Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

I want to be invisible … I paint my
face and travel at night.
—Ralph Reed

In theory, How to Be Invisible covers all the bases but in practice, sometimes a consultant who specializes in personal privacy is required. Here are the reasons why a retired detective and a wealthy widow recently flew to Las Vegas for private consultations with me. (Names have been changed.)

Jim Williams, 65, a retired Seattle police detective:

Jim was divorced, no children, and had no close relatives. His problem was that he could foresee that a vindictive investor named Max was going to file an unjust—if not frivolous— lawsuit against him. Once filed, Jim could be tied down for months or years and end up with horrendous legal costs. The alternative?

“I’d like to just disappear without a trace,” he said. “I’ve got my eye on an offshore blue-water sailboat and I’d like to cruise up to Alaska in the summer and down to Mexico in the winter. The problem is how to title the boat so my name does not appear, and how to get my monthly pension checks and cash them without leaving a clue as to what port I’m in.”

Helen Holmes, 57, a wealthy widow from Arkansas:

Helen nearly died in a major car accident several years ago. “When I recovered,” she said, “I felt like a different person and I wanted to start life over. I’m going to sell off all my land holdings and just disappear, but I need some help.” She planned to travel for several years and then settle down some place “far, far away from Arkansas.” Her two requirements were (1) where to securely hide a large sum of money when her properties were sold, and (2) how to obtain and use a bank account that could normally not be traced back to her.

Both Jim and Helen left Las Vegas with their problems solved. So who needs a personal privacy consultant? Anyone who wants to make sure that when they disappear, they really disappear!

Labels: anonymous ownership, hidden bank account, how to disappear, internet privacy, personal privacy consultant, privacy consultant, privacy consultation, privacy consulting

This information is directed to a young woman who’s just learned that her ex-boyfriend is on the way to her city and he’s carrying handcuffs and duct tape. Although How to Be Invisible details plans to disappear eventually, what is needed at present is to disappear NOW!

Your ex-boyfriend may have illegal access to records normally confined to the police and the government. Assuming this might be the case, here’s what to do:

Remove the battery from your cell phone so that it cannot be tracked. If you can’t get the battery out, then leave it behind or give it away. If you must make a call in regard to some urgent matter, use a pay phone but then leave that area the moment you hang up. Empty your bank account, pawn anything of value, and borrow from your friends. From this point on, do not use a credit, debit, or ATM card.

If you have a car or can borrow one, flee the city and if possible the state. If you have any small items that can be sold later on Craigslist, stuff them in the trunk. Obey all traffic signs and stay within the speed limit. Even if your stalker is a policeman—as some are!—it is unlikely that he would dare put out an all-points bulletin (or BOLO, which stands for "be on the lookout").

From this point on, use only the U.S. mail to communicate with your family and friends. They can reply to you via a new Webmail address provided they enter you in their address books under another name and address you only with that name in each e-mail. You can pick up these messages in a library or an Internet cafe. But now comes the hardest part—finding a place to stay. On the road, avoid all major chains because they demand ID and enter it in their computer databases. Instead, choose a small mom-and-pop motel where they will accept whatever name you give them as long as you pay cash.

When you get to where you are going, either stay with an old friend who is unknown to your stalker or else rent a room from a private party. (Use your “new” name.) Then, and only then, pick up a copy of How to Be Invisible at Barnes & Noble and start planning your future.

Labels: anonymous travel, avoiding a stalker, cell phone tracking, how to be invisible, how to disappear, rent a room