The Federal Trade Commission wants to make sure the public knows an important truth: if you photocopy your butt on a modern copier, it's probably still there, safe on the copier's hard drive. It exists there along with medical forms, financial documents, and that list of gang members your police department was just about to arrest.

CBS News did a story last month on secrets kept by digital copiers. Most digital copiers produced in the last five years archive copied documents on internal hard drives, and those hard drives are easy enough to obtain once the copiers are resold or their lease expires. By examining the hard drives of several used copiers, CBS found "a list of targets in a major drug raid" from the Buffalo Police Narcotics Unit. It also scored Social Security numbers, medical documents, and "$40,000 in copied checks."

In the wake of that news story, Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) shot off a letter (PDF) to the FTC.

"I am concerned that these hard drives represent a treasure trove for thieves, leaving unwitting consumers vulnerable to identity theft as their Social Security numbers, birth certificates, medical records, bank records, and other personal information are exposed to individuals who could easily extract the data from the digital copiers' hard drive and use it for criminal purposes," he wrote.

Markey wanted to know what the agency was doing and planned to do about the problem. The Chairman of the FTC, Jon Leibowitz, has now responded (PDF) to say that his agency is taking the matter quite seriously.

"The FTC is now reaching out to copier manufacturers, resellers, and retail copy and office supply stores to ensure that they are aware of the privacy risks associated with digital copiers and to determine whether they are warning their customers about these risks, whether they are providing education and guidance on the subject, and whether manufacturers and resellers are providing options for secure copying. We will work with these entities to help ensure that they provide appropriate educational materials on the subject to their clients."

The FTC claims it avoids the problem internally by signing lease agreements that give the agency full ownership of the hard drives inside the copiers. When the lease is up, the FTC will "erase and subsequently destroy these hard drives" before returning the copiers.

"I am very pleased to learn that the FTC is investigating this important matter, which most consumers are unaware of when they place their tax returns, financial records and other personal information on the copier and hit the 'Start' button," said Markey today.

Plenty of our readers work in IT—how many of your companies have policies for dealing with digital copier hard drives?