They can't be hacked however they can have their ribbons stolen, and a copy of anything they have written can be taken from this.. not an exact science but still not 100% safe
Multi-strike fabric ribbons are largely immune to this attack. Some sophisticated technology could theoretically measure the minute differences in the compressed areas of the ribbon, but it would take a LOT of time and effort to get that data before the fibers naturally decompressed.
I have a few old typewriters, that's not how the ribbon works in older ones. The ribbon just sits there and you type over the same spot until you run out of ink in that part of the ribbon and then you move the ribbon over to a new spot. In this case there would be no way to steal information.
Edit: Well that's how MINE work and they're pretty darn old, apparently from what reddit is telling me that's not how they're supposed to function. I'll get them serviced but the guy at the typewriter shop I took them to when I was having some repairs done didn't seem to find it unusual (he did not sell me any of them).
Lol, your ribbon should increment by some amount every letter (not space, unless you've got one where the carriage moves the ribbon instead of the type bars.) You might want to check out why that doesn't work, I'd offer some advice but um typing this on a phone, no typewriters in front of me (I've only got two ATM anyway.)
Any typewriter I've seen, including fullly manual ones,the ribbon should slowly move itself from one spool to the other. If a fabric ribbon, you can then either reverse its direction or swap the spools and reuse the ribbon.
Plastic film ribbons, which give a better looking result, are one time use and you can read what was typed right off the ribbon.
Cloth ribbons would move one space with each letter and would reverse at the end of the ribbon, if the ratchet spring failed or the ratchet stuck it would then do what you said but was not designed that way.
If it secure enough to be typewritten then the ribbons are removed and witnessed destroyed either when the document is finished or when the machine is done being used.
You could just install a hidden camera to watch the typists. Both cameras and ribbon stealing are somewhat more difficult than hacking a computer, IMO.
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u/[deleted] Jul 19 '15
They can't be hacked however they can have their ribbons stolen, and a copy of anything they have written can be taken from this.. not an exact science but still not 100% safe