Risk and Reward
Welcome

The strange case of James Howells's hard drive reached a judge this week, which should be cause for all of us to pause and reflect. In case you're not familiar with the heart-rending tale, Mr. Howells had quite a sum of cryptocurrency back in 2013, with his private keys stored on a hard drive that he removed from his computer and placed in a black bag.
Dear Reader,
The strange case of James Howells's hard drive reached a judge this week, which should be cause for all of us to pause and reflect. In case you're not familiar with the heart-rending tale, Mr. Howells had quite a sum of cryptocurrency back in 2013, with his private keys stored on a hard drive that he removed from his computer and placed in a black bag [1]. His partner at the time came across the bag in the hallway and thought it was trash, so she threw it out, or so his story goes. His former partner has acknowledged her role in the incident but says Howells "begged" her to toss out the trash in the inconspicuous black bag [2].
But the he said/she said details are not pertinent to the matter at hand. What matters is that the Bitcoin in that bag is currently worth an estimated $800 million, and now, 11 years later, Mr. Howells wants it back from the landfill. So far the Newport, Wales city council has been dismissive of his efforts, claiming that as soon as the hard drive was thrown away, Howells lost any claim to it, and further asserting that it would be environmentally disruptive to dig up the whole landfill to look for one bag. Howells's team, on the other hand, says it knows exactly where to search, having retained the consulting services of the former landfill superintendent.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Akamai Will Host kernel.org
The organization dedicated to cloud-based solutions has agreed to host kernel.org to deliver long-term stability for the development team.
-
Linux Kernel 6.14 Released
The latest Linux kernel has arrived with extra Rust support and more.
-
EndeavorOS Mercury Neo Available
A new release from the EndeavorOS team ships with Plasma 6.3 and other goodies.
-
Fedora 42 Beta Has Arrived
The Fedora Project has announced the availability of the first beta release for version 42 of the open-source distribution.
-
Dash to Panel Maintainer Quits
Charles Gagnon has stepped away as maintainer of the popular Dash to Panel Gnome extension.
-
CIQ Releases Security-Hardened Version of Rocky Linux
If you're looking for an enterprise-grade Linux distribution that is hardened for business use, there's a new version of Rocky Linux that's sure to make you and your company happy.
-
Gnome’s Dash to Panel Extension Gets a Massive Update
If you're a fan of the Gnome Dash to Panel extension, you'll be thrilled to hear that a new version has been released with a dock mode.
-
Blender App Makes it to the Big Screen
The animated film "Flow" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature at the 97th Academy Awards held on March 2, 2025 and Blender was a part of it.
-
Linux Mint Retools the Cinnamon App Launcher
The developers of Linux Mint are working on an improved Cinnamon App Launcher with a better, more accessible UI.
-
New Linux Tool for Security Issues
Seal Security is launching a new solution to automate fixing Linux vulnerabilities.