Article

2007-05-10 Europe

Shredded East German secret police files being reassembled by computer

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Posted by 3dc 2007-05-10 00:48|| || Front Page|| [6 views ] Top

#1 Kewl. I think a similar program is being used to assemble the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-05-10 07:37|| 2007-05-10 07:37|| Front Page Top

#2 Shred than burn. It's a simple two-part process. I would have thought Germans, East Germans would have been a bit more thorogh.

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-05-10 11:18|| 2007-05-10 11:18|| Front Page Top

#3 Not for communist Germans. Communism pushes for the lowest common denominator so everyone does just the bare minimum.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-05-10 12:20|| 2007-05-10 12:20|| Front Page Top

#4 Guess they didn't have the latest cross-cut shredders. Nobody reassembles that confetti.

Posted by Steve 2007-05-10 12:55|| 2007-05-10 12:55|| Front Page Top

#5 Have they found...The Recipe?

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-05-10 14:11|| 2007-05-10 14:11|| Front Page Top

#6 The re-assembly isn't mechanical - scans of the fragments are pattern recognized and algorithms re-assemble the scan pieces like a digital jigsaw puzzle. Still, cross-cut shredding would make the process harder, slower and more error prone, but if you've got the time and the cpu cycles, it can be done. Burn to be sure...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2007-05-10 14:53|| 2007-05-10 14:53|| Front Page Top

#7 I believe the Pentagon takes their shredded documents, dumps them in a vat of water, pulps them, then presses them into a solid block.

Posted by Steve 2007-05-10 15:20|| 2007-05-10 15:20|| Front Page Top

#8 If you want to read some stories of what life might have been like in East Germany I can recommend Stasiland
It's written with a person's story per chapter, showing the madness of the whole crazy thing as it touched the people at the bottom.

Posted by Whavinter Sproing5641 2007-05-10 18:22|| 2007-05-10 18:22|| Front Page Top

#9 Shred than burn. It's a simple two-part process. I would have thought Germans, East Germans would have been a bit more thorogh.

This is Germany! Alphabetise then Shred.

Posted by Shipman">Shipman 2007-05-10 18:42|| 2007-05-10 18:42|| Front Page Top

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