Today’s imports from my Illustrious Past(TM) center around the surprisingly difficult process of file deletion. While much more difficult than “computer whizzes on teevee” make it seem, there’s quite a few things that make deletion of data extraordinarily difficult–and this is before “owner distrust” systems start getting deployed en masse.

Yes folks, it’s hard enough to delete something even when your hardware is not actively conspiring against you.

1. Thoughts On Secure Deletion in 2001: Part One and Part Two.
2. On The Nature Of Data Shredding: A possible implementation strategy for a reasonably effective data shredder is mentioned.