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Comment by jevinskie | Hacker News Reader

Cross cut shredders people! NSA specifies:

“Maximum Particle Dimensions: 75% of the shredded particles shall have no edge dimension exceeding 5 millimeters in length. The remaining particles may exhibit edge dimensions between 5 and 12.5 millimeters in length.”

Better yet, shred then take it to a recycling center where it is pulped immediately. Or shred it then burn it if you are cold/don't care about carbon emissions!

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I don't know if the technology has improved since last I checked, but recycling shredded paper is a no-no. The fibers in the shredded paper are too short to make usable paper products from.

It doesn't matter how it's shredded; you still shouldn't be throwing paper that had someone's social security number on it (especially when that someone is a detective whose whole identity has now been revealed) off of a roof on national television.

They would probably be crucified, if they were subject to something like HIPAA.

I am not a lawyer.

In my experience, HIPPA does not provide any spec. It is akin to "did/do you have reasonable precautions for X?" so every organization is different, though many go to the extreme under HIPPA, because it providing documentation you had documentation, or documented you provided the document ad nauseam. It has little do do with how to mangle a document.

That said, HIPPA does have something: it persuades cynicism and paranoia. Two words which make cautious.

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