Slashdot Mirror
Man Swallows USB Flash Drive Evidence
SlideRuleGuy writes "In a bold and bizarre attempt to destroy evidence seized during a federal raid, a New York City man grabbed a flash drive and swallowed the data storage device while in the custody of Secret Service agents. Records show Florin Necula ingested the Kingston flash drive shortly after his January 21 arrest outside a bank in Queens. A Kingston executive said it was unclear if stomach acid could damage one of their drives. 'As you might imagine, we have no actual experience with someone swallowing a USB.' I imagine that would be rather painful. But did he follow his mother's advice and chew thoroughly, first? Apparently not, as the drive was surgically recovered."
I tried a microwave oven once.
Worked perfectly (smelled awful), so... it's not hard if you're trying!
I imagine hooking it up to a brief 220 voltage source would probably do the trick as well - and laundering often works too. Not enough to be relied on, however, since I've laundered 3 flash drives and 1 worked.
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
It’s NOT theft.
Nor is it theft when that asshole’s blighted lawn reduces your property value.
You still have a house, I didn't take that from you. I just stole it's value.
No. You still have the same amount of money, it’s just worth less. The value of your non-cash assets, such as the house, is exactly the same, and in fact the cash equivalent is greater than it was before, because dollars have less value.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
I've machine washed and dried (accidentally of course) several Sandisk Cruzers, and all functioned perfectly well afterwards. (Yes, I'm comparing agitation in water and tumble dry to throwing it into the street)
I'd say bring a hammer and just smash it to bits.. even if by throwing it on the street you'd managed to crack the PCB or destroy the USB interface itself, you'd still likely have the actual storage chip intact and readable via other mechanisms. You'd want to smash item #4 in this reference image to dust.
----- The internet has given everyone the ability to have their voice heard equally as loud.. even if they shouldn't be
They have special toilets, attached to sealed booths with attached rubber gloves you put your hands in, and a hose to wash the stuff down...
Immigration officials use equipment like that all the time to retrieve drugs and other illegal items people try to import by swallowing.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
this. I once dropped a USB out on the street in front of my parents house and didn't realize I had done so until the next day. I came outside to find the USB had been ran over several times. I still own said USB drive, and it still works just fine.