Comments on: British Columbia, More than 65,000 SINs, Dismal Process http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/03/british-columbia-more-than-65000-sins-dismal-process.html The Emergent Chaos Jazz Combo Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:20:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David Brodbeck http://emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/03/british-columbia-more-than-65000-sins-dismal-process.html/comment-page-1#comment-1958 David Brodbeck Mon, 06 Mar 2006 20:55:11 +0000 http://emergentchaos.com/?p=1545#comment-1958 Apparently they've never heard of a degausser? I used to work at a bank, and we degaussed all 3.5" floppies before throwing them away. 5.25" floppies were put through the paper shredder. Hard disks were smashed with a hammer. (There are somewhat less destructive solutions available now, of course: <a href="http://dban.sourceforge.net/)" rel="nofollow"><a href="http://dban.sourceforge.net/)" rel="nofollow">http://dban.sourceforge.net/)</a></a> Degaussers powerful enough to put data on computer tapes beyond casual recovery are readily available, because they're also used in TV production. Degaussing videotape before re-recording on it is standard procedure at most TV studios, because it results in a better picture than letting the VCR do the erasing. Apparently they’ve never heard of a degausser?
I used to work at a bank, and we degaussed all 3.5″ floppies before throwing them away. 5.25″ floppies were put through the paper shredder. Hard disks were smashed with a hammer. (There are somewhat less destructive solutions available now, of course: http://dban.sourceforge.net/)
Degaussers powerful enough to put data on computer tapes beyond casual recovery are readily available, because they’re also used in TV production. Degaussing videotape before re-recording on it is standard procedure at most TV studios, because it results in a better picture than letting the VCR do the erasing.

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