-Caveat Lector-
>From the Sovereign Society.
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13 WAYS TO PROTECT WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR
PRIVACY AND PROPERTY RIGHTS
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Can you still obtain virtually complete privacy or asset
protection without leaving your country? Yes, but the effort
may be extremely costly -- not to mention illegal.
In the United States, you would have to:
* Sell all US real estate and convert it to cash without
losing it for "Bank Secrecy Act" or money laundering
violations -- or having it stolen.
* Sell your motor vehicles and convert them to cash,
again without committing a "privacy crime."
* Sell your business(es) and convert the proceeds to cash,
without authorities questioning you as to your
"motives."
* Close all US bank and securities accounts and convert
the proceeds to cash, again assuming the same risks.
* When your driver's license expires, don't renew it. This
is illegal if you continue to operate a motor vehicle.
* Resign from all organizations that might have your
name on a list.
* Cancel all subscriptions in your real name.
* Cancel all your credit card accounts.
* Allow all your professional affiliations to lapse.
* Move to another state and find somewhere to live with
all utilities -- including the telephone -- listed in
another person's name. Pay rent in cash, of course.
* Don't register to vote.
* If you work, do odd jobs that can be performed without
identifying yourself. Accept cash only-no checks. If you
must accept checks, cash them at a check-cashing
service, not a bank. Go to a different cash-checking
service each time. It's more expensive this way, but the
IRS may monitor regular customers of these services to
see if they file tax returns. In following this procedure,
you are likely to violate several federal laws.
* Use a series of mail receiving services to receive all
your mail. Pay others to complete the necessary
paperwork, then give you the keys. This violates the
written contract at most mail receiving services and
may also violate state or federal law. Pick up your mail
late at night when no one else is in the mail receiving
service that might recognize you.
* Assume a new identity using techniques in books such
as The Paper Trip and The Paper Trip II. Eden Press, P.O.
Box 8410, Fountain Valley, CA 92728; Tel: (800) 338-8484;
Fax: (714) 556-8410). Some of these techniques are illegal.
* Stop filing income tax returns. This is illegal if you
have income above the filing threshold.
* Use your new identity to obtain a driver's license in
another state, using a hotel or mail receiving service in
that state as your address. This is a federal crime if you
obtained your new identity illegally.
* Apply for a passport using your new name. This too is a
federal felony if you obtained your new identity
illegally. Be sure to leave the section asking for a Social
Security number blank. Have the passport mailed to
your most secure mail receiving service. When you
receive it, keep it in a safe place, but not in a safety
deposit box.
These actions will make it very difficult for an investigator or
anyone else to find you. If you are discovered, take your
passport and your cash and leave the country. At the border,
don't declare your cash to Customs. This is a federal crime if
you're carrying more than $10,000.
Are you willing to go to these lengths to achieve virtual
anonymity? Fortunately, unless you're fleeing from gangsters,
terrorists or the government, there's no need to take these
extreme measures. You can still lower your profile to theft,
lawsuits and government bureaucrats by using common-sense,
remarkably simple, inexpensive, and perfectly legal techniques.
Mark Nestmann's report, "97 Ways to Protect What's Left of
Your Privacy and Property," describes 97 strategies you may
pursue. Here are a few of his ideas that you can implement
immediately:
1. Disclose your SSN only to companies and agencies that
are legally obligated to ask for it or to obtain a benefit
you cannot otherwise obtain. While non-governmental
use of SSNs for identification purposes is essentially
unregulated, the only companies that are legally
obligated to ask for it are banks, brokerages, and
employers, to report income to the IRS. Anyone who
pays you more than $600/year as an independent
contractor must also ask for your SSN. Organizations
not legally obligated to ask for your SSN, but that
routinely do so, include insurance companies, credit
bureaus, and utility companies. You may be denied
credit, service or employment if you refuse to provide
your SSN to these companies.
The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 USC 552a) requires that
government agencies that ask for your SSN provide a
"Privacy Act" statement disclosing the legislative
authority for the request. You need not disclose your
SSN to an agency that does not have such authority.
2. Request an alternative number to your SSN be used to
identify you. Most states permit an alternative to the
SSN to be listed on your driver's licence application or
on the licence itself. Some insurance companies will
assign alternative numbers as well, if you ask. Many
people cite their religious beliefs as justifying the
assignment of an alternative number. Several courts in
different states have upheld this exception. See, e.g.,
Brunson v. DMV, BS 032384 (Cal. Super. Ct. L.A., Oct.
16, 1997).
In a doctor's office or other situation where the SSN is
requested, some persons leave the SSN entry blank or
complete as "N/A." When later asked for the number,
they simply say "I don't use it" or "I forgot it."
3. Don't permit banks or brokerages with which you have
accounts to release information or honor redemption
requests over the telephone based on your SSN alone.
Insist on having a code word assigned, without which
information cannot be released or redemptions made.
This avoids unauthorized release of sensitive
information or assets by persons who might obtain your
SSN from public records or another source.
4. Don't put your name on your mailbox. This identifies
you to curiosity-seekers, burglars, process-servers, etc.
5. Don't have anything sent or delivered to your home
address. This greatly reduces the threat of robbery,
burglary or surveillance. This precaution should
include "common carriers" such as Fed Ex and United
Parcel Service. It is simple matter for someone to call
Fed Ex or UPS, use your name and telephone number,
and have the customer service representative confirm a
pick-up at your home address, thus disclosing it to the
caller. Instead, have your mail sent to a post office box,
mail receiving service, secretarial service or care of
"General Delivery." Have common carrier shipments
sent to these locations or the carrier's local office.
6. Don't use your residential address as a return address.
Instead, use a post office box or other non-residential
address. For sensitive correspondence, consider not
using a return address at all. Of course, you should
verify that the item is properly addressed and carries the
correct postage.
7. Rent a box at a "mail receiving service." This will
entitle you to use the service's physical address to list
on your drivers' licence application and for other
purposes where a physical address is required. Before
renting you the box, the service operator will insist
on positive identification showing a physical address.
Some persons therefore visit a rent the box just before
they change their residential address so the service
doesn't have their home address on file.
You will be asked to complete Form 1583, "Delivery of
Mail Through Agent," a form that authorizes the Postal
Service to disclose information about your
correspondence to "an appropriate law enforcement
agency for an investigative or prosecution proceeding."
If possible, avoid completing this form. Some people
return it blank or "forget" to sign it. The form itself
states that its completion is voluntary. It is a federal
crime, however, to sign the form (under penalty of
perjury) if it contains false information.
In most cases, your box number will not need to be
noted as a "box" on a driver's licence or
correspondence. Where it is illegal to call the box
number a "suite" or "apartment" use the pound sign
to indicate the box number.
WARNING: Mail receiving service addresses are tracked
by law enforcement and show up on credit reports as
non-residential addresses. Nor will the Postal Service
forward correspondence sent to a mail receiving
service.
8. Guard your credit. If you've ever applied for a charge
account, a personal loan, insurance or a job, chances are
your credit file was checked. This file, maintained by
credit bureaus, contains information on where you
work and live, how you pay your bills and whether
you've been sued, arrested, or filed for bankruptcy.
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you have a right to
view the contents of your credit file. In addition,
anyone who takes action against you in response to
information received from a credit bureau -- such as
denying your application for credit, insurance, or
employment -- must give you the name, address, and
telephone number of the company that provided the
report.
Addresses for the three largest credit bureaus are:
* Equifax
PO Box 740241
Atlanta, GA
30374-0241
Tel: (800) 685-1111
* Experian (formerly TRW)
PO Box 949
Allen, TX
75013
Tel: (800) 682-7654
* Trans Union
760 West Sproul Road
PO Box 390
Springfield, PA
19064-0390
Tel: (800) 916-8800
9. Establish password access to your computer and the
programs on it. Many computers can be equipped so
they will not "boot up" until a password is entered.
Some operating systems and programs also allow you
to designate a password to open the program or
particular files. While this approach deters casual
eavesdropping, most password programs can be
defeated. For instance, passwords may be bypassed in
many copies of Windows 95 by clicking "cancel" at the
password prompt.
In addition, "password recovery modules" for the
following programs are available from AccessData, 2500
N. University Ave. Suite 200, Provo, UT 84604
Tel: (800) 489-5199; Fax: (801) 377-5426:
* ACT * MS Schedule
* Ami Pro * Novell NetWare 3.x/4.x
* Approach * Paradox
* Ascend * PFS
* DataPerfect * Quattro Pro
* Excel * Quicken Quickbooks
* Lotus 1-2-3 * Windows NT Access
* Lotus Organizer * Utility
* MS BOB * Word
* MS Money * XTree Gold
10. Turn off your computer when you're not using it. This
precaution avoids your screen or files from being
viewed or copied by intruders or passers-by. It also
prevents someone from calling into the computer (if
equipped with a modem) and copying, deleting, or
sabotaging files.
11. Encrypt sensitive files or your entire hard drive. This
provides much better protection than password access.
A program called PGP ("Pretty Good Privacy") provides
state-of-the-art, virtually unbreakable encryption for
individual files. PGP for Windows 95, Windows NT
and Macintosh is available at most computer stores or
directly from PGP, 2121 S. El Camino Real, Suite 902,
San Mateo, CA 94403; Tel: (800) 536-2664 or (602) 944-0773;
Web: http://www.pgp.com.
You can also encrypt your entire hard drive or portions
of it. The Internet site http://www.stack.nl/~galactus
provides an excellent introduction to this subject. Look
under "Security: Encryption: disk encryption." One
program for this purpose for DOS, Windows 3.1, and
(with limitations) Windows 95, is SecureDrive.
http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers/securedrive.html.
A full line of encryption products is also available from
RSA Data Security, 100 Marine Parkway, Suite 500,
Redwood City, CA 94065; Tel: (415) 595-8782;
Fax: (415) 595-1873; Web: http://www.rsa.com.html.
12. Store sensitive data on removable disks, and keep them
in a safe location away from your computer. One
company that manufactures removable high-capacity
disk media is Iomega. Retail products from this
company are widely available at electronics stores or
directly from Iomega, 1821 West Iomega Way, Roy, UT
84067; Tel: (801) 778-1000; Web: http://www.iomega.com.html.
Dispose of removable media securely when you're
finished using it.
13. Delete sensitive files from your hard drive once you're
finished working with them. Once magnetic media has
information written on it, it is very difficult to disguise
that fact. The "Delete" command in DOS or the "Empty
Recycling Bin" commands in Windows 95 and on the
Macintosh delete only the reference to files, not the data
in the file itself.) For an excellent summary of the
problem, read "Why a Normal Delete is not Sufficient," at
http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers/why-real-delete.html.
For a list of programs available to securely delete files
from DOS computers, look under "Security: File
wiping" at http://www.stack.nl/~galactus/remailers.
Three programs available to wipe Windows 95 files are
Mutilate, Shredder and M-Sweep.
Mutilate is "shareware" and may be evaluated without
charge for 30 days. You may download this program from
ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/security/mutil220.zip.
Shredder is available from STRATFOR, 3301 Northland
Drive Suite 500, Austin, TX 78731; Tel: 972-669-4135;
WATS: (888) 707-4733; Fax: 972-699-0088;
Web: http://www.shredder.com.
M-Sweep is available only to law enforcement, major
corporations and "big 6" accounting firms, but not to
the general public. Information on this program is
available from New Technologies, Inc., 2075 NE
Division, Gresham, OR 97030; Tel: (503) 666-6599;
Fax: (503) 492-8707.
Web: http://www.forensics-intl.com/tools.html.
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The Democrats are the ones who will give you a loan. The
Republicans are the ones who will guarantee you a loan.
The Libertarians are the ones who will leave you alone.
-- Cal Ludeman
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