A recent UK government White Paper included the point that 40% of dustbins include enough personal data to enable transaction fraud.

One of the biggest culprits is junk mail – especially pre-completed credit card applications that only require a signature, but anything with your name & address on it is potentially a problem.


Shredding is my preferred method of disposing of paper based security problems – I shred just about everything: junk mail, notes, letters, credit card vouchers, envelopes, parcel labels & so on.
IÂ’m sure youÂ’ve seen on TV the way that shredded documents can be recovered with painstainking work, but your average fraudster probably wonÂ’t bother going to that sort of trouble.
Still, there are some basic precautions you can take: don’t put the shreddings from a single document in a bin on its own – mix it up with the remains of other documents; and consider using a cross-cut shredder to turn the document into confetti rather than the regular strips.

Don’t use shreddings as pet bedding – the dust can cause lung problems.


Another problem is disposing of CDROMs. Old backups potentially have a lot of personal information on them, so itÂ’s no good just throwing them in the bin. Some shredders are rated as being able to handle CDs, but whereÂ’s the fun in that?

For more enjoyment, you can break CDROMs – I’ve discovered the best technique is to grasp the CD so it’s held in the first joint of your fingers at the “north” point, and the first joint of your thumb at “south” – it should be roughly parallel with your palm at this point. Squeeze to bend the CD outwards slightly, then rapidly close your hand. If you’ve done in right, the CD will shatter & spray bits of shrapnel outwards, and you’ll get bits of the foil backing stuck to you. This is not highly recommended, as there is a risk of injuring yourself, and there’s also the possibility that the CD will just stretch & bend rather than break.

Ideally, what we need is a powerful, properly shielded focused radar wave source, with a timing mechanism with increments at the second level.

Fortunately, most homes in the western world already have one – the microwave oven You’ll need to set up a good airflow first, so open the kitchen window & put on the extractor fan. Set the microwave to full power, set the timer to 2 seconds, and watch the sparks fly. You can practice this on AOL CDs if you don’t currently have any old backups to dispose of.

In the traditions of cookery programmes, hereÂ’s some I prepared earlier:

lol, I perfer using my old wood stove to dispose of paper junk mail. Also, if you burn CD's you get nifty coloured smoke outta the chminey

For CD's, Just go outside and find the nearest concrete...put the cd face down...give it a couple of spins...DONE!

Paper, burn or shread

Quote: Originally posted by Fantazmic2 For CD's, Just go outside and find the nearest concrete...put the cd face down...give it a couple of spins...DONE! ...

How fast do you have to spin to get sparks then Taz ?

Actually a buddy of mine had a collage of the microwaved CD's set up at his party a few weeks back. It was pretty wild when you have like 10 different colored lights blinkin' and bumpin' to the music and that collage of CD's up on a wall.

Never really asked him what was on the cd's though, but I'd imagine most of them were our favorite AOL CD's

I wasn't aware of the microwave thing Jonny, thanks. I've been simply breaking CD's that I wanted to dispose of securly but I'll have to give the old microwave a try. There is also a shredder for sale that will do CD's the only bad part is that it doesn't cross cut. Then again you'd have to be really paranoid to worry about that kind of thing . As far as paper goes I picked up a little cross cut shredder three years ago and it still does daily duty. Then again I'm a bit paranoid because I've had my identity stolen twice.

Quote: Originally posted by Jonny English How fast do you have to spin to get sparks then Taz ?

faster than I can spin it. ? for you, does it destroy the Microwave or shorten it's life?

Quote: Originally posted by Fantazmic2 ...? for you, does it destroy the Microwave or shorten it's life?

Hasn't yet ... & to be honest I can't see how it could

Quote: Originally posted by Computersmith ... There is also a shredder for sale that will do CD's the only bad part is that it doesn't cross cut. Then again you'd have to be really paranoid to worry about that kind of thing ...

As the saying goes, "just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not after you" ... I think in your case they may be ...

_Twice?_ What happened dude ?

Quote: As the saying goes, "just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not after you" ... I think in your case they may be ...

~grinz~ I've often said the same thing. What happend is I have the misfortune to have a close cousin that likes to break the law but is to much of a coward to use his own information. So he likes to use mine. Last year was fun because about three years earlier he had used my information to get out of being arrested on bench warrents. So when he didn't show up again they issued a bench warrent for me. It took me two months to get it all straight and I've only heard from him once since and that was at my grandmothers funeral and I didn't think it was appropriate to rip his head off and s*** down his neck right then.