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Having worked somewhere that still used physical memos, I can share my experience. They were simply "important" notices and announcements printed on single shee
by cosmojg 6y ago
Having worked somewhere that still used physical memos, I can share my experience. They were simply "important" notices and announcements printed on single sheets of paper hand-delivered to our desks by one of the managers or their secretaries. They'd often be on our desks before we got in, containing information that was realized the day before, but anything particularly urgent would be hand-delivered during the work day, usually around lunch.
They were completely interchangeable with emails, including in the way they were written (like short letters). I don't understand why we used them, but alas, we did.
- elliekelly 6y agoI worked somewhere that used paper memos and initially I thought they were just woefully tech-inept. It turns out if you’re doing shady stuff a written memo that can be immediately shredded is one of the more “secure” methods of communication because it doesn’t create a digital record like an email or a phone call do.
- earthboundkid 6y agoI don’t know if this is still true, but it was sometimes the case that toner would retain images of what had been printed on it and could be recovered by forensic specialists.
- 082349872349872 6y agoCIA learned from the fall of the Shah of Iran that strip shredding is, given time and patience, a reversible operation.
- stan_rogers 6y agoWe were doing crosscut shredding - to the point of practically atomizing the paper - then incinerating the shredded material in the military before the Shah fell, at least for Secret and above. If the CIA wasn't doing that, well, that's their own lookout.
- Sharlin 6y agoTo be fair, they were in a bit of a hurry.