Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

A common complaint from readers of How to Be Invisible is that when they move to a new location, neighbors start asking them their name and where they work.

1. Alter your name to hide your identity

Keep your first name but change your last name just enough so the neighbors cannot Google you. It’s best if the name rhymes so that if a neighbor later learns your true identity, you can explain that he may have misunderstood when you previously gave him your name.

Examples: Change Benson to Jensen, Hernandez to Fernandez, Martin to Barton, Ryan to Brian, Crosby to Cosby, Dawson to Lawson, and O’Reilly to Reilly or Smiley.

If that doesn’t work, perhaps you can use your middle name as your last name. This works well with using a passport as ID because the first and middle names are on the same line, with the last name below. More than once I’ve had persons glance at my passport and think my middle name was my last name.

2. Be vague about where you work to hide your identity.

The best choice here is to indicate you work for yourself in some obscure niche that no one will question further. However, if you leave and return each day at a given time, you may need to give a specific answer. I have a friend who says he works for the IRS. That usually ends any questions about his job.

Labels: hide my identity, hide name, hide your identity, new name, pen name

Suppose it is known that you will be in a big city on a certain date, and that you often stick with a certain hotel chain? How would you like to hide your identity and thus avoid calls from persons such as ex-employees, ex-wives, ex-inlaws, or even private investigators?

In days gone by, you could hide your identity by checking into a hotel under any name you liked, pay cash, and that was it. No longer, of course. All major (and most minor) hotels will not rent you a room without a valid credit card and government-issued ID. So can you still hide your identity in 2009? Yes, you can.

Since I am a privacy consultant, many readers of How to Be Invisible know that I often meet my clients at the Westin in Bellevue, the Encore in Vegas, or the Pan Pacific in Vancouver, BC. Does anyone ever try to call me there?

Perhaps, but I have no way of knowing because callers will be told, "Mr. Luna is not registered here." How can this be?

Like a magician who reveals a magic trick, when I reveal my secret, it will seem to be obvious. Nevertheless, only a few of my clients who've had personal consultations with me use this system. Here is how I hide my identity when staying at a hotel:

I have a single Visa credit card account, originally issued in my own name. However, I later applied for a second card on the same account. Reason: I needed to separate expenses when I traveled in my "professional" name. The second card was issued with no problem. You can do the same. Your reason can be that you use another name as an author, an actor, a musician, or whatever. No one will check.

Then, when you travel, you have a choice. Either travel under your real name but give out the professional name, or vice versa. When checking in, you will be asked for ID. Show your passport. Even when you've made your reservation under the assumed name, my experience has been that all the clerk wants to see is your picture. If a question should ever arise, just explain that the name in your passport identifies you, but the reservation was made in your professional name because your credit card is in that name.

And that, folks, is how you can hide your identity when you stay at a hotel.

(Note: I have not checked this out overseas. If any of you European readers have been able to hide your identity while staying at a hotel, please contact me via e-mail or with a post to Canary Islands Press.)

Labels: anonymous travel, disappear, duplicate names, European privacy, hide my identity, hide your identity, hotel privacy, pen name, privacy consultant, privacy consulting, professional name, travel privacy