As you are probably aware, the greatest threat to your privacy and well-being stems from the government, whether directly or indirectly. Even the “freest” or “most democratic” governments have committed their share of atrocities, and even if you think you’re safe today, if the political winds blow in a different direction tomorrow, you could be the next victim.
Today, governments use databases to track virtually everything, including their own people. So an important part of protecting yourself is to minimize the amount of information governments have about you.
Unlike businesses, which use databases to reduce the costs of the products and services they provide on a voluntary basis, governments of all stripes use databases of people in order to track, monitor, forcibly control and even kill them more efficiently. Indeed, for a government, this is the only purpose for a database of people.
The most important thing to remember is that being innocent will not protect you. It didn’t protect Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, it didn’t protect people falsely accused of being Communists in the 1950s, and it doesn’t protect innocent people who have had their property wrongly seized or been killed in botched drug raids today.
Staying out of government databases, to the maximum extent possible, is the best way to protect yourself from whatever dark fate your government has in store for you tomorrow. These tips will help those of you who want to protect your privacy to do so without unnecessarily sacrificing your quality of life.
Government gets most of its information about you from you, so limiting the amount of information you give the government is the easiest way to protect yourself.
If you can avoid it, do not obtain a driver license or state ID card. The driver license, despite its dubious legality and its utter irrelevance to the physical act of driving a vehicle, has become so pervasive that virtually everyone now has one. Whether by accident or design, it stands as the de facto ID through which you’re tracked, even without the REAL ID Act, by local, state and federal government alike. If you must obtain one, then you can ensure that the information on it is out of date the moment it’s issued, by obtaining the license and then immediately — the same day — moving to a new address. You can also provide an address you haven’t lived at for years, if ever. The same applies to vehicle registrations. Keep in mind that governments don’t like it when the information you’ve given them is inaccurate or outdated, and usually have laws against it; however, such laws are virtually unenforceable.
Obtain a “fake” ID and use it wherever possible, but never with the government. Many places which ask for a government-issued ID these days have no legitimate reason to ask, or their reason for asking could be satisfied through other means. For instance, hotels ask for ID not because they need to know who you are, but because they want to know that you can pay for your room and any damages you may cause. This need could be met through the use of a credit card or through other means, but the prevalence of government ID cards has caused people to rely on them when other solutions would work as well or better. Jim Harper from the Cato Institute addresses this issue in his book, Identity Crisis. Never use your real name or ID unless the government has actually required it, and be aware that many places will tell you the government requires it, when it does not, such as for air travel. In the U.S., under common law, you may use any name you like, as long as you aren’t trying to defraud.
Do not give out your Social Security number, if you have one, to anyone except the government. Do not give it to your bank, nor your credit card issuer, nor anyone else, who isn’t actually required by the government to collect it. (Your bank does not need a Social Security or tax ID number unless you have an interest-bearing account.) If you’ve already given it to your bank, for instance, change banks.
On that note, do not keep large amounts of money in banks. All fiat currencies depreciate much faster than any rate of interest you’ll ever be offered; even interest-bearing offerings will lose money over the long term, adjusted for inflation. True money of intrinsic value, such as gold, silver and platinum, is much more stable, holding its value over the long term, and should be a significant part of any respectable investment portfolio, if not under your pillow.
Do not participate in the census. Sure, your local bureaucrats will try to guilt trip you into filling it out, because they get more of your money if you do. But census data is among the most detailed information the government collects, it’s been abused before, and government has no legitimate purpose for collecting most of what they ask for these days. The most they need to know is the number of people in your house, not even who they are, and even that is probably too much to tell them.
Be aware of what data government collects and how it uses that data. Remember that the use that seems benign today may turn malevolent next year, and by then it’s too late. Evaluate a government data collection program not just on its merits but its potential for misuse in the future. Ask yourself, What could Hitler do with this database? That will tell you what its true potential is. Keep in mind nobody saw Hitler’s evil coming; he looked like a perfectly normal politician to almost everyone, putting Germany on the path to economic recovery, right up until he started exterminating people.
Always remember that government is evil. Thomas Paine said, “Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” (And a growing number of people believe that government is an unnecessary evil which should be dispensed with as soon as possible so that we can finally have a civilized society.) As we all know by now, the Constitution is no guarantee that our government will remain in “its best state;” indeed, the government violates it with impunity by having its own court redefine what “is” — or the inconvenient word of the day — is. It’s only a matter of time before government violates your rights, if it hasn’t already, and it probably has.
This is why we were admonished by the country’s founders to distrust government. And that is the best advice of all.
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False raids.
Jul 21, 2007
Do not ever be falsely accused of a crime in America even if threatened. Retain your dignity and file a complaint. They will steal everything you own, sell it cheap to themselves and steal your identity. They will kill you as well. Some of them own funeral parlors ect.. Don’t be fooled. Save your life and have excellent security.You are responsible for your own security not the police.
John Moore
Jul 21, 2007
I noticed you endorsing PGP. It’s a good product and Zimmerman got hassled by the government for making it. However, the crooks have already caught on that if they install a keylogger on your computer, they get your usernames and passwords before you ever encrypt them. Now, the government is getting in on the act and the DEA recently used a keylogger/trojan to get around a drug dealer who was using encryption and hushmail. Probably the AV vendors won’t detect federal spyware either. The government gets corporations to build the databases it uses on us so that we can’t find out what they are doing with the databases through the FOIA. So, both the government and corporations want to 0wn us. If you are going to advocate such paranoid, but secure methods, encrypt everything on your hard drive and don’t connect to the Internet unless you have to. Use an operating system other than Windows which would force the government to come up with new trojans and keyloggers to spy on you. Don’t use wifi unless it’s via SSL or VPN. Use TOR if you can stand the delays, and anonymous proxies when on the Internet, but realize that likely there’s a narus collector sniffing your Internet traffic anyway through your ISP or through a CALEA interface on the ISP switch or router. That’s why you should use SSL or TOR. Or just go ahead and be normal. All of it is going into an electronic maw that no human will ever lay eyes on and can’t for all the reams of useless data it’s collecting. Using encryption will just bring you to their attention quicker. Some sort of steganography might be a better way of hiding your information from prying eyes.
Good luck!
Michael Hampton
Jul 22, 2007
That’s a good point. Personally I use Linux, and my hard drive is fully encrypted, from end to end. I also know how to spot and defeat hardware keyloggers — and besides, it’s virtually impossible for anyone to get into my house without alerting someone; the place is occupied 24×7.
You should use SSL and Tor.
Thomas Serrao
Jul 26, 2007
I just wanted to thank you for this artical,, I was detained by DHS and for an hour and a half interagated to the point that I thought I was going to some sort of holding cell and forgotten, every mind game in the book was used and I was not allowed to get up out of my chair nor make any phone calls although I was not charged nor arrested with anything! I was told they have great powers and they had in hand 2 inches thick of papers of background info on me,they knew of all my work and trips over in europe and middle east and that I am an electronic engineer,, They really thought they had me but had to let me go because nothing concrete! but they said that they were watching me,, and belive me they are ,, my e-mails my phone calls ,,my mail.. is all sensored.
I really dont know what to do!!! TMS
jwilliams
Jul 26, 2007
Excellent article. You have some interesting points. Is there any literature on not providing your social to banks for an account. Any court case or anything that would back someone. I don’t have an account because they keep wanting my social to do credit checks. So I spend out of pocket. Screw banks! I have also gone to a disposable cell phones due to this.
I will keep reading!
Todd Harrison - LA
Jul 28, 2007
Some interesting points but how can you get around with out a license. I agree with not giving so much information out. but it sounds like the best thing to do is to go dark and assume another your life as another person. but most people won’t give that up!
Mar0711
Jul 30, 2007
Todd.
You ask how do you get around without a license.
Easy – drive the most popular car in the most popular color.
always drive the speed limit (or the accepted “over” speed).
Just make sure you do not get pulled over.
If you are never pulled over, you never need to show a license.
JH
Aug 01, 2007
Mar0711: What about traffic checks? I went through one today. Do I legally have to show them my liscence when they ask, b/c don’t they have to have “probable cause” to pull you over? Doesn’t that make traffic checks illegal?
Also remember, most cell phones now have GPS built in, but de-activated. Your service provider can remotely activate it anytime and track your location. That’s how Verizon’s Parental Tracking service works.
Jack Fahey
Aug 07, 2007
I can’t believe no one touched on a post office box. It keeps me under the radar for most businesses, and lets me decide who hears from me and when they do. If the post office knows your address, so does all the companies they sell your information to.
Kevin Fields
Aug 11, 2007
Great article, Michael. Here’s a question related to banks. Recently I opened a new account at my bank, first time I’ve opened a bank account in years, and I was presented several papers that I had to sign that were marked as being required by Homeland Security to prove I was an American citizen. It required me to provide detailed information (already filled in by the bank) including my physical address and my social security number. When I inquired about this, I was told that this was now standard banking practice for all accounts, including my simple, non-interest bearing, no-cost checking account. Any suggestions for trying to avoid this, other than not opening a bank account at all?
Shawn Earnest
Aug 26, 2007
Nice, offshore accounts are good too provided you are being a legal beagle good citizen about it.
MeShawn
redeemed
Aug 30, 2007
Thank you for the information, dude! I have a question. Prior to knowing this information about not giving out details about one’s life, what is one to do if that information is already known by the feds? I mean, one cannot hack into the database and retrieve the information they have on you, well I can’t as I am not computer-literate enough to hack and retrieve, so now that they have the info, what does one do? This is 2007 and GPS and the surveillance state is quite pervasive. Obtaining new ID isn’t realistic, what with the DHS and their new gadgets. Any help is appreciated.
Shawn Earnest
Sep 05, 2007
Perhaps, Ever since the Federal Income taxes back in WWII era no one in this country had privacy ever since. When the electronic age came along more details where added, the better Database storage was available the larger everyones files became. All Employment, all Medical Health, Criminal records, and Publishings. The bigger the folder equates to the level of attention you and or me have draw attention to ourselves for any possibility of national security end needs. Patriot Act II is a hinting of no privacy that never really existed in the first place since WWII, and simply getting Americans used to the idea that privacy has loop holes and always has. What any citizen should be concerned with if you are on any of their funny color lists then you will have less privacy on electronic communications nationwide, internationally, and if you are in a 180 degree; and 100 miles inland radius from any US. Border then no one has privacy especially the funny color listed citizens, a security level issue. Somethings we can not change and this is how it has always been. I do not believe in revolution, nor do I believe in the countering any U.S. Government actions or policy’s. This is my rationalization. For all that it is worth offshore banking has it perks and limits to those with less political authority to access your information, but nothing anymore is non-accessible to National Security.
In the end it is just the camel and the eye of the needle, and the more you rant and rave, (suggesting a threat), is the bigger the Camel-colored listed file gets and the smaller that needle gets of freedom. Let your enemies devour your enemies if thats how you may want to perceive it, and why stand in between such great opposing forces when it is not your fight in the first place, cause you did not make the policies. I personally will serve my Nation when called upon. In the end you want freedom, so site back and enjoy the ride that it is still here and know the safest place to run and hide when the titans begin to clash if you so chose, you are not a country, nor a nation, nor a government, you are a people of a government that has changed and take this to your advantage and do not end up where three hots and a cot and buddy are waiting for you not unless this is your personal sexual fantasy.
Thomas Paine
Sep 14, 2007
Information to have more freedom! Just research!
Comrade Rutherford
Sep 15, 2007
I was stopped by the VT state police who was hoping I was driving drunk. I wasn’t but the point was that even though I was fully compliant with all drivign laws (I was NOT speeding, driving erratically, etc) the trooper made up some BS about my liscence plate light being out. My car has two plate lights, I got out of my car and one was fully lit and the other was dim due to bad ground.
When he saw that I wasn’t drunk, and that my lights were lit, he wanted to get rid of me, but he still had to maintain the charade, so he wrote a ‘warning’ ticket to get my lights fixed, the lights that were working!
•••••••••••••••••••••••
As for addresses, I use the store-front mail boxes (ie: Mailboxes, etc), not USPS PO boxes.
But even then, if you have any utility: propane deliveries, electricity or land-line phone, the Feds know where you live anyway.
PS: I am a extremely liberal, even considered ‘radical’ by todays standards, and my wife identifies herself as ‘anarchist’. And I am amazed at how closely our personal beliefs are to some of the anti-goverment right-wing. Other than the racism we see rampant on the right side of the political spectrum, we have a lot in common…
Roobah
Oct 13, 2007
My son just opened a bank account a few weeks ago. DHS REQUIRES POSITIVE identification to open an account. We ONLY opened the account in order to process a student loan. We, too, were presented with a ton of DHS paperwork AND a call to verify identity prior to being able to open an account. I also work at a NON-DEPOSITORY loan institution. We, too, are required by federal law to verify identity of all new customers, compare names on a “watch list” and report ALL transactions over $1000 to DHS. If we do not collect a SSN, we are not allowed to issue a loan. Obtaining credit, due to the potential for “money laundering” is supposedly a verifiable reason to collect SSN these days. So except for earning income AND obtaining credit, or apparently dealing in movement of money, you shouldn’t have to give your SSN. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to get a driver’s license these days without a SSN. A SSN card is required documentation in UT now for a driver’s license. They don’t print it on your card, but it is in the system.
James
Oct 13, 2007
Remaining off the radar of the General government embodiments is neither practical or completely possible these day’s .. If you work, you had to fill out a tax form which is a contract between you and the IRS (who is backed by the government even if they are not a government agency) that “requires” you to give proper information otherwise it can be considered “intent to defraud” and under today’s paranoia fed masses, would more then likely have you pursued as a possible enemy combatant…
If you choose not to fill out a tax form, the company you are trying to work for more then likely will not hire you at all as it would be considered to them a “psychological disorder” with paranoia and possible delusions of grandeur which paints you as either a “high risk candidate” for employment or a potential “hot spot” otherwise known as a “loose cannon” (which is simply a way of saying you are too independent and self governed for control purposes)
Not having a drivers license is a means to cause “uncertainty” when approached by the paramilitary branch of the government we still call “police” and as they are instructed to consider all citizens “threats until proven otherwise” rather then innocent until proven guilty, you set yourself up as a potential candidate for interrogation practices which can last for up to 17 days without a lawyer present during questioning..
Giving out a false SSN (if background checked)would have been a forgivable thing at one point, but now it can be considered “fraudulent behavior with intent to deceive government representatives” simply because the laws are written in such a way now, that if “anyone” takes on the responsibility of performing duties assigned at which these duties require that a government based list of questionnaires be executed in the performance of ones duties (the job you were hired to do) then you become a government representative… Sucks don’t it?
Being pulled over for anything is the common thread in today’s society were suspicion is the norm and forgiveness is an alien thought best left to a child of 5 .. I grew up with cop’s detaining me for questioning (they were still blue uniformed cops back then) and had a very bad experience when I was 17 for a crime I had nothing to do with.. so I saw back in the early 80′s the shift toward a police state mentality and have experienced it first hand when you have the captain of the police force in a closed room with two witnesses of his own and nobody there for me tell me straight up that “I know you didn’t do it, but we are still going to prosecute you for it” .. The only reason I got away without being detained more then a few hours on a stone cold bench, was that the girl I had been dating “father” was the sheriff an an entire regional county (a very large one) which the city I lived in was a part of..
After that experience, I have never trusted authority nor ever will if it involves any form of human or machine built and designed by humans…
The greatest defense we have is “education” believe it or not.. the famous quote always given to you whenever you are stopped by a paramilitary representative of the government ideals is “Ignorance of the law is no excuse” and believe that or not, it’s a true quote (one of the few honest things they have ever said) If one learned the set of laws for the region you live in, and if one took upon themselves the means to educate themselves in the way the laws are interpreted by local officials, then you have a means to defend yourself by legal means.
But education is not just about law’s learned and understood, it is also about learning what it takes(whether applied or not) to be self sufficient in times of emergency, to be able to rely upon ones own means of support, and to be able to devise a means to share this support with others.. Education was all about being “prepared” for the world around us, it was meant (in the earliest days) to show the “common means” to survive the world around you and give you options to different roads with the tools you learned (such as medical, science, mechanical, home economics, history, and many others)..
Nowadays what we call “education” is really about learning the means to “conform” to a set rule of policies and not to question authority in any way except in how to “enforce” the rules to a greater degree..
If you really want to be off the radar, you will have to sacrifice many things you are not wiling to, you will have to learn means of “simple survival” and be willing to do the one thing most say they would do in their minds (but are never sure that they would) to “kill a fellow human” if it comes to it. Because I assure you it will in today’s society, simply because to be independent, self relying and capable of teaching these methodologies to others, is a sure way to make you shine like a black dot on a white canvas (the white canvas being the way government wants the masses to be)you will become a target..
Educate yourself and learn many different techniques of how things work (mechanically, electronically, organically) as well as what it takes to grow food, learn the laws applied for the region you live in and (more importantly) how they are interpreted by the region you live in.. it does not matter if they are ever used, it matters that you are more “prepared” and most of this learning (especially because of the internet) can be done very low key and with as little discomfort to you as possible… Passing these things on to your children is a way to insure that some part of you will survive in your children..
The world around us is changing, and most of the world (save a very few nations) are not prepared for what will happen, so it’s best to focus on family and do whatever it takes to insure the families survival in any emergency regardless of nation..
Now I am going to read some more and leave you fine people alone .. thank you for allowing my “rant” ..
James.
Qnunc
Dec 30, 2007
When you file a tax return, it is compared to a database of people who owe the government money (student loans, business and housing loans, back taxes, etc.) and part or all of your refund, if you are expecting one is kept to pay these loans. But why stop there? Well, we didn’t. The database also includes “Deadbeat Dads.”
Guest
Mar 17, 2010
They will use this information to round up all the Muslims and put them in internment camps after the next false flag event.
Oct 04, 2011
How To Stay Out Of Government Databases | The Privacy Guy