is also a master reset in some phones that can delete everything in the phone, so that it can be just like it was when whatever company sold it to you. I believe in second chance oppurtunities, so I believe that all phone manufacturing companies should all install a feature where the phone can be deleted. What if someone had something sent to their phone and wanted to run for a political office position; everyone knows how the media likes to slander someone's good name. It's their phone and their personal business, but if someone got a hold of it or they wanted to discard the phone then shouldn't they be able to delete any embarrassing information? Yes, phone manufacturers have an ethical responsibility of not helping anyone else find out about someone else's secret information.
Karissa Barrett
I think that cell phone companies try and avoid people re-using other people's old phones by cutting the phone off as soon as someone goes to get another one. That's if the person wants it to be cut off. Although, I don't think it is the phone manufacturers problem to deal with. I don't see any problem with giving someone your old phone, unless you are hiding something that someone else may be able to find out by using your phone.
Sheree` Maxwell
I believe this issue is more common than people think. the phone manufacturers have had this problem and have slowly tried to alter the issue. they have started to create a sim card which holds all the content saved to the memory. the sim card is removable and can be transfered from phone to phone. i think all companies should be converted to this method. its a little more costly but people pay a lot of money for phones these days and should get there moneys worth. including the decurity of there own pricvacy. Whrn it comes time to upgrade your phone the sim card can simply be changed from your old phone to the new one and be done with it. also they should incorporate the ring tones as well.
Robert Hervey
I think that the network provided should destroy the microchips in the phones so that the person is safe. I don’t know who all will be able to see your information accept the provider but just to be safe from random employees at the network provider's company, you should delete everything in your phone so before get another one. I can understand if you don’t what everyone to see your phone numbers saved in the phone, that perfectly understandable, but pictures, text messages, notes and such are your responsibility to be deleted not the providers. If you have something bad in your phone then it is your fault if someone should see it. If you know that for a fact the information on your phone is harmful then why would you sell your old phone without first deleting the old numbers. If what was in your phone, you were doing your best to hide, then of course you knew it should have been deleted or saved somewhere else less viewer able. Computers are good places to save this information. Overall, the network provider is not responsible for your actions. I you run across this problem again, next time you will be sure to eject your sims card.
Davellin Ramirez
http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/CellDelete.htm
You should always protect yourself; never put your important information where someone else can see it. Just like you shouldn’t carry your pin number in your wallet, you shouldn’t put important information like account numbers in your phone. You run the risk of losing your phone and someone getting a whole of your private information. Phone companies are offering a way to help people to properly delete their information. They will walk you through the steps to permanently delete your information from your phone; because resetting the phone or your deleting your information doesn’t necessarily get rid of everything. I do think that phone companies have the responsibly to fix this issue. They produced the product so they should fix the bus it has. Most people aren’t aware of the risks of not deleting their information correctly can lead to someone attaining their important information. So because of that phone companies should be the ones to arrange to make everyone aware of the risks they can run into if they don’t properly delete their phones.
KELLY DIXON SAYS
actually i think cell phones are pretty secure unless u save ur items to your phone verses your sims card then thats the only time i believe you have a problem .because when you save your items to the phone there there forever unless you delete it so no its not that phones are insecureits the fact of you monitering your own personal info before selling it or trading it.
DAVONNI IRBY
I do not feel like any phone manufacutures have to deal with this issue. I say that because If you have something in your phone that you do not want anyone to ever see then you should just simply keep it. Even if you did delete it and are scared it might come back up if you sell it back or whatever the case maybe just keep the phone! it is as simple as that. The manufactures selt with this issue by coming out with sims cards and things like that. with the sim card you can place all information on that and keep it.
Today’s cell phone technology has come as far as computer technology. People are now able to use a cell phone to do just about anything a computer can do. Since a cell phone can be used just like a computer, people need to use extreme caution when getting rid of old portable phones. The information that is stored on these phones can include: personal banking data, such as passwords, contact information, and private bits and pieces of information and files, such as pictures. The public needs to be aware that it is the responsibility of both the manufacturer and purchaser to delete all pertinent data from cell phones before recycling or donating the phone. The manufacturer needs to be responsible for developing software that will permanently deleted all private data compiled on the sold phones. It is also the manufacturers’ job to make sure all customers have access to: and that the consumer has the knowledge on how to use this developed software to remove data that they do not wish to share with others. The consumer has the responsibility of using the data removal software correctly, removing all SIM and memory cards, and checking the phone for remaining personal data. After wiping this information from the phone, previous cell phone owners still have the risk of private data ending up in the wrong hands. Just like a computer, old cell phone data could be viewed by hackers.
Jennifer Rock CIS 200 9am
There are different types of cell phone systems. Some are old and are no longer in use. GSM (Global System Mobile, recently renamed Global System for Mobile Communications) is the cell phone system used by most of the world, and increasingly by carriers in the United States. GSM phones usually have a “chip” in them that contains your account number and other information. GSM phones use digital, encrypted communication between your phone and the cellular telephone base station. At the base station your voice is decrypted and sent over the telephone network. Like all digital systems, GSM phones provide substantially more voice privacy than analog systems, but they can still be eavesdropped upon by either the cellular telephone company, the government, or any organization that has access to the telephone network’s switching equipment. The GSM encryption algorithm (called A5) can also be cracked by a suitably motivated attacker.
Privacy Risks with Cell Phones. 1.Risks of Eavesdropping 2.Risks of Recording 3.Traffic Analysis. www.simson.net/ref/security_cellphones.htm
In responce to the blog from Kent Mathis:
The removal of personal information that is stored on cell phones should not only be the responsibility of the owner, but also the manufacturer. How can one be informed of the privacy and security issues without the manufacturer's documentation or notice? Cell phone sales companies should have to release proper deletion procedure information to all consumers. Customers should also be provided a technical support hot-line, to use to get help with cleaning out old cell phone data. Once a consumer is given this information, it is up to them to apply good sense and double check that the cell phone is clear of all personal data. Since todays cell phones are common to the computer, there is some data on the phone that may not ever be able to be deleted. Now the responsibilty lies on the owner of the phone.
Jennifer Rock CIS 200 9am
Jasmine Melton...
Cell phones are more vulnerable than regular phones due to two dangers: eavesdroppers can listen in on your calls, and thieves can bill their own calls to your account. The best protection? Be aware of what you discuss on your cell phone. Remember that it acts as a handheld broadcast station. Don't give out your credit card number or other sensitive or confidential information; don't say anything you wouldn't say on broadcast radio or TV. Manufactures say you should limit roaming-(Review which phones have roaming enabled and limit these as much as practical. Roaming usually defeats the use of Personal Identification Numbers (PINs)). Turn the phone off (Cell phones poll the cellular base station with the strongest signal every few second. This is how the system knows which base station to route calls through. However, this polling exposes the phone to interception and cloning). Review all Bills and Prefer hands-off vehicle-mounted phones to handhelds
By Willie Moore
Sim Cards are a good way to keep your privacy from nosy people. lol. You can just exchange your sim card and put in the new phone you have purchased. I think its messed up that people feel as though they have to look into peoples lives and read their messages.
Ricardo Burks
While the issue of information theft has been the lead topic of the news in recent months, cell phones privacy has been a big topic in the discussion. Some cell phone companies such as T-mobile have already taken the steps to prevent information theft by deploying the SIM card. A SIM card is a card or Subscriber Identity Module is a portable memory chip used in some models of cellular telephones. The SIM card makes it easy to switch to a new phone by simply sliding the SIM out of the old phone and into the new one. The SIM holds personal identity information, cell phone number, phone book, text messages and other data. It can be thought of as a mini hard disk that automatically activates the phone into which it is inserted. Although cell phone companies have taken the steps to help prevent information theft it is up to the user of the phone to remove any personal information.
ROMANDA FIELDS
CELLPHONE COMPANIES HAVE COME UP WITH AN IDEA OF WHAT TO DO. THE SIM CARD IS A GOOD WAY TO KEEP ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION PERSONAL. WHEN YOU UPGRADE TO A NEW PHONE YOU SIMPLY KEEP THE CARD AND PLACE IN THE BACK OF THE NEW PHONE, AND THING IS UPLOADED AND READY TO GO. SO THE PHONE GOES BUT NOT MY LIFE ALONG WITH IT.
the data on many old phones could potentially very sensitive and damaging to some if it is recovered once you trade it in. i think all cell phone companies should at least have a responsibility to wipe used phones of all the data they contain when they are traded in. a simple machine that just purged all data on the phone and restored it to its original factory settings would be perfectly sufficient to protect the private data on the phones
Ryan Kiplinger
Do phone companies have an ethical standard when it comes to the resale of your own cellphone? No, they do not. But why should they? Once you purchase a cell phone from the company, it's no longer their job to babysit your information. If you do indeed decide to sell your used phone, then you must take precautions. ALL of your phones information is stored on what is known as a Subscriber Identity Module, or SIM card for short. When selling your phone, simply remove the SIM card and you shall have no further problems.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/security/phone-wipe.mspx
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-sim-card.htm
Jacob Hunter
why should that be a cell phone companies problem? this is just peoples problems. if you did not want any one to see that on your phone then why did you do it i the first place?
I never traded a phone in for a new one. I've always been able to keep my phone. It would be kind of weird to have all my personl information restored by some one else. My phone is apart of me. I feel incomplete without my phone. If someone else go a hold to it i do not know what i would do. i have some pretty personal things in my phone an i dont think i would want a total stranger to ever have any of my possessions let alone my phone
i believe that they should be in fault of all the steps that you cant do ar may not know about to do. for example if you you do all the deleting in your part or from your knowledge then your are not part of the blame. but somebody in the feild of the cell phone business should know about the secrets ways. so i think it should be the cell phones people job to delete before reselling it. to prevent things inthis nature.
it is the original owners responsibilty to delete private images or videos. if a person discovers an inappropriate images of the previous owner they should delete them. to not do so would be extremely unethical. it would be best for people to just clear thier phone memory to prevent any mishapps'
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