Sysadmin Steals Almost 20,000 Pieces of Computer Equipment 258
coondoggie writes "Now this is some serious computer theft. We're talking 19,709 pieces of stolen computer equipment from the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. The theft included everything from PCs and printer toner to hard drives, software and other office equipment amounting to over $120,000, according to court documents and published reports."
Re:Simple solution. Ask (Score:3, Informative)
So True... (Score:5, Informative)
I am sysadmin in a pharmaceutical company, and the Parent is correct.
We have 3 DELL 2600 servers with Dual CPU Xeon cpu, SCSI raid5, 4GB RAM ready to make their final trip to the dumpster.
We cannot use them anymore for plant systems because they are obsolete and out of support.
They are too big and noisy to use as test systems (as opposed to the 2U 2650s that we are going to keep just for that).
I would love to have even one of those machines in my basement, but it is not going to happen.
Corporate policy forbids employees from taking or even buying obsolete equipment.
In the beginning it was allowed, but someone once abused the system really badly, so now there has to be a documented paper trail for the destruction of all things going the the digital eternity.
We are going to try and give them away to a charity or school because it hurts to see those perfectly good machines except the disks) destroyed. But if we can't find anyone willing to take them, they will be destroyed. :(
Re:More likely ex-military spec (Score:1, Informative)
This is COMPLETELY off topic and I expect to be modded as such, but I always felt this joke should be written as "There are 1 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.". Sorry about that, carry on.
Ok in case you're being serious... I'm fairly certain that the whole point of the joke is that 10 in binary is equal to 2 in decimal. 1 in binary is equal to 1 in decimal, which would make the joke nonsensical.
Re:So True... (Score:3, Informative)
http://www.computersforclassrooms.org/ [computersf...srooms.org]
They will even pick it up, if you're in California.
I know for a fact that this is wrong (Score:3, Informative)
All computers and IT equipment (down to mice and thumb drives) are tracked on a company's property book. When the item comes up for life cycle replacement, it is wiped and turned into the Property Book Office. Everything that was ever on a property book has to be turned in this way, regardless of depreciation. A commander can write off a certain amount, but since it is always a challenge to stay under the limit, they in practice never throw stuff in a closet to be taken home by some IT dude.
Anyways, after the equipment gets turned in, it goes to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service [dla.mil]. While this stuff sometimes shows up in auctions later on, realistically anything that can still be used gets sent to an ally (usually Iraq or Afghanistan these days) as military/civil service aid.
Military contractors, on the other hand, are a whole different ball of wax. You want to see some waste, allow me to introduce you to Honeywell.
News report (Score:3, Informative)