Editing Paper shredder

{{short description|Device used to cut paper into pieces}}
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[[File:Paper Shredder.jpg|thumb|Paper shredder with built-in wastebasket]]
[[File:Paper shredder - detail-9831.jpg|thumb|Inner view of a paper shredder with motor]]
[[File:Paper shredder - detail-9839.jpg|thumb|Detail of a cross-cut paper shredder]]

A '''paper shredder''' is a mechanical device used to cut sheets of [[paper]] into either strips or fine particles. Government organizations, businesses, and private individuals use shredders to destroy private, [[confidentiality|confidential]], or otherwise sensitive documents.

==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.

==Types==
[[File:ShredderScissors.jpg|thumb|Multi-cut [[scissors]] used to shred paper]]

Shredders range in size and price. Small, inexpensive units are designed for a certain number of pages. Large, expensive units are used by commercial shredding services and can shred millions of documents per hour. While the smallest shredders may be hand-cranked, most shredders are electric.

Over time, new features were added to improve user experience, including rejecting paper over capacity to avoid jams, and other safety features to reduce risk.<ref>{{cite press release |title= Paper Shredder Safety Alert |publisher= U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission |date= 11 June 2007 |url= https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5127.pdf |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081122052637/http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5127.pdf |archive-date= 22 November 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/paper-shredder-danger/ |title=Paper Shredder Danger |website=Snopes.com |date=17 August 2006 |access-date=2009-07-27}}</ref> Some shredders designed for use in shared workspaces or department copy rooms have noise reduction.{{Citation needed |date=February 2017}}

===Mobile shredding truck===
Large organizations or shredding services sometimes use "mobile shredding trucks", typically constructed as a [[box truck]] with an industrial-size paper shredder mounted inside with storage space for shredded materials. Such units may also provide the shredding of [[CD]]s, [[DVD]]s, [[hard drive]]s, [[credit card]]s, and [[uniform]]s, among other things.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rock |first=Michael |date=2023-11-14 |title=The Cutting-Edge Shred-Tech MDS 25GT Mobile Shredding Truck |url=https://cmdocdestruction.com/shred-tech-mds-25gt-revolutionizing-mobile-shredding-solutions/ |access-date=2023-11-14 |website=Country Mile Shredding Services |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Kiosks===
A 'shredding kiosk' is an [[automated retail]] machine (or [[kiosk]]) that allows public access to a commercial or industrial-capacity paper shredder. This is an alternative solution to the use of a personal or business paper shredder, where the public can use a faster and more powerful shredder, paying for each shredding event rather than purchasing shredding equipment.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}}

===Services===
[[File:Shredding Console.jpg|thumbnail|Shredding console]]

Some companies [[outsource]] their shredding to 'shredding services'. These companies either shred on-site, with mobile shredder trucks or have off-site shredding facilities. Documents slated for shredding are often placed in locked bins that are emptied periodically.

==Shredding method, and output==
As well as size and capacity, shredders are classified according to the method they use; and the size and shape of the shreds they produce.

*'''''Strip-cut''''' shredders use rotating knives to cut narrow strips as long as the original sheet of paper.
*'''''Cross-cut''''' or '''''[[confetti]]-cut''''' shredders use two contra-rotating drums to cut rectangular, parallelogram, or [[Lozenge (shape)|lozenge]] (diamond-shaped) shreds.
*'''''Particle-cut''''' or '''''Micro-cut''''' shredders create tiny square or circular pieces.
*'''''Cardboard''''' shredders are designed specifically to shred corrugated material into either strips or a mesh pallet.
*'''''Disintegrators''''' and ''granulators'' repeatedly cut the paper at random with rotating knives in a drum until the particles are small enough to pass through a fine mesh.
*'''''[[Hammermill]]s''''' pound the paper through a screen.
*'''''Pierce-and-tear''''' shredders have rotating blades that pierce the paper and then tear it apart.
*'''''Grinders''''' have a rotating shaft with cutting blades that grind the paper until it is small enough to fall through a screen.

[[File:Shreddedlottoticket.jpg|thumb|The shredded remains of a [[National Lottery (United Kingdom)|National Lottery]] play slip.]]

===Security levels===
There is a number of standards covering the security levels of paper shredders, including:

====''Deutsches Institut für Normung'' (DIN)====
The previous [[DIN]] 32757 standard has now been replaced with DIN 66399. This is complex,<ref>{{cite web |title=New times, new storage media, new standards |url=http://www.hsm.eu/en/products/shredding/document-shredder/new-din-66399/ |publisher=HSM |access-date=22 February 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223125956/http://www.hsm.eu/en/products/shredding/document-shredder/new-din-66399/ |archive-date=23 February 2017}}</ref> but can be summarized as below:
*Level P-1 = ≤ 2000&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles or ≤ 12&nbsp;mm wide strips of any length (For shredding general internal documents such as instructions, forms, expired notices)
*Level P-2 = ≤ 800&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles or ≤ 6&nbsp;mm wide strips of any length
*Level P-3 = ≤ 320&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles or ≤ 2&nbsp;mm wide strips of any length (For highly sensitive documents and personal data subject to high protection requirements, purchase order, order confirmations or delivery notes with address data)
*Level P-4 = ≤ 160&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles with width ≤ 6&nbsp;mm (Particularly sensitive and confidential data, working documents, customer/client data, invoices, private tax and financial documents)
*Level P-5 = ≤ 30&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles with width ≤ 2&nbsp;mm (Data that must be kept secret, balance sheets and profit-and-loss, strategy papers, design and engineering documents, personal data)
*Level P-6 = ≤ 10&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles with width ≤ 1&nbsp;mm (Secret high-security data, patents, research and development documents)
*Level P-7 = ≤ 5&nbsp;mm<sup>2</sup> particles with width ≤ 1&nbsp;mm (Top secret, highly classified data for the military, embassies, intelligence services)

====NSA/CSS====
The [[United States]] [[National Security Agency]] and [[Central Security Service]] produce "NSA/CSS Specification 02-01 for High Security Crosscut Paper Shredders". They provide a list of evaluated shredders.<ref>{{cite web |title=NSA/CSS EVALUATED PRODUCTS LIST for HIGH SECURITY CROSSCUT PAPER SHREDDERS |url=https://www.nsa.gov/resources/everyone/media-destruction/assets/files/epl-18-may-2015.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170223041648/https://www.nsa.gov/resources/everyone/media-destruction/assets/files/epl-18-may-2015.pdf |archive-date=2017-02-23}}</ref>

====ISO/IEC====
The [[International Organization for Standardization]] and the [[International Electrotechnical Commission]] produce "ISO/IEC 21964 Information technology — Destruction of data carriers".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/72204.html |title=ISO/IEC 21964-1:2018: Information technology — Destruction of data carriers — Part 1: Principles and definitions |date=May 2018 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |location=Geneva |access-date=2020-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/72204.html |title=ISO/IEC 21964-2:2018: Information technology — Destruction of data carriers — Part 2: Requirements for equipment for destruction of data carriers |date=August 2018 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |location=Geneva |access-date=2020-07-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iso.org/standard/72204.html |title=ISO/IEC 21964-3:2018: Information technology — Destruction of data carriers — Part 3: Process of destruction of data carriers |date=August 2018 |publisher=International Organization for Standardization |location=Geneva |access-date=2020-07-28}}</ref> The [[General Data Protection Regulation]] (GDPR), which came into force in May 2018, regulates the handling and processing of personal data. ISO/IEC 21964 and DIN 66399 support data protection in business processes.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

==Destruction of evidence==
There have been many instances where it is alleged that documents have been improperly or illegally destroyed by shredding, including:

*[[Oliver North]] shredded documents relating to the [[Iran–Contra affair]] between November 21 and November 25, 1986.<ref name="walsh">{{cite web|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence|title=Vol. I: Investigations and prosecutions|work=Final report of the independent counsel for Iran/Contra matters|publisher=Independent Council for Iran/Contra Matters|date=August 4, 1993|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/|access-date=15 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417230304/http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/|archive-date=17 April 2009}}</ref> During the trial, North testified that on November 21, 22, or 24, he witnessed [[John Poindexter]] destroy what may have been the only signed copy of a presidential covert action finding that sought to authorize CIA participation in the November 1985 [[MIM-23 Hawk|Hawk missile]] shipment to Iran.<ref name="walsh"/>
*According to the report of the [[Paul Volcker Committee]], between April and December 2004, [[Kofi Annan]]'s ''Chef de Cabinet'', Iqbal Riza, authorized thousands of United Nations documents shredded, including the entire chronological files of the [[Oil-for-Food Programme]] during the years 1997 through 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportMar2005.pdf |title=Interim Report March 2005 |access-date=2009-07-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805032019/http://www.iic-offp.org/documents/InterimReportMar2005.pdf |archive-date=2009-08-05 }}</ref>
*The [[Union Bank of Switzerland]] used paper shredders to destroy evidence that their company owned property stolen from [[Jews]] during the [[Holocaust]] by the [[Nazi]] government. The shredding was disclosed to the public through the work of [[Christoph Meili]], a security guard working at the bank who happened to wander by a room where the shredding was taking place. Also in the shredding room were books from the German [[Reichsbank]].<ref>{{cite book| author= Eizenstat, Stuart |year= 2003 |title= Imperfect Justice | url= https://archive.org/details/imperfectjustice00eize | url-access= registration |isbn=1-58648-110-X |publisher= PublicAffairs |place= New York}} Page 94</ref> They listed stock accounts for companies involved in the holocaust, including [[BASF]], [[Evonik Industries|Degussa]], and [[Degesch]].<ref>Eizenstat p 94, 95</ref> They also listed real-estate records for Berlin properties that had been forcibly taken by the Nazis, placed in Swiss accounts, and then claimed to be owned by UBS.<ref>Eizenstat p 95</ref> Destruction of such documents was a violation of Swiss laws.<ref name="ch96-434">Swiss parliament: ''[http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 Parliamentary Initiative 96.434: Bundesbeschluss betreffend die historische und rechtliche Untersuchung des Schicksals der infolge der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft in die Schweiz gelangten Vermögenswerte] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226144023/http://search.parlament.ch/cv-geschaefte?gesch_id=19960434 |date=2008-02-26}}''; in German. Entry in force December 14, 1996. This edict was the legal foundation of the [[Bergier commission]], constituted on December 19, 1996. Articles 4, 5, and 7 made the willful destruction or withholding of documents relating to orphaned assets illegal. On the dates given, see ''[http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm Chronology: Switzerland in World War II&nbsp;— Detailed Overview of the years 1994-1996] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060718213620/http://www.parliament.ch/dL/D/dossiers/nachrichtenlose_vermoegen/chronologie_detaillierte_uebersicht_1994-1996.htm |date=2006-07-18}}''. URLs last accessed 2006-10-30.</ref>

==Unshredding and forensics==<!-- This section is linked from [[Stasi]] -->
[[File:Shredded 1979-09-01 1305Z CIA cable from American Embassy Tehran.jpg|thumb|An example of a shredded and reassembled document during the [[Iran hostage crisis]]]]

For paper shredders to achieve their purpose, it should not be possible to reassemble and read shredded documents. In practice, this depends on how well the shredding has been done, and the resources put into reconstruction. The amount of effort put into reconstruction often depends on the importance of the document, e.g. whether it is a simple personal matter, [[corporate espionage]], a criminal matter, or a matter of [[national security]].

The difficulty of reconstruction can depend on the size and legibility of the text, whether the document is single- or double-sided, the size and shape of the shredded pieces, the orientation of the material when fed, how effectively the shredded material is further randomized afterwards, and whether other processes such as pulping and chemical decomposition are used. Even without a full reconstruction, in some cases useful information can be obtained by forensic analysis of the paper, ink, and cutting method.

===Reconstruction examples===
{{Wikisource|Portal:Documents seized from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran/Shredded Documents}}

*After the [[Iranian Revolution]] and the takeover of the U.S. embassy in [[Tehran]] in 1979, Iranians enlisted local carpet weavers who reconstructed the pieces by hand. The recovered documents would be later released by the Iranian government in a series of books called "Documents from the US espionage Den".<ref>{{cite book |author= Dānishjūyān-i Musalmān-i Payraw-i Khaṭṭ-i Imām, Dānishjūyan-i Musalmān-i Payraw-i Khaṭṭ-i Imām |title= Documents from the U.S. Espionage Den |publisher= Published by Muslim Students Following the Line of the Iman |year= 1980 |url= https://archive.org/details/DocumentsFromTheU.s.EspionageDen |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131018143837/https://archive.org/details/DocumentsFromTheU.s.EspionageDen |archive-date= 2013-10-18 }}</ref> The US government subsequently improved its shredding techniques by adding pulverizing, pulping, and chemical decomposition protocols.
*Modern computer technology considerably speeds up the process of reassembling shredded documents. The strips are scanned on both sides, and then a computer determines how the strips should be put together. Robert Johnson of the National Association for Information Destruction<ref>{{cite web|url=https://naidonline.org/|title=National Association for Information Destruction|work=naidonline.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805065828/http://www.naidonline.org/|archive-date=2009-08-05}}</ref> has stated that there is a huge demand for document reconstruction. Several companies offer commercial document reconstruction services. For maximum security, documents should be shredded so that the words of the document go through the shredder horizontally (i.e. perpendicular to the blades). Many of the documents in the [[Enron scandal|Enron Accounting scandals]] were fed through the shredder the wrong way, making them easier to reassemble.
*In 2003, there was an effort underway to recover the shredded archives of the [[Stasi]], the East German secret police.<ref>{{cite news |last= Heingartner |first= Douglas |title= Back Together Again |newspaper= New York Times |date= 2003-07-17 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/17/technology/back-together-again.html |access-date= 2007-01-03 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080305141421/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803E3D7123CF934A25754C0A9659C8B63 |archive-date= 2008-03-05}}</ref> There are "millions of shreds of paper that panicked Stasi officials threw into garbage bags during the regime's final days in the fall of 1989". As it took three dozen people six years to reconstruct 300 of the 16,000 bags, the Fraunhofer-IPK institute has developed the ''Stasi-Schnipselmaschine'' ('Stasi snippet machine') for computerized reconstruction and is testing it in a pilot project.
*The [[DARPA Shredder Challenge 2011]] called upon computer scientists, puzzle enthusiasts, and anyone else with an interest in solving complex problems, to compete for up to $50,000 by piecing together a series of shredded documents. The Shredder Challenge consisted of five separate puzzles in which the number of documents, the document subject matter and the method of shredding were varied to present challenges of increasing difficulty. To complete each problem, participants were required to provide the answer to a puzzle embedded in the content of the reconstructed document. The overall prizewinner and prize awarded was dependent on the number and difficulty of the problems solved. [[DARPA]] declared a winner on December 2, 2011 (the winning entry was submitted 33 days after the challenge began) – the winner was "[[All your base are belong to us|All Your Shreds Are Belong To U.S.]]" using a combination system that used automated sorting to pick the best fragment combinations to be reviewed by humans.<ref>{{cite web |title=Darpa Shredder Challenge |url=http://archive.darpa.mil/shredderchallenge/ |website=Darpa.mil |publisher=U S. Department of Defense |access-date=27 September 2016|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825060146/http://archive.darpa.mil/shredderchallenge/ |archive-date=25 August 2016}}</ref>

===Forensic identification===
The individual shredder that was used to destroy a given document may sometimes be of [[forensic]] interest. Shredders display certain device-specific characteristics, "[[fingerprint]]s", like the exact spacing of the blades, the degree and pattern of their wear. By closely examining the shredded material, the minute variations of size of the paper strips and the microscopic marks on their edges may be able to be linked to a specific machine.<ref>{{cite journal |author= Jack Brassil |title= Tracing the Source of a Shredded Document |publisher= [[Hewlett-Packard]] |date= 2002-08-02 |url= http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2002/HPL-2002-215.pdf |access-date= 2007-01-03 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061029090544/http://www.hpl.hp.com/techreports/2002/HPL-2002-215.pdf |archive-date= 2006-10-29 }}</ref> (cf. the [[typewriter#Forensic examination|forensic identification of typewriters]].)

==Recycling of waste==
The resulting shredded paper can be recycled in a number of ways, including:
*''Animal bedding''&nbsp;— To produce a warm and comfortable bed for animals<ref name="Wilki Engineering">{{cite web|url=http://wilkiengineering.co.uk/applications.html|title=Wilki Engineering manufactures bespoke shredding machines & balers|author=bOnline LTD.|work=wilkiengineering.co.uk|date=9 December 2024 }}</ref>
*''Void fill and packaging''&nbsp;— Void fill for the transportation of goods
*''[[Briquette#Paper briquettes|Briquettes]]''&nbsp;— an alternative to non-renewable fuels
*''Insulation''&nbsp;— Shredded newsprint mixed with flame-retardant chemicals and glue to create a sprayable insulation material for wall interiors and the underside of roofing{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Paper shredders}}
*[[Baler]]
*[[Industrial shredder]]
*[[Paper recycling]]
*[[Used note]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Paper}}

[[Category:American inventions]]
[[Category:Office equipment]]
[[Category:Paper recycling]]
[[Category:Records management technology]]
[[Category:Security]]
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