Those free USB sticks in your drawer are somehow crappier than you thought.

The universe of technology is developing faster and faster, leaving behind those unwilling (or reluctant) to follow the wave of innovation. Nowadays, however, it is indisputable that the majority of an individual's life is, in one way or another, stored on electronic devices.

Recent years have seen an increase in technology gadgets being passed off as 'freebies' by companies and corporations, or used as gifts within advertising campaigns. The favourite tool for this kind of use has always been the USB stick, bought cheaply and distributed for its apparent convenience.

Following an investigation conducted by CBL, a German company specialising in data recovery, the true nature of these gadgets was discovered: they are often constructed using materials discarded by world-renowned companies. Instead of having an ad-hoc internal structure, many of these sticks contain NAND chips from Samsung and Sandisk, with their respective logos manually removed.