Notice Your Second Hand Mobile Phone

A hot sale following the McCain-Palin campaign serves as a warning for all mobile phone owners. The McCain-Palin headquarters in Arlington advertised they were selling off campaign equipment like used computers, mobile phones and Blackberry phones. A local television station saw the ad and sent their investigative reporters to see what they could find. "We saw laptops ranging between $400 and $600 with logins like “WARROOM08.” We couldn’t log on without a password, but staffers assured us the hard drive would be zapped before it was sold, and the computer would probably work," said reporters Tisha Thompson and Rick Yarborough. But the hottest selling items were Blackberry phones going for $20 each. When the reporters got back to the newsroom and charged their two phones, they discovered the names and addresses of contributors and staffers, plus weeks and weeks worth of e-mails. While the reporters got a handheld tutorial in the inner workings of a presidential campaign, they were also surprised the information was there. The reporters called the McCain-Palin campaign, who said, “It was an unfortunate staff error and procedures are being put in place to ensure all information is secure.” It’s a lesson for us all to make sure and erase or delete all information you don't want shared when selling off your old mobile phones.