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Title: How to Be Invisible: A Step-By-Step Guide to Protecting Your Assets, Your Identity, and Your Life by J. J. Luna ISBN: 0312252501 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6
Rating: 5
Summary: Sound, Practical, and Fun
Comment: Thumb through a Loompanics or Paladin Press catalogue, and you'll come across a number of books dealing with privacy and "new-identity" strategies. Don't buy them. If you want serious, practical, and LEGAL ways to hide yourself, or simply to secure a higher level of privacy, *this* is the book for you.
I've read a few other books dealing with privacy, and, sadly, they too often recommend tactics that depend primarily on illegal moves-- moves, moreover, that will simply no longer work--like securing the Social Security Number of a dead person, or the birth certificate. Most of the Mr. Luna's methods depend on perfectly legal strategies, and he outlines ways for people to secure varying levels of privacy, depending on their needs. Surprisingly, a high level of privacy can be obtained simply by using what he calls a "ghost" address (which is NOT a Mailboxes Etc. account!), and making sure that no mail--but none--ever comes directly to your home. All utility bills, drivers licenses, and so forth, go to the ghost address. Perfectly legal. Where Mr. Luna is unsure of the legality of something he is describing, he makes it perfectly clear.
A list of chapter titles will give a good idea of the topics this book covers:
1. How this Book Can Make You Invisible 2. U.S. Mail--Sending It, Receiving It 3. Your "Ghost" Address 4. Home Deliveries, House Calls, Bounty Hunters, FedEx, UPS 5. Untraceable Trash, Anonymous Utilities 6. Your Social Security Number and Date of Birth 7. Your Alternative Names and Signatures 8. Telephones, Answering Machines, Faxes, Radios, Beepers 9. How to Find and Use Nominees 10. How to Use a Trust for Privacy 11. Strange Uses for Corporations 12. Limited-Liability Companies 13. Hidden Ownership of Vehicles, and Real Estate 14. Bank Accounts and Money Transfers 15. How to Secretly Run a Home-Based Business 16. Anonymous Travel by Land, Sea, and Air 17. Computer, E-mail, and the Internet 18. Crossing the Canadian and Mexican Borders 19. Secret Hiding Places 20. Cool Stuff That Did Not Fit in Earlier 21. An Exam, as Secret, and an Invitation
There is also an appendix with the names of people who will act as agents for a LLC.
The book is quite thorough in some areas, less thorough in others, such as Internet privacy. He mentions the use of encryption, "remailers", and so forth, but really gives no information on using them, other than to admonish us, "Don't, they aren't secure." There is, I suspect, much more to be said about computer security, file wiping, and so forth, than has been said here.
Mr. Luna outlines some uses of a Limited Liability Company, although, unfortunately, does not describe how you might set one up yourself, recommending you shell out the $2,000 dollars + to have a lawyer do the paperwork if you need this level of privacy. Some mention of less costly sources of legal guidance (for those of us on a budget!) would have been helpful--it's out there (Nolo Press, for instance).
But, then, few people need very high levels of security, and to belabor this would be to emphasize a small, small part of the book. This is a GOOD book, and INTERESTING book, and a USEFUL book. Definitely worth a look.
Rating: 5
Summary: Are you paranoid ENOUGH?
Comment: Granted, this book is about hardcore privacy - If you plan on running from the mafia or something, then you definitely need this book. It's probably less practical for normal people, since it's so expensive and inconvenient to be a private individual. For the people that can't justify trying to lead a private life, you're probably safest joining the military, police, or otherwise working for the government. But keep in mind, if you don't lead a private life, you are never more than a few minutes away from destruction.
JJ Luna details exactly how, step by tiny step, you can provide layers of protection to make it more difficult for anyone wishing to do you harm. For Americans, one phone call is all it would take to have you cuffed and jailed. The police can be to your door within 15 minutes...do you trust all the people who have your name, phone number, and address?
I'm not joking with you, this isn't the movies, it's real life, and fact *IS* stranger than fiction. Anyone who lives in a modern first world country already has their head on the chopping block. Did you know that the US has 5% of the world's population and about 90% of the world lawyers? That's bad news if you're wealthy and vulnerable to lawsuits. Well, what if you're poor? Did you know that if you are charged with a crime (not convicted, only CHARGED) you lose your right to work and to rent an apartment? Once charges are filed, you will fail all background checks and you'll be homeless and unemployed for as many years as the legal system takes to get you a trial. If you're wealthy, you'll probably avoid prison, but you'll lose everything. OK, so the governments are scary - what else should you be afraid of?
Well, what about that punk video rental store clerk? He thinks he's a hacker. What would happen if he twiddled around with your rental account so he could get himself free rentals? You think the video store would step in and put a stop to it? WRONG, if they ever admit that their employees are doing that, they'd go out of business...Do you trust the punk video clerk to rent family oriented movies on YOUR account? What would happen if he mailed a copy of your account to your boss, with the videos HE'S rented? I'm sure it'd be very funny to watch you lose your job, your wife divorce you, and one of your children commit suicide...
ANY information that exists about you can be used against you as if it were a weapon. I've been forced to deal with some nasty characters before, and trust me, it makes no difference whether he's Al Capone or the video clerk - you'll lose the life you once knew in short order.
You can still live your life normally after you've protected yourself, you just have to pay attention to the details and never answer the questions people ask you, at least not in a way that helps them cause you trouble. JJ Luna tells you how to do that legally, or at least semi-legally, in an easy to understand way. You won't find any senseless babble in this book!
Other authors tend to pimp their own products or services, but Luna doesn't come across as one of those types of authors. He has very little to say about that unless it's something truly helpful, that you might have a hard time finding anywhere else. In fact, most of the time he's merely referring you to someone he's successfully done business with in the past.
The book is absolutely worthy of 5 stars - JJ Luna seems to be the most honest and experienced author in his category. But, he makes a couple minor mistakes that remind you that Mr. Luna is really just an average joe with above average wisdom. For example, on page 107 Luna talks about how difficult it is to track someone using a ham radio. He says "If you are moving, this will be next to impossible.". The fact is, your location can be pinpointed in less than one second with a homebuilt doppler DF receiver. Many hams have them, and you better not use a ham radio without getting a license first, otherwise 500 angry hams in their winnebagos will be trying to track you down - not good for someone concerned about privacy. That's the only significant mistake I could find in his book.
Stay safe, stay private.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting eye opener, advice may not be practical
Comment: This book is meant to be the mother of all books on protecting your identity and privacy. The chapters deal with various topics from dissociating where you live with your name to using trusts or LLCs for important purchases to protecting yourself while online.
Much of the information is very interesting and thought-provoking, and the author apparently makes it clear that "he" doesn't want you to break the law.
However, much of what "he" dispenses as advice may not be practical.
1) Ghost address: the author recommends you go to a small town, far from where you actually live, and look for a place with a few private mailboxes and rent one. I have been trying this for the last 2 months but everywhere I went the owner would look at me suspiciously and then ask me for my license. Maybe it's because I live in New York state... or maybe it's because post-Sept. 11 people are just more vigilant.
2) Using LLCs to buy cars: the author suggests you register your cars in the name of a New Mexico LLC, which won't need your name to incorporate. Obviously, if you go to your state DMV they'll demand to see all kinds of IDs, so the author says you should go to a private licensing bureau. Well, I haven't found a single one in New York or Massachusetts that would allow me to register my car without proof of address. Again, maybe it's because I'm not charming enough, or it could be that this advice and the social engineering skills needed just don't work well these days.
These are just two examples of the kind of advice the author gives. Indeed, to be fair, he warns you early on that achieving even level 1 (of 4) privacy may not be cheap, and definitely not easy. My problem with his methods is, they aren't too practical and require too many steps. I might as well get plastic surgery and move to the ex-USSR republic of Georgia.
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Title: Hide Your Assets and Disappear: A Step-by-Step Guide to Vanishing Without a Trace by Edmund Pankau ISBN: 0060987502 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Bulletproof Privacy: How to Live Hidden, Happy and Free! by Boston T. Party, Kenneth W. Royce ISBN: 1888766026 Publisher: Javelin Press Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Your Secrets Are My Business by Kevin McKeown, Dave Stern ISBN: 0452282047 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: 31 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Modern Identity Changer : How To Create And Use A New Identity For Privacy And Personal Freedom by Sheldon Charrett ISBN: 087364946X Publisher: Paladin Press Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Investigator's Little Black Book 3 by Robert Scott ISBN: 0965236943 Publisher: Crime Time Pub Co Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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