Cyper-age Nightmare on 20/20

The members of the Educational Technology Planning class aka EPPL 639 are way ahead of the issues presented on ABCNews' 20/20 in regards to green computing and the ethics surrounding our toxic e-waste. One solution that was presented in the show was to ask for an upfront fee that would be used to safely dispose of e-waste which Europe is currently doing as a way to curbside the toxic loads. In Europe, computers are being sent back to the manufacturer for recycling/reusing.

Two items of interest were discussed on 20/20. One of the interesting statistics mentioned was that the average computer monitor has five pounds of lead. The program also noted that hard drives needed to be wiped out with personal information before carted off to a foreign country; the reporter shared an incident that confidential information from the Wisconsin's Department of Health and Family Services found its way into the global community. We all should be concerned about the policies surrounding computer disposal since everyone of us has information like social security numbers, addresses, and other personal information that are on various hard drives that have collected over the years of life.

I know that there were a few of my classmates surprised about the toxic elements inside of computers when I presented the information on green computing. Now with the mainstream attention to this issue, it will be interesting to see how the general public responds to the issue.