Are IT guys allowed to delete porn off of recovered data?

[AvoK95]

Well, someone dropped by and gave me a hard drive to recover some data off of it. But the recovered data (They were images) contained some porn pictures. I didn't know if I should delete them or not :mellow:

 

Anyway, are we allowed to delete such data? If they haven't specified anything about it ofc :P

 

I burnt the recovered data along with everything (Including the porn) on a bunch of DVD's and sent them to the client. I was all "Oh well :D" But I just want to know if we have the right to delete such data  :unsure:

[0s4x]

I would imagine you are not allowed to do such things. The client has (presumably) paid you to recover his/her data regardless of what it is. If some portion happened to be pornographic is irrelevant.

[Andi]

Why would you delete porn? As long as it's legal stuff i don't see a reason why!

[yassarikhan786]

It's considered private property so I'm pretty sure you can't delete the data. If it's illegal, you have the right to report it though.

[ericlee30]

I would imagine you are not allowed to do such things. The client has (presumably) paid you to recover his/her data regardless of what it is. If some portion happened to be pornographic is irrelevant.

I would have to agree with this statement, if the client has paid you and the porn is not some kind of "illegal" images or films, then it should be fine to recover them

[Night]

I dont think you should be asking us. This is something that should be outlined in your job description.

Seriously, I wouldnt be bringing anything to you if you were asking people on the ineternet about protocols regarding your job.

[KaareKanin]

I can't imagine you're even allowed to look at the data, at least where I come from. I don't know about your country though. I suppose you'll have to look at the agreement with the customer and figure out what it says about his privacy.

I don't see why you might want to delete them though, is the fact that someone have porn an issue for you? Unless its child pornography, then you should go to the police.

[XiaoPigs]

It's part of his property so it would be illegal for you to do so. I guess you could lie about not being able to recover that portion of his data but I'm not suggesting you do it :p

[ericlee30]

I can't imagine you're even allowed to look at the data, at least where I come from. I don't know about your country though. I suppose you'll have to look at the agreement with the customer and figure out what it says about his privacy.

I don't see why you might want to delete them though, is the fact that someone have porn an issue for you? Unless its child pornography, then you should go to the police.

Correct, my country has the same laws, and as a IT tech, you should always respect the privacy of the client, I had a buddy of mine bring me his hard drive to recover one time and he said that he had pics of him and his wife, I told him not to worry, he told me what folders they were in and I respectively never looked at that folder when recovering his data.

[0s4x]

Correct, my country has the same laws, and as a IT tech, you should always respect the privacy of the client, I had a buddy of mine bring me his hard drive to recover one time and he said that he had pics of him and his wife, I told him not to worry, he told me what folders they were in and I respectively never looked at that folder when recovering his data.

It's good that your buddy trusts you enough to let you recover his data knowing some of the content on the drive was sensitive. Also good  that you didn't break that trust.

[Scia]

It's just porn, As long as it's not some illegal stuff or snuff or whatever, just recover it and be done with it. You've been payed to recover the data on the drive. Besides the fact that probably he knew there was porn on it, it's his personal data, and I am pretty sure you are theoretically not even allow to talk about what was on the drive ;P

[Scia]

It's good that your buddy trusts you enough to let you recover his data knowing some of the content on the drive was sensitive. Also good  that you didn't break that trust.

 

That's actually nice^^ I know too many people that would simply copy them -.-

But all in all -> True Crypt is your friend if you wish to store such sensitive data.

[Huntsman]

IMO, you weren't supposed to look at the data in the first place. All you have to do is to recover and send them back, the content is none of your concern.

[ericlee30]

It's good that your buddy trusts you enough to let you recover his data knowing some of the content on the drive was sensitive. Also good  that you didn't break that trust.

I know right, I look at it has if I would  want someone to look at something like that if I were on the other side. I've always been very respectful when recovering stuff like that, I also do not like people giving me their passwords unless absolutely needed, I can memorize things like that at a glace, so unless i absolutely need it " when the client is not around me" then I always tell the client to put in their password in without me seeing it. I always want the client to fell as secure as possible when giving their private info to me, the world is scary and I don't blame people for being paranoid in handing their stuff to other people to work on.

[Theo]

That's actually nice^^ I know too many people that would simply copy them -.-

But all in all -> True Crypt is your friend if you wish to store such sensitive data.

This, if only more people used True Crypt. GL trying to crack my 55 long character password ( Which i do actually remember )

[AvoK95]

Well, it wasn't HIS/HER porn. It was most probably cache from their internet browser or something. They were mostly ads. Some of them regarding Viagra pills and such :P

[JordanMac]

as long as its not child porn you should just recover the data and give it back to him/her.

[virusal19]

If a person is aware of, or freely grants the computer technician permission access to his/her hard drive contents, you will be allowed to view whatever is in there.

 

(Laws are different in others countries and states) 

[AvoK95]

We don't have any laws here lol :P

 

Thanks guys! You sorted out everything to me :D

[vanwazltoff]

ive been in the same situation before, just make as it was or similar, dont delete the users data no matter how weird or disturbing it may be. it there is weird stuff make sure you check  it for viruses, you never know

[Art Vandelay]

as long as its not child porn you should just recover the data and give it back to him/her.

If it is child porn, send a copy to the FBI. In any case, don't delete anything.

[kpsl808mg]

there was this disturbing case in germany back in 2011. the criminal investigation department searched a computer and didn't found any pron at all, that fact made the owner even more 'suspicious' ( the absence of pron is therefore at the same level as child porn) ...! not kiding ! 

 

an established lawyer advised to load some, just to get out of the crosshairs...

[Blade of Grass]

If you're getting paid to recover data, then you recover it. If it involves porn, as long as it doesn't involve anything illegal, you leave the data 100% intact. If it involves child porn, you notify police immediately and do not return the drive (as it will be used as evidence when they get arrested).

You should also realise that you can get into trouble by browsing threw someone's files, it's invasion of privacy.

 

In most cases, if it's just normal porn, don't mention it, and give them back everything.

 

EDIT: and if it's a good friend, you can forget not mentioning it, you now get to screw with them abit.

[Esivo]

You want to delete porn? What kind of a man are you?! 

[jamese669]

i imagine you couldnt unless it was child porn in wich i suspect you would need to inform the police of such things then deleting it would be illegal youd then be destroying evidence XD :) happend to a kid i knew he send of a disk to get his data recovered... turn out he was a pedo got 5 years and is on the sex offender register.