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UK ISP PlusNet Accidentally Deletes 700GB of Email

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the reality-is-no-excuse-dammit dept.

steste writes "A tale of email woe for PlusNET ISP. According to this announcement they have spent the last month attempting to recover 700GB of accidentally deleted emails. By their estimates, up to 12GB of these had yet to be read by their recipients. Despite the efforts of a data recovery specialist, they have now given up on recovering any of the deleted data. Well that's one way to deal with spam." Spam is one thing; I just wonder how inevitable losses like this one square with the EU-wide data retention laws.

15 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Conspiracy by zanderredux · · Score: 5, Funny
    "Accidentally deleted", "despite of best efforts"....

    Yeah, right!

    1. Re:Conspiracy by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Funny

      You guys have fat pipes? We're still stuck with tubes. They're getting clogged up with internets, too.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  2. On the plus side.... by krell · · Score: 3, Funny

    On the plus side, that's 699GB of spams nobody will have to worry about now.

    --
    Where were you when the voynix came?
  3. I guess if I look at my email by TouchOfRed · · Score: 5, Funny

    My inbox will say, nothing to see here. Move along.

  4. Clicked on the Read More link just now by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Funny

    and got

    404: The requested URL (hardware/06/08/03/1319220.shtml) was not found.

    Looks like PlusNet aren't the only ones losing things!

    I'm here all night, try the veal.

    --
    Summation 2
  5. Hmm. Good thing they're British... by Doches · · Score: 3, Funny

    I imagine that if this sort of thing were to happen in the U.S., the government would get involved real quick. Not, you know, because some subscribers got hurt, but because all of those precious, precious terrorist communications that were lost forever, dooming the Fort Worth Convention Center to premature destruction at the hands of an angry Palestian truck driver.

    Or maybe this can't happen in the U.S. at all. Maybe there's some quiet deal where large ISPs can simply back their data up on blade servers in Langley...

    1. Re:Hmm. Good thing they're British... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
      NSA's in Fort Meade, MD, you dumbshit.


      That's what they WANT you to think.
  6. A quote from the ISP by halr9000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    "My bad."

  7. 12GBs yet to be read? by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny
    By their estimates, up to 12GB of these had yet to be read by their recipients.

    Here's the break down:
    • 3GB: Viagra
    • 3GB: Manhood Enhancements
    • 2GB: Lonely Housewives in your area
    • 3.9GB: Loans
    • 100MB: Various GIFs of the Zidane headbutt from the World Cup
    --
    Summation 2
  8. NSA has 'em by slcdb · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should just ask the NSA to send their copies of the emails to PlusNet.

    Heck, the NSA could turn this into a side business. If they spin it right, maybe they can convince the general public that they're not spying, they're just providing a cutting-edge data backup service!

    --
    Despite what EULAs say, most software is sold, not licensed.
  9. poor intern by theonetruekeebler · · Score: 4, Funny
    "Hey, there were a bunch of hidden files in my home directory, so I typed rm -rf .* to get rid of them. That shouldn't take half an hour, should it?"

    (I'm so nervous seeing that on my screen I'm afraid to hit the "Submit" button)

    --
    This is not my sandwich.
  10. hear hear by rucs_hack · · Score: 3, Funny

    My response is 'if you don't like a thing, make a better one'. Can the complainers make a better slashdot? Hmm, let me see.

    Do the abilities required for such a venture require

    a) A willingness to try and realise there will be the odd piece of news that is repeated.

    b)Being a Whining Biatch.

    Well, if it's (b), then the whiners are for teh win. Somehow I have my doubts...

  11. Re:Data Recovery Specialist by idontgno · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Accidentally deleted" probably means "we had a hardware failure and we're too cheap to recover everything".

    Actually, "Accidentally deleted" means "wiped the live disk array instead of the new disk array we were going to migrate on to." The Register has a brief writeup.

    System Administrator Lesson 14: Shared consoles and remote administration are convenient, especially for wiping the wrong system. Check system ID before hitting enter!"

    --
    Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  12. "Daddy..." by plasmacutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    "what does this button do?"

    -NOOOOOO!

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  13. I don't understand how this is possible... by chrisspurgeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...I don't recall working for PlusNet.