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Please do not write below the line

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362 points dcminter | 1 comments | 21 Oct 24 18:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.428s | source
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Pinus ◴[22 Oct 24 08:41 UTC] No.41912362[source]▶
Random association: Somewhere, I saw "leaves the top third of the first page blank without being asked to do so" as a sign that the person you are recruiting as a spy already works for the opposition. Maybe that goes for the bottom of the page as well. =)
replies(1): >>41913085 #
Dilettante_ ◴[22 Oct 24 11:00 UTC] No.41913085[source]▶
Now I'm curious: Why leave the top third of the first page blank? For spy stuff?
replies(1): >>41913252 #
1. Pinus ◴[22 Oct 24 11:32 UTC] No.41913252[source]▶
My guess would be that he opposition trained their agents to leave space on the first page of their reports for archive file numbers, estimates of source reliability, notices about which consumers the information has been shared with, that sort of thing. (This was probably around 1950-1960 or so, so everything on paper, probably often handwritten.)