I stumbled across this clip quite innocently and was shocked. It appears that laser copiers actually store all of the files that they copy. It all makes perfect sense really. Of course a copier would have a hard drive to serve sometimes large files, and to also create job queues.

What is really scary though, as demonstrated in the youtube clip, is that when these machines are disposed, or returned to the lease company, the hard drives are hardly ever scrubbed. This means that all of those commercially sensitive, or private documents remain within easy reach for anyone who gets their hands on the hard drive.

In the days of rampant identity theft it is easy to see how lucrative it would be to get your hands on ex lease photo copiers. The amount of information you could get off a business photo copier would stagger most people, but just take a minute to think through what these machines are predominantly used for in a business environment.

Just based on what I have had photocopied over the last year at the copy shop, someone with some time on their hands could learn an awful lot about me, my business and my family. I have photocopied Birth Certificates, Tax Summeries, Business Account Statements from the Accountant, Bank Statements, Drivers Licenses. The list goes on. It would take much to piece it all together.... just a bit of time.
And the scary thing is that these are all high quality copies to begin with. I know what we can do in photoshop, hate to imagine what someone else could do if they wanted.