Circuit City Used Consoles Had Porn, CC #'s

[exfileme]

Apparently, pre-owned consoles taken in by Circuit City--before the chain officially closed its doors--contained personal information such as credit card numbers and homemade porn that was never deleted before liquidation.

Circuit City Used Consoles Had Porn, CC #'s : Read more

 

[warezme]

Hmmm, how is this Circuit City's fault? It would be the previous owners responsibility to take off their data from their own machine. I have only had to send in my laptop in once for repairs and I made sure there was no personal information on it before it left my hands.

 

[LATTEH]

man i wish i bought a console there now XD

 

[radiowars]

[citation][nom]LATTEH[/nom]man i wish i bought a console there now XD[/citation]
Win

 

[hellwig]

So there's no password protection for the credit card information? So someone steals your console and you're just as screwed? No thanks.

While its not Circuit City's responsibility to wipe the data, they should have at least asked or reminded people to do so. I mean, if a good portion of the people shopping at Circuit City or Best Buy weren't technologicaly impaired, they wouldn't need FireDog or GeekSquad. Obviously these people don't know what they're doing, so a friendly company should at least warn people their sensitive data could still be on the console, and even offer to show the person how to erase it.

 

[The Schnoz]

Maybe he just bought a special XBOX 360: Porn Edition.

 

[superblahman123]

[citation][nom]warezme[/nom]Hmmm, how is this Circuit City's fault? It would be the previous owners responsibility to take off their data from their own machine. I have only had to send in my laptop in once for repairs and I made sure there was no personal information on it before it left my hands.[/citation]

So if I bought a used sofa from some resale shop, it's the prior owners fault if I find a rat in it? Come on now, I don't know about you, but if I bought used stuff, I would expect it to be cleaned. Ethics man, ethics.

 

[mdillenbeck]

[citation][nom]LATTEH[/nom]man i wish i bought a console there now XD[/citation]
Dunno - if you've seen the average US gamer and their girlfriend, you might reconsider that...

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]The Schnoz[/nom]Maybe he just bought a special XBOX 360: Porn Edition.[/citation]

That might just be on the model list. They make so many freaking models these days.

As far as the article goes. "Duh."

Truth is, outside of company attorneys, Circuit City could have cared less (and same with Best Buy, or EBGames, etc). They're all about moving product and generating revenue. The time it would take (and cost) to have someone sit down and thoroughly test and format the hard drives on every single unit, would cost them to much money to be profitable.

This is all about getting someone to trade-in their old system for a new one, at a profit. We'll give you $20 for it, sell it for $99, and throw in a free game with your new system.

If you're stupid enough to put home-made porn on your XBOX360, you deserve to have someone else view it after you give away your system. Erase your stuff.

 

[vaskodogama]

I think it's the sellers mistake, they must have deleted their data from what they are giving (selling) to someone else!
if my ps3 filled with my porn, I sold it, the buyer saw my girl friends naked body, in action, that's my mistake, I must have removed everything before I handed/sold it to a stranger!

 

[grieve]

[citation][nom]The Schnoz[/nom]Maybe he just bought a special XBOX 360: Porn Edition.[/citation]
You run home, all excited like getting your first Playboy. You turn it on... and its some fatty, with missing teeth!

RMA!! RMA!!

 

[grieve]

I agree the seller should remove their personal information from any hardware. You certainly wouldn’t sell your car with your wallet still in the glove box.

If I were a buyer however I also would have like the unit “good as new” and not containing someone else’s junk.
I’m really on the fence on this one.

 

[furryappleseed]

Maybe its just me but I never really thought this was a surprising thing. Just doesn't seem cost effective to pay someone to clean these things when a good portion of them will be returned anyway.

Porn left on a gaming system = fail for the former owner.

 

[apache_lives]

this brings an all new meaning for red ring of death :O

 

[ravenware]

[citation][nom]The Schnoz[/nom]Maybe he just bought a special XBOX 360: Porn Edition.[/citation]

Yeah the HardCORE bundle

 

[SecksPanther]

Even though credit card applications are being sent to kids still in high school (heck, maybe even middle school), I'd still say anyone old enough to have a credit card should be old enough to understand why that kind of information should be protected. There's really no excuse for leaving it on there. Either they simply forgot about it, or they actually decided to be lazy and leave it on there, which makes it their own fault either way.

As for the porn, ignorance is no excuse for them since they apparently were able to upload the videos. Deletion can't be that much more difficult.

 

[w4ffles]

Doesn't anyone else realize that "most of them were actually broken, or "non-functioning" as stated." means that people can't even boot it up to wipe the hard drive? Their only option would have been to place the hard drive in a working console before deleting everything.

 

[hellscook]

The seller should remove personal information, but what Circuit City stores "traded in" consoles? This isn't GameStop we're talking about, they didn't do trades.

 

[The Schnoz]

[citation][nom]ravenware[/nom]Yeah the HardCORE bundle[/citation]
The disturbing thing is the color was still white.

 

[KyleSTL]

How are you supposed to wipe clean a device which ceases to function?

I would:
1. Remove HDD
2. DBAN HDD
3. Reinstall HDD

However, the average consumer would never do this. Including the fact that it would void the warranty (especially if turning it in under warranty would mean a free or discounted replacement).