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Shredded Secret Police Files Being Reassembled

Posted by samzenpus on from the burn-the-papers-from-now-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes "German researchers at the Frauenhofer Institute said Wednesday that they were launching an attempt to reassemble millions of shredded East German secret police files using complicated computerized algorithms. The files were shredded as the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and it became clear that the East German regime was finished. Panicking officials of the Stasi secret police attempted to destroy the vast volumes of material they had kept on everyone from their own citizens to foreign leaders."

4 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Trust? by JackieBrown · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Many important documents are slumbering in these sacks"

    And they will just re-shred the private, personal stuff, correct?

    1. Re:Trust? by timmarhy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      because you know, the american agencies don't torture or abduct people... oh wait a sec! they do!

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    2. Re:Trust? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I were dead, I may not care about my personal information that would have affected me if I were alive. Though my personal information that may affect my family and friends who are still alive is another thing.

    3. Re:Trust? by Shihar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's because you're only a "bad guy" if you lose. No you are the "bad guy" if you have to build a fucking wall around your nation then station it with mines and machine guns to keep people in it. Last time I checked, western Europe and the US never had to build a fucking wall to keep people from fleeing their nation in terror.

      Seriously people. Get a fucking grip and get over the moral relativism. It was bad. East Germany didn't throw build the Berlin wall for shits and giggles. People were not dancing in the street when it come down (on both sides) because it was the sad end of a merry social experience.