Editing Paper shredder (section)

==History==
===Invention===
The first paper shredder is credited to [[inventor]] [[Abbot Augustus Low]], whose [[patent]] was filed on February 2, 1909.<ref>Abbot Augustus Low [https://patents.google.com/patent/US929960 Waste-paper receptacle] February 2, 1909 Patent filing</ref> His invention was never manufactured because he died prematurely soon after filing the patent.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last1=Beyes|first1=Timon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qnDDwAAQBAJ&q=Abbot+Augustus+Low+paper+shredder&pg=PA303|title=The Oxford Handbook of Media, Technology, and Organization Studies|last2=Holt|first2=Robin|last3=Pias|first3=Claus|date=2019-12-17|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-253795-9|language=en}}</ref>

Adolf Ehinger's paper shredder, based on a hand-crank [[pasta maker]], was the first to be manufactured in 1935 in Germany. Supposedly he created a shredding machine to shred his [[anti-Nazi]] leaflets to avoid the inquiries of the authorities.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Woestendiek|first1=John|title=The Compleat History of SHREDDING|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-02-10-0202110302-story.html|access-date=22 February 2017|newspaper=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|date=February 10, 2002|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822084311/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2002-02-10/entertainment/0202110302_1_paper-shredders-papyrus-thereof|archive-date=22 August 2016}}</ref> Ehinger later marketed and began selling his patented shredders to government agencies and financial institutions switching from hand-crank shredders to electric motor shredders.<ref name=":0" /> Ehinger's company, EBA Maschinenfabrik, manufactured the first cross-cut paper shredders in 1959 and continues to do so today as EBA Krug & Priester GmbH & Co. in [[Balingen]].

Before the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]], a “wet shredder” was invented in the former [[German Democratic Republic]]. To prevent paper shredders in the [[Stasi|Ministry for State Security (Stasi)]] from glutting, this device mashed paper snippets with [[water]].<ref name=":0" />

With a shift from paper to digital document production, modern industrial shredders have been designed to process non-paper media, such as [[credit card]]s and [[CD]]s.<ref name=":0" />

===Applications===
Until the mid-1980s, it was rare for paper shredders to be used by non-government entities.

A prominent example of their use was when the [[Embassy of the United States, Tehran|U.S. embassy in Iran]] used shredders to reduce [[paper]] pages to strips before [[Iran hostage crisis|the embassy was taken over in 1979]]. Some documents were reconstructed from the strips, as detailed below.

After Colonel [[Oliver North]] told [[United States Congress|Congress]] that he used a Schleicher cross-cut model to shred [[Iran-Contra]] documents, sales increased nearly 20 percent in 1987.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966794,00.html |title=Business notes office equipment |magazine=Time |date=1988-02-29 |access-date=2009-07-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930115604/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966794,00.html?promoid=googlep |archive-date=2007-09-30}}</ref>

Paper shredders became more popular among U.S. citizens with [[privacy]] concerns after the 1988 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decision in ''[[California v. Greenwood]]''; in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]] does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside of a home. Anti-burning laws also resulted in increased demand for paper shredding.

More recently, concerns about [[identity theft]] have driven increased personal use of paper shredders,<ref>{{cite web|title=About Identity Theft|url=http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/about-identity-theft.html|work=US FTC website|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520060906/http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/consumers/about-identity-theft.html|archive-date=2009-05-20}}</ref> with the US Federal Trade Commission recommending that individuals shred financial documents before disposal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fighting Back Against Identity Theft|url=http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt01.shtm|work=US FTC website|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528001302/http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt01.shtm|archive-date=2009-05-28}}</ref>

[[Information privacy]] laws such as [[Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act|FACTA]], [[Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act|HIPAA]], and the [[Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act]] drive shredder usage, as businesses and individuals take steps to securely dispose of confidential information.