Indeed a weird question. It is reminiscent of the destruction of title-deeds and charters in the French Revolution. > They turned upon the châteaux in order to

Indeed a weird question. It is reminiscent of the destruction of title-deeds and charters in the French Revolution. > They turned upon the châteaux in order to destroy the charterrooms, the lists and the title-deeds; and houses were burned down if the masters did not relinquish with a good grace the feudal rights recorded in the charters, the rolls and the rest. > All the title-deeds held by the Abbey of the Bernardins in the neighbouring communes were carried off. > They did them no harm but the registers and title-deeds of feudal landlordism they never spared. They burned them, after compelling the lord to swear that he would relinquish his rights. This isn't something that government's usually do, and modern tech infrastructure and practices specifically attempt to prevent with backups, access control, and even buddy systems (in the realm of finance - though the technical name of this practice escapes me at the moment). From Kropotkin, P. (1927). The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793 (N. F. Dryhurst, Trans.) New York: Vanguard Printings. (Original work published 1909) CHAPTER XVI THE PEASANT RISING (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/frenchrev/xvi.html http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/fren...)