Private investigators and identity thieves will be interested in new software from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, which promises to reassemble shredded documents. Well, not the documents themselves, but once the shreds are all scanned in (I wonder who drew the short straw to get that job), the program analyzes typefaces, character size, color and texture to put the pieces back together onscreen. Fraunhofer developed the software in the hope of restoring the millions of documents shredded by the Stasi, the secret police of the former East Germany.

Although the pic here shows paper that just looks like it was torn up rather than shredded, the software is said to be able to reassemble documents that were shredded by machines as well. I guess we international spies will have to use other means to cover our tracks. Invisible ink? Edible messages, perhaps? Me, I'm going with a lighter. — Peter Pachal

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