On Sat, 23 Feb 2008, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.computer.security, in article
<MNWvj.36872$FO1.1883@edtnps82>, Unruh wrote:

>"David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> writes:

>>The DoD requirements are...
>
>>Write a bit pattern such as; 10101010
>>Write its complement; 01010101
>>Write another pattern such as; 11110000
>>Perform that six times.
>
>>The disk will then be sanitized.

>The dod is a bureacracy. Although the recmmendation probably made sense

Obviously, you are not a DOD contractor. The wiping process is NOT a
recommendation, it is an absolute REQUIREMENT. They tell you to do it,
and you do - no quibbling, no bullshit.

>once, once they had been promulgated they will never again change no
>matter how the technology changes. To relax them puts someone's ass on
>the line.

Fine - YOU negotiate the contract to do otherwise. Otherwise, you are
in violation of the contract, and bad things will happen.

>What if he aralaxes them and suddenly some data leaks. Thus they are
>frozen in time even if they make no sense whatsoever.

Please stop imagining things. Read the requirements - they're public
knowledge, and note FURTHER that these are not the most stringent of
data destruction.

>I would not take their recommendation as indicating anything whtsoever
>about what the current best proctice is. While doing what they say may
>not harm except that the wipe taks 2 days rather than 20min.

So what? Their REQUIREMENT is a REQUIREMENT, not a recommendation, not
a suggestion. You do it WITH WITNESSES or YOU suffer the consequences.
Or, do you feel that contract law doesn't apply to you?

>which means noone does it.

BULL SHIT! Free clue:

Web Results 1 - 10 of about 26,300 for computer+data destruction
Vancouver+BC. (0.21 seconds)

and that's just Vancouver, BC. The yellow pages here in Phoenix list
nine companies who will do data destruction and claim to have various
certifications to do so. We use two of them.

Old guy