Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

Japan has a registration system for all citizens and foreigners at the local city office. Citizens are registered pen-to-paper on family trees called "koseki". This is the foundation for employment, bank accounts, national health insurance, voting. All of the afore-mentioned activities are cross-checked through the city office.

Separately, foreigners are registered by a photo ID card called "gaikouko-jin-cardo", or in the vernacular, "gaijin card" issued for the duration of their passport stamp. Any changes to a foreigner’s life, for example address, marriage/divorce, job changes are written in ink on the back of the card and pen-to-paper in the city office.

“For Japanese people,” says an American expat living in Japan, “it is impossible to dodge this system. If there is any doubt raised as to your registration, you will find your bank account temporarily inactive, health insurance card not working at the clinic, etc. This happened to me several years ago. I moved and thought I would tell everybody later, as in 30 days or so. I went to the doctor for a check-up and the receptionist asked if I moved recently. I said yes. She wrote down my new address.

"How did she know? My company’s HR staff called me to say that my bank called to confirm my address before my salary could be deposited. My name didn’t match the address on my salary deposit. How did they know? Landlords are expected to inform on tenants who come or go!”

Wait, there’s more!

“Japanese don't use checks,” he says. “Instead, they go to any ATM and type in the recipients name or company name, bank name, account number, and insert cash. A record is then sent to all parties. One’s entire financial life is recorded -- how much the telephone bill is, medical clinics visited, religious contributions, debts paid to loan shark consumer finance companies, etc.”

Compare that to the U.S., where—if you move—by following the instructions in How to Be Invisible you can hide your true home address for the rest of your life. Further, if you follow the instructions in Invisible Money, you can hide your cash payments as well

Labels: hiding home address, how to be invisible, invisible money, Japan, Lack of privacy, secret home address

As readers of How to Be Invisible already know, you should never accept mail at your true home address. Routine mail can be received in a post office box and sensitive mail can arrive at a faraway ghost address.

However, some companies irritatingly refuse to ship to a PO Box. (I just did battle with Goes Litho from Chicago about this. They finally relented when I offered to pay extra to have bordered bond paper sent to my PO Box.) But what if the company refuses to budge and yet you are determined to keep your home address a secret?

You can try another supplier. If that does not work, you may think about using the address of a relative or friend. However, that may present a serious loss of privacy. Here is a recent example (names have been disguised):

Burnett Williams, recently retired, sold his home where he had lived for 30 years and moved from Montana to a secret address in Arizona. Given the way the Federal Reserve is currently printing money by the trainload, he feared that a serious devaluation was coming within two years, so what to do with all the cash?

After checking with some knowledgeable friends, he decided to put 20 percent of it into silver bullion. The immediate problem he faced was that silver bullion is heavy and is usually shipped only by UPS. UPS keeps an international database with the address of every shipper and every receiver. Once your address gets into their system, it never gets out.

Williams was not about to let any neighbor or friend accept this shipment on his behalf because the contents (given the shipper’s business name and the weight) would be obvious. End of privacy! He therefore gave the following name and address to the supplier. (This is the address of a UPS Customer Center. Note that he did not give them his distinctive first name.)

B. Williams
ATTENTION — HOLD
1975 E. Wildermuth
Tempe, AZ 85281

When he picked up the shipment he used his passport for ID, since passports never include an address. And if anyone googles “B. Williams,” some 641,000 results will show up!

That is how you too can protect your secret home address when a supplier insists on shipping via UPS.

Labels: ghost address, hide your home address, precious medals, secret home address, secret parcel deliveries, secret shipments, silver bullion, silver rounds, UPS

1. Never, as long as you live, ever have mail delivered to your door again. Use a PO Box for personal letters and bills and a secret “ghost” address for sensitive mail such as passport delivery, real estate tax notices, and statements from faraway banks.

2. Despite the inconvenience, do not have pizza delivered to your door. If you allow that to happen even one time, any PI can get the address by calling the pizza company, pretending to be you, and asking what address is on file for your telephone number.

3. This one is difficult, but never allow an envelope or a package to be delivered to your home address. FedEx is said to share its files with the U.S. government and both FedEx and UPS tie your name to your home address in their databases.

4. Do not give your home address to a dentist, a doctor, a hospital, a car dealer, an optometrist, a supermarket (for the card), or to anyone else.

5. Do not allow your home address to be included on your driver’s license. Many if not all DMVs sell their lists to third parties. (In some states, they may require your home address for their records but will allow you to have a PO Box address printed on your license.)

BENEFIT: If someone knocks when you are not expecting a friend, why worry? It can’t be the mail carrier, the FedEx or UPS person, the pizza guy, or anyone else you need to talk to, right? You might even wish to put this sign on your front door:

KNOCK ALL YOU
WANT. WE DO NOT
ANSWER THE DOOR

The above information is taken from How to Be Invisible (Saint Martins Press).

Labels: FedEx, ghost address, mail privacy, pizza delivery, PO Box, privacy tips, secret delivery, secret home address, secret mail, UPS