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Old technology in NSA age: Typewriter sales surge in Germany
RT.com ^ | July 23, 2014 | Unknown

Posted on 07/23/2014 7:09:30 PM PDT by Enterprise

Earlier in July, German politicians said they were considering going back to old-fashioned manual typewriters for confidential documents, in order to protect national secrets from American NSA spooks.

Patrick Sensburg, chair of the German parliament’s inquiry into alleged NSA spying, said committee members are considering new security measures and are seriously thinking about abandoning email and returning to old school typewriters.

(Excerpt) Read more at rt.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: nsa; security; stasi; surveillance; typewriters
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Love those old typewriters.
1 posted on 07/23/2014 7:09:30 PM PDT by Enterprise
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To: Enterprise

The return of typewriter ribbons and carbon paper?


2 posted on 07/23/2014 7:12:42 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Enterprise

I’ve been thinking of looking for my manual Royal Typewriter. Built in 1927 and weight a quarter ton. I hid it somewhere, maybe to weigh the house down. If this trend continues, you may find young people studying Greg’s Shorthand along with entering typing contests.


3 posted on 07/23/2014 7:12:44 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: SandRat

And WHITE OUT! Woo Hoo!


4 posted on 07/23/2014 7:14:47 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: Enterprise

Guess they never heard of Tempest.


5 posted on 07/23/2014 7:14:47 PM PDT by mylife
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To: Enterprise

I bet the NSA owns those IBM Selectrics...

I actually have one.

Still works.


6 posted on 07/23/2014 7:15:07 PM PDT by glasseye
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To: Enterprise

Lol....


7 posted on 07/23/2014 7:16:31 PM PDT by Dallas59
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To: Enterprise

Had an old Remington that I loved and it would be much more secure than these monitored electronic gadgets.


8 posted on 07/23/2014 7:17:33 PM PDT by txrefugee
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To: SandRat
I think i saw a forensics show way back when, where they reconstructed letters typed via the ribbon. It was genius back in it's time. No time stamp on the ribbon but i loved it, caught! Oh wait, maybe it was a Columbo episode :)
9 posted on 07/23/2014 7:21:07 PM PDT by GizzyGirl
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To: mylife

A security expert might advise them of the hazards of using electric typewriters regarding tempest. Not to worry though if they are going to be using the old non electric typewriters. Maybe a few jobs for clerk typists will come back.


10 posted on 07/23/2014 7:22:26 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: glasseye

They made a top secret version of the selectric to prevent spies from intercepting what was typed on them by measuring the change in voltage on the power line while typing,


11 posted on 07/23/2014 7:22:35 PM PDT by ThomasThomas (What is the differnce in spontinaity and ADD?)
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To: Enterprise

Just don’t connect the computer to then Internet and it can’t spy on you...


12 posted on 07/23/2014 7:23:42 PM PDT by DB
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To: Enterprise

True enough.


13 posted on 07/23/2014 7:23:47 PM PDT by mylife
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To: txrefugee

I have good memories of using the old ones. Kind of like someone who likes old cars.


14 posted on 07/23/2014 7:25:59 PM PDT by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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To: GizzyGirl

Same story used a couple of times on “Ben Mattlock.”


15 posted on 07/23/2014 7:28:21 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Enterprise

The Germans are right on this.

Let the NSA try to snarf up typed documents through secure carriers.

Some things you can’t just effortlessly skim and store in Utah.


16 posted on 07/23/2014 7:32:13 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: Enterprise

Add TYPEWRITER to the list of NSA spying/search history red flag words along with PRESSURE COOKER, and BACKPACK. Something to hide.

Going back to a typewriter must be an experience since there’s nothing to put a squiggly red line under spelling errors, and no backspace key to facilitate in correcting errors.


17 posted on 07/23/2014 7:33:06 PM PDT by Antihero101607
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To: Enterprise; Charles Henrickson; mikrofon

ICH BIN EIN TYPELINER

18 posted on 07/23/2014 7:36:40 PM PDT by martin_fierro (Computers were too ... mainstream)
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To: Antihero101607

Actually there IS a backspace key but it doesn’t correct an error. You had to erase the typo and type it over.


19 posted on 07/23/2014 7:37:14 PM PDT by RipSawyer (OPM is the religion of the sheeple.)
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To: Antihero101607

Later model Selectrics were available in self-correcting.


20 posted on 07/23/2014 7:37:38 PM PDT by 2111USMC (Aim Small Miss Small)
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