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A couple of years ago I bought a USB stick from the local electronics chain. They had this "refurbished-as-new" program where they basically sold second hand stuff but made sure that they were clean and working properly before passing them on. I guess this was some sort of "think green" effort from their side.
As per this they offered near half the price for this basically new USB stick, and since I was only going to use it as an installation medium I thought, well, why not.
→ Continued
So I got home and plugged the stick in and noticed it was pre-partitioned for some fancy security shenanigans (which of course only works on Windows anyways.)
It was in this partition that I noticed the previous owner had stored multiple images.
Huh, I guessed that the store clerks only checked the "storage" partition and not the "security" partition.
Anyways, I opened up the first image. It was a photo of a woman in dark hair, dimly lit, looking very exhausted. Then I noticed the bruises.
The woman had been pretty beaten up. There was a shine on her left eye and red bruises on both arms.
I pressed the right arrow key on my computer to swap to the next photo...
Close-ups, angles, all of the damages and hits this poor woman had endured.
I called my wife and she was as baffled as me.
All in all, there might have been around 15-20 photos. Probably used as evidence in a domestic violence case, then they returned the USB to the store.
So uhm, I went back to the store and told them the story and said that I probably won't buy used media ever again. They compensated me with free sticks, new in the box this time, and I went back home, my stomach still churning after the thoughts of these photos.
I sometimes think back to that woman. How the case went, is she okay today - is she even alive?
I just wanted to share, and please don't buy used USB sticks (they might even contain malware!)