Invisible Privacy | Online Privacy

As many of us suspect, incoming mail from tax havens or certain Arab countries may raise red flags. Or perhaps you have a romantic interest in someone from another country and you prefer to keep that information to yourself. Whatever the case, there is a simple solution.

1. Sign up with a mail-receiving facility in Europe, where mail service is excellent.

2. Instruct your bank, lover, or business friend to send all letters to your new European address.

3. Have your re-mailer open the letters, scan them, e-mail them to you, and then shred the letters.

4. When you receive the scanned letters, print them out (if necessary) and then delete them.

The above may not be a perfect solution but it’s a lot better than having certain letters coming into this country with your name on it, even if you are using a PO Box or a commercial mail receiving agency (CMRA). One such service is offered on my website—an address in Spain’s Canary Islands. You may direct any questions about this to Rosie Enriquez, senorita [at] canaryislandspress [dot] com.

Labels: ghost address, mailing address, scanned mail, secret mail

It scared me, when I first discovered this information some five years ago. I wondered what the purpose of this was, how long the pictures were kept on file, and whether or not the back of the envelope was also being photographed.

Thanks to a new friend inside the USPS, I now have the facts. Here is what happens when you mail a letter:

1. The front side of your envelope is photographed. At the same time, a fine color bar code is sprayed on the backside of your letter.

2. The image is then sent to a remote site, usually in another state where non-postal workers work at terminals and key in the bar code for that specific letter.

3. Your letter is then is processed through a machine that reads the light colored bar code on the backside and instantly sprays a regular bar code on the lower front side of the envelope. (However, if a letter already has a bar code on it, it will usually not have its picture taken. For example, mail from utility companies gets bypassed from this process.)

"I don't know how long those images are stored for," says my informant. "However, my guess is that it no longer than a few days."

CONCLUSION:

Normally, it makes no difference whether you put a return address on the front or the back of the envelope. However, mail handlers can make a note of the return addresses you are using, if they have a legitimate reason for doing so. If, therefore, you are concerned about certain sensitive mail, one suggestion would be to not include a return address on your outgoing mail.

A better solution, however, would be to use a ghost address for the return. That way, you will know if your letter failed to arrive. (It may be returned for insufficient postage or for an error in the address. These things happen to the best of us.) It will also prevent your letter from ending up in Atlanta, Saint Paul, or San Francisco, the USPS's three major mail recovery centers. Once there, your letter will be opened and examined.

Labels: ghost address, mail recovery center, mail security, MRC, return address, secret letters, secret mail

Personally, I use a ghost address in Spain’s Canary Islands, as do many of my friends. However, any foreign address will do as long as it is a legitimate address where incoming letters can either be sent on to you or scanned and transmitted via e-mail.

1. HOME PRIVACY

To keep your home address private, never include it on your letterheads or business cards. However, you may need to include a mailing address in case someone decides to send you a letter (or a check!). Therefore, list your foreign ghost address.

2. VEHICLE PRIVACY

Title your car in the name of a limited liability company and give the LLC a “principal place of business” in a foreign land. If you later lend your car to someone who gets a serious citation (such as for outrunning the police!) and doesn’t tell you, at least it will not be traced back to you.

3. MAIL PRIVACY

Foreign mail (such as from a Muslim country or from a bank in Liechtenstein) may draw undesired attention to you. Therefore, have all such mail sent to your foreign address. It can then be scanned and e-mailed to you.

PRIVACY BONUS

If you list a principal place of business overseas, a U.S. subpoena demanding all records cannot be served at that address.

Labels: canary islands, foreign address, foreign mail drop, ghost address, overseas mail, secret mail

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