How To Vanish

Fun With A Decoy Drive

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:19:59 +0000

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

I am not talking about collecting hunting decoys for needy hunters. I am talking about swapping out a sensitive laptop hard drive with a hard drive that has no sensitive information (a decoy drive) to protect your privacy from snoops.

Privacy Tactics

A great tool for protecting privacy is misdirection. Misdirection can make others believe you have nothing of value, reducing your risk of theft, invasion of privacy, etc. Misdirection can also include using decoys. Privacy predators that find a clever decoy, of no value to you, will be prevented from invading your real privacy and they won’t even know it.

Misdirection does not mean lying or committing fraud. Such tactics actually reduce your privacy because when a lie or fraud is discovered your affairs will be even more closely scrutinized, possibly by law enforcement.

Misdirection Helps People

To illustrate the difference between lawful misdirection and fraud, take the case of a celebrity who would like to go out in public without being recognized. A simple misdirection tactic that they might use would be to wear frumpy clothing, a hood and cheap sunglasses. This obscures many of their features so that, hopefully, they can pick up some toilet paper at the store without being hassled by hundreds of fans.

If that same celebrity were to use a fake ID to carry their disguise even farther, they would potentially be committing a crime.

As an example of effectively using a decoy, I turn to the wisdom of Mel Brooks. The folks in Blazing Saddles used a decoy town to protect their real town from the ravages of savages. If they were to use a decoy town in some settings, such as when selling the real estate, they might be committing a massive fraud.

Using A Decoy Drive With A Laptop

Us common folk can apply the principles of legal misdirection and decoys with the data on a laptop. Removing the hard drive of your laptop and replacing it with another hard disk is a great way to use misdirection to protect your data privacy.

There may be a million reasons why you would want to use a decoy drive to prevent access to your main laptop hard drive. You might be crossing a border where you and your data will be searched. You are not required to provide encryption keys, assuming you have encrypted your data, to enter the US, but other countries like Great Britain will require you to disclose those encryption keys. Only by removing a sensitive hard drive before traveling to Great Britain will your sensitive data be protected. Maybe you suspect a keylogger has been surreptitiously installed and you want to access an online account without tipping off the snoop. Or, you are just a fan of personal liberty and you want to try out a cool tactic.

Decoy Drive Steps

First, make sure you are fine with the consequences of swapping out your hard drive. Some warranties might be voided if you do it yourself.

Second, purchase an appropriate hard drive for your needs.

Third, follow the instructions in your user manual to remove the hard drive. Make sure to remove the battery so you don’t get zapped.

Finally, install the new hard drive and you are in full decoy mode.

Advanced Strategy

If some snoop were to discover your decoy drive, would they believe it was the only hard drive you have? If your decoy drive has no activity on it, a snoop might realize that they have not truly uncovered what they were looking for. Upon realizing you have used a decoy, they may be even more interested in finding out WHY, leading them to investigate you even more than they would have.

Just like deer hunters spray their decoys with scent, you need to do more than make your decoy drive look like it is the real thing. Please do not spray your computer with anything. To make it look like your decoy drive is your main drive, engage in some meaningless activity on your decoy drive regularly. Save some innocuous documents there, save some harmless family photos, do some meaningless web surfing or play solitaire once in a while. This will help you sell your decoy as genuine.

Conclusion

Swapping out your sensitive hard drive with a decoy drive at the right times can help protect a lot of your data privacy. Snoops will have to be very sophisticated to recognize what you have done if you are doing a good job selling your misdirection. To learn more about this and other ways to protect your privacy, check out the book How To Vanish.

Cloud Security

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:29:27 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Cloud file storage is a great way to get a little bit more privacy. Separating your sensitive files from your physical location gives you flexibility and security. But are you exposing yourself to more risks by trusting your data with another company?

For privacy minded people, cloud security can be just as important as convenience. There are lots of cloud storage options, so which one offers the best cloud security?

There are three contenders that provide very good options for cloud storage which can also provide the cloud security and privacy needed. Dropbox, which we have discussed before, SpiderOak and Wuala. Check out how these three services stack up against each other to decide which, if any, you think is best for you.

Dropbox

Dropbox lets you store, sync, access and share selected data online.

Privacy/Security

Dropbox encrypts the content of your files, however, the file names are readable to Dropbox. Also, they maintain control over your password so there is a possibility that your password, and thus your data, could be compromised by rogue employees, warrantless searches, etc.

For this reason we have urged Dropbox users to encrypt their sensitive files with the open source encryption program Truecrypt before putting them in Dropbox. Open source software is the most trustworthy way to prevent surreptitious access to your data and get more cloud security.

Accessibility

Dropbox allows you to access your files, or save new files to your Dropbox folders, from any web accessible computer. You do not have to be using your own computer to access or save new files. This can be very handy for travelers working from internet cafes, people working from a different office computer, or if your own computer is lost or damaged.

Ease of Use

Dropbox is the simplest of these three options to setup and use. The lower default privacy and security settings make it easy to integrate with other services and easier to use in general. It is also extremely easy to customize the cloud security you want by encrypting your own sensitive files with Truecypt and leaving less sensitive files encrypted by Dropbox.

Price

Dropbox, along with SpiderOak and Wuala, offers 2 GB of free storage space. That can be enough storage for a few critical documents, like birth certificate, passport, etc. There are ways to increase storage, including paying about $10 per month for 50 GB or $20 per month for 100 GB.

SpiderOak

SpiderOak provides encrypted backup, storage, access and sharing of your files.

Privacy/Security

SpiderOak automatically encrypts all of the files backed up or shared through their service. The encryption is done on your own computer with the SpiderOak software that you download so SpiderOak’s central servers never have control over your password. That way, the SpiderOak employees or other snoops cannot read the files you have uploaded to your account, not even the file names.

SpiderOak software is not open source so there is no way to verify the claim that they do not have surreptitious access and cannot grant surreptitious access to others. It is still advisable to encrypt sensitive documents separately with Truecrypt before backing them up with SpiderOak.

Accessibility

SpiderOak allows you to access backed up files from anywhere, but you cannot upload new files to your SpiderOak account from a remote computer. This may be inconvenient for people who might be working from an internet cafe, etc. This loss in convenience is the price paid for increased cloud security.

Ease of Use

SpiderOak offers more features than Dropbox so it is a bit more complicated to use, although it is still fairly simple. Because of the limitations in accessibility it is harder to integrate with many other applications that you might have.

Price

In addition to the 2 GB of free storage, every 100GB of storage costs $10 per month. That is about half the price of Dropbox.

Wuala

Wuala is like somewhat of a hybrid between Dropbox and SpiderOak.

Privacy/Security

Wuala encrypts your data automatically before it is uploaded, similar to SpiderOak, although it is based on more open source projects than Dropbox or SpiderOak. It is not completely open source, so the same open source caveat generally applies. Wuala is, however, based in the EU where there are stronger data protection laws than there are in the US.

Accessibility

Wuala provides a way to access files via the web. This gives you access to your files from an internet cafe or other places, not just from your own computer. It still allows you to encrypt and decrypt your data locally, maintaining the high security while still providing the ease of use.

Ease of Use

Wuala is able to support drag and drop file management, much like Dropbox. This, and other features, make it less complex than SpiderOak, which does not have drag and drop features.

Price

The cost of Wuala is about the same as SpiderOak, which is about half the price of DropBox.

Conclusion

These are at least three good solutions for online backup, file sharing and storage which still offer cloud security. Each has different features and capabilities that will appeal to different people. If you want flexibility you can use Dropbox. If you want automatic strong encryption, you can use SpiderOak. If you want a bit more of a hybrid, try Wuala. You can combine any one of these with Truecrypt for maximum privacy and cloud security.

Set Up Free Email Encryption In 15 Minutes

Bill Rounds Esq. — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:40:55 +0000

Reading time: 6 – 10 minutes

A lot of people think email encryption is an awesome idea. But very few of them ever do it. Emails travel around the internet in plain text. Anybody routing the traffic can easily read the entire content of your emails like a letter carrier can read a post card. When it is legal to secretly read your emails without a warrant and it is legal to detain you indefinitely without charges, more people than ever might be motivated to start encrypting some of their emails.

I’m sure part of the reason why many people don’t encrypt their emails is because they think it is too complicated, too time consuming, too cumbersome, or requires major computer skills. A few might even think it is useless, since there are not a lot of people that currently encrypt their email.

If you know more about Gatekeepers and Keymasters than you do about public key and private key cryptography, you are in luck. Not only is free email encryption very useful, but it is fairly simple, almost seamless, and you don’t need to befriend a bunch of encryption fanatics to use it effectively. Plus, you will not be summoning any giant marshmallow demons when you use it. Follow these simple steps to set up free email encryption in 15 minutes.

Email Account

To get free email encryption you can use an existing email account, or you can set up a dedicated account to receive your encrypted communications. A dedicated account is usually unnecessary because your email provider, and warrantless email snoops, will not be able to read any encrypted emails.

The email account that you use must have IMAP or POP forwarding capabilities. Plenty of email providers, like Gmail or Fastmail, offer this feature in their free accounts. Yahoo mail only offers forwarding on paid accounts. Before you start, check the settings of your own email to make sure you have IMAP or POP forwarding. You will use this email address in the setup process.

1. Download Free GnuPG Encryption Software

Both the sender and receiver need to be using the same software in order to properly decrypt the message. GnuPG is one of the leading email encryption programs. It is like the Microsoft Word of email encryption software, except that it is free. It is very simple to install and should only take a minute.

Download GnuPG for PC

Download GnuPG for Mac

2. Download Thunderbird from Mozilla

Thunderbird is free email software that will allow you to manage your encrypted messages. It only takes a few moments to set up. Follow the installation and setup instructions and use your email that has IMAP or POP forwarding in the setup process. This step is also very simple and should only take a minute.

Download Thunderbird for PC

Download Thunderbird for Mac

3. Install Enigmail Plugin

Save the Enigmail file to your computer. Open Thunderbird and go to the Tools, Add-Ons menu to install Enigmail.

Download Enigmail Plugin for PC or Mac

4. Create Your Encryption Keys

Now that you have the software installed, you are almost ready to start encrypting your email. You will want to close Thunderbird and GnuPG before continuing. Open Thunderbird up again and go to the OpenPGP menu and select Key Management. Then click on Generate and then New Key Pair.

Choose the email address you want to use and come up with a passphrase to send and receive encrypted email using strong password techniques. Click on Generate key and your keys will be generated shortly!

5. Penultimate Free Email Encryption Setup Items

Thunderbird will ask you if you want a revocation certificate, which is a good idea to have in case of a disaster, so click yes on that option.

Check out your key id by going to Key Management under the OpenPGP menu item. Search for your email address and write down or save the key ID.

6. Publish Your Public Key

You want everyone in the world to know your public key. Without it, nobody can send you an encrypted email. You can publish your public key in the public key directory by going to Key Management, highlighting your email, go to the Keyserver menu item and select Upload Public Keys. You can also publish your public key on your website, email it to all of your friends, or put it anywhere else by going to edit, copy to clipboard and then pasting your public key where you like.

You are completely ready to use free encrypted email now.

Use Free Email Encryption

Now that you have a new toy, you might want to test it out. Check out these detailed instructions on how to send an encrypted email. Compose a message and send it to “adele-en@gnupp.de” with your public key attached. Send signed and encrypted messages and you will receive a response within a few minutes letting you know whether it worked or not.

Free Email Encryption Prevents Email Scams

Even if you are the only kid on your block with email encryption, it is still a very useful tool. Email scams are big business. I am sure most of us have seen an email from someone impersonating one of your contacts. When you sign an email, even if the email itself is not encrypted, the recipient knows you are sending it. The recipient doesn’t need to be using email encryption to prevent email impersonation scams.

Conclusion

Free email encryption is one of the best ways to get a lot more privacy for very little effort. It will keep warrantless snoops from invading your private life. Massive surveillance of private messages will be much more difficult when private emails are encrypted. It is easier, less cumbersome, and less time consuming than most people probably realize. Check out more ways to protect your privacy in the book How To Vanish.

No related posts.

Stratfor Failed To Protect Their Customers By Not Accepting Bitcoin

Trace Mayer, J.D. — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:52:39 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Stratfor’s website was hacked by Anonymous, customer details including names, addresses and, according to Reuters over 4,000 credit card numbers were copied and distributed to the public while AnonymousSabu tweeted “Over 90,000 Credit cards from LEA, journalists, intelligence community and whitehats leaked and used for over a million dollars in donations”. Being a former Stratfor subscriber I am extremely annoyed. However, I practiced proper privacy hygiene using a ghost address and a disguised credit card so the potential negative effects are likely minimized.

Nevertheless, I am extremely displeased that Stratfor, by not offering to accept BitCoins, has failed to take proactive steps to allow subscribers to protect their privacy and security. Absolutely ridiculous. These Empire cheer-leading neocons know or should know about protocols like BitCoin which have geopolitical significance. Consequently, I canceled my subscription with this liability of an organization. If they decide to accept BitCoins then perhaps I will reconsider a subscription.

Here at HowToVanish we do not take anyone’s time, attention, privacy or security for granted. Did you know the average victim of identity theft spends thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours cleaning up the mess?

But I doubt Stratfor cares much about that potential cost born by their customers. If they did then they would follow our example. You see, for us privacy is a serious business and why all How To Vanish products are available with payment via BitCoins or cash.

HOW TO GET BITCOINS WITH CASH IN AN HOUR

First, you will need a BitCoin wallet to have the bitcoins sent to. This could be with an exchange like Tradehill (used in this example), an online wallet service like Strongcoin or using the free open-source client available at BitCoin.org.

Second, you will need to find a source willing to exchange BitCoins for your cash and BitInstant seems as good as any, will send the bitcoins to your Tradehill account and only charge 5% which is about the same cost American Express charges merchants. BitInstant accepts cash deposits at Bank of America and Chase branches which you can locate at TrustCash with only a zip code.

Third, now that you have located a nearby branch to use with BitInstant you can fill out the order form. For extra anonymity use a temporary email address from a service like Mailinator.com for the contact email. But I do not recommend this for the Tradehill account because Mailinator emails are available to the public so your account could easily be compromised.

Fourth, wander, meander or waddle down to that bank branch and make the cash deposit. If you are too lazy or want another layer of privacy then have someone else run the errand to deposit the cash at the branch so you can avoid the noisy surveillance cameras. About 30-45 minutes after the cash deposit the bitcoins should be in your wallet.

Fifth, now that you have some bitcoins you should spend them! If you are new to How To Vanish then, of course, I would recommend How To Vanish The Book or one of our three new mini-guides that are about 35 pages on the topics of (1) Financial Privacy, (2) Personal Privacy or (3) Political Privacy.

Sixth, to increase the liquidity of your bitcoins I recommend getting at least one American Express Prepaid Card at no cost. Then you can use your bitcoins to buy Moneypaks which can be used to fund the prepaid card and withdraw up to $200 of cash per week at any ATM.

CONCLUSION

Stratfor has shown an extreme level of disregard for the privacy and security of their subscribers by not accepting bitcoins. But this is merely a symptom of a larger problem: governmental interference in the payment market.

All merchants you deal with using credit or debit cards pose a significant risk to your privacy and open the door to identity theft. You may want to ask them to accept bitcoins.

If they refuse then reconsider the value of their goods or services and whether it is worth the liability of your personal and financial information being deposited in a transactional database to be breached at some unknown date in the future and potentially become a massive headache of identity theft. Plus, in the bitcoin economy there are now hundreds of merchants offerings tens of thousands of goods and services.

Now you know how to get bitcoins with cash in about an hour. So go get at least $20-100 worth of bitcoins sent to your Tradehill account and try buying something like one of our privacy products. Once you see how easy, convenient and low cost in time, money and privacy bitcoins are then you will likely become a big fan and begin exerting economic pressure on your merchants to accept them.

Trust me, in this economy merchants will likely be happy to generate sales in any medium of exchange, especially one like BitCoin where the expenses are a lot lower.

Taxing Baby Jesus

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 03:28:55 +0000

Reading time: 8 – 13 minutes

Wise men visited the young Jesus, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. What if He wanted to sell those gifts later on to buy a donkey, feed the poor, clothe the naked, or buy a house? How would those first Christmas gifts, and subsequent transactions, be treated under US tax law? If you wouldn’t mind getting some gold or silver (or frankincense and myrrh) for Christmas, or if you are giving them, you might want to be aware of the potential taxes involved.

This article is a follow up to some previous articles on the Liberty Dollar case and the discussion about trading gold or silver coins that followed. Readers have asked me about the implications of the Kahre case, regarding trading legal tender gold and silver coins as opposed to privately minted gold or silver coins.

Jesus, Wise Men and Taxes

The facts set forth in the biblical account of the gifts of the Magi, along with a few facts and assumptions I throw in for good measure, provide a good hypothetical scenario for understanding the legal and tax consequences of trading goods, like gold, frankincense and myrrh, and legal tender gold or silver coins. For a more thorough understanding of the law regarding trading bullion, you might want to consult Pieces of Eight.

The legal and tax consequences of trading gold and silver are important to privacy. Privacy is freedom and gold and silver as money protect people from violations of fundamental human freedoms.

Transfer #1

…and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

Matthew 2:11

Here we have wise men giving very expensive gifts to Jesus. Let’s look at whether Jesus has any income taxes to pay from receiving these gifts and if there might be a gift tax owed by the wise men.

Income Tax Liability Of Jesus

There are no income taxes owed when you receive a gift. Fortunately, Jesus will not have to pay any income taxes on the gifts he received. However, since these wise men came from “the east” we will assume that they are foreigners. If any of Jesus’ gifts were worth more than $100,000, He will need to fill out Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts. Its a good thing the gift is well documented to defend himself in case the IRS thinks Jesus might have unreported income.

Gift Taxes

The GIVER of a gift must pay a tax if they give someone a gift worth more than $13,000. There is an “exemption amount” that complicates this concept a bit, but for simplicity we will not address it here. Any one of the gifts worth more than $13,000 would cause the wise man who gave it, if they were subject to US taxes, to owe gift tax at approximately the same rate as his income tax (excluding any exemption amount issues). Maybe that’s why they didn’t stop by to see Herod on the way out of the jurisdiction.

Basis

It will be important to know what Jesus’ basis in the gifts are if he ever decides to sell them in the future. The basis is generally the amount the GIVER paid for the item. Lets assume that the wise men picked up their gifts at a store in Bethlehem right before they gave them to Jesus. Their basis (and subsequently Jesus’ basis) is the market value of the goods at the time they were bought (let’s say $285 for an ounce of each, the approximate spot price of gold 13 years ago, since I don’t have the spot price of frankincense and myrrh handy).

Now let us imagine that Mary and Joseph were pretty good parents and saved these gifts to present to Jesus at His Bar Mitzvah which is, in our hypothetical, this year. The day after his Bar Mitzvah, Jesus contemplates buying all kinds of nice things with the gifts the wise men gave him almost 13 years before.

Transfer #2

The gifts from the wise men are spent.

Capital Gains Tax

To calculate the gain, we take the difference between the fair market value of the item when spent, less the basis (essentially the original price paid). The price of gold has now risen to over $1,600. Lets also say that the other gifts have had similar gains.

When you recognize a gain on the exchange of an asset (like gold, frankincense or myrrh) for something else (another good, cash, etc.), a capital gains tax will apply. For most assets, the capital gains tax is 15% of the gain. Frankincense and myrrh would be taxed at 15%.

Higher Capital Gains Tax On Gold – 28%

Gold is different. Gold is specifically identified in the tax code, along with antiques, rugs, stamps, art and other collectibles, at a 28% capital gains tax rate. Jesus’ gain on gold, if exchanged for goods worth $1600, would be $1314 per ounce. Instead of paying 15% of this gain as a tax ($197 per ounce), He will have to pay capital gains tax at a rate of 28% ($367 per ounce).

This highlights a big reason why gold and silver are not regularly used as money, especially while they are appreciating in value. Capital gains tax makes gold and silver more expensive to use as money than other things that are less suited for being money, like frankincense and myrrh. He could get 13% more house if he trades frankincense or myrrh instead of gold.

Legal Tender Value Of Gold Coins

Some gold and silver coins are official US legal tender. Gold Eagles have a face value of $50, even though the value in Federal Reserve Note Dollars is much more. This has led some people to believe there might be some tax arbitrage.

One such individual was Robert Kahre, who paid his employees and independent contractors with legal tender gold and silver coins. He recorded the value of the transactions at the legal tender value on the coins, rather than the Federal Reserve Note value. In other transactions, such as purchasing a house, he declared the value of the coins at their Federal Reserve Note value.

There are numerous issues raised in the case, but if allowable, these types of transactions would have reduced reporting requirements, income taxes and a lot of other taxes for the participants. Kahre was ultimately convicted of tax evasion.

$1 ≠ $1

The state of the law is that a dollar does not equal a dollar. Thus we have the result of the Kahre case. It seems ridiculous to say that a dollar does not equal a dollar, but in order to avoid prosecution, it might be a good idea to record your transactions in legal tender gold and silver at the Federal Reserve Note Dollar value instead of the Gold Eagle Dollar value.

If Jesus traded a Gold Eagle for a fish-and-loaves dinner for 5,000, neither Jesus, nor the caterer should record the expense or income at $50. They should record the transaction somewhere between the fair market value of the coin or the food. The same is true if you trade a house worth $160,000 in Federal Reserve Notes for 100 ounces of gold with a “legal” tender value of $5,000. I’m sure the property tax assessor will tax you on the Federal Reserve Note Dollar instead of the Gold Eagle Dollar.

Challenge?

Some people may not be satisfied with this rule and may attempt to challenge it. There are certainly many facts that were not favorable to Mr. Kahre. For example, he paid individuals with gold and silver at one window, and just a few feet away at another window, bought back those gold and silver coins at fair market value for currency or other notes. A different factual scenario may have legitimate legal arguments to support the position and could lead to a different outcome, although I think it is unlikely.

Conclusion

Jesus would not have been taxed for the gifts he received from the Magi unless he traded them later for gains, at which point the tax on his gains in gold would have been significant. The Wise Men might have been taxed for giving a gift to Jesus. When dealing with legal tender gold and silver coins, it appears that in order to obey one law (the law as enforced in the Kahre case) one would have to disregard another law (the legal tender value of the coins) and report the Federal Reserve Note Dollar value instead. I can’t think of very many other instances of ridiculous outcomes in the law: a dollar is not the same as a dollar. I still prefer the gold ones.

Safely Sell Or Donate Your Old Computer

Bill Rounds Esq. — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 20:03:44 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Your old computer has more sensitive information than the diary of a 13 year old girl. I doubt you would sell or give away that kind of a diary, but it seems wasteful to destroy a computer that could be perfectly good for someone else. So what can you do with an old computer that could still be perfectly useful to someone, without compromising the security of your tax documents, diary entries, embarrassing childhood photos, and other private information?

Recently I donated an old computer, that was still in great condition, to charity. I took some very simple steps that you can use to safely sell or donate your old computer.

Deleting Doesn’t Cut It

Simply deleting a file is not sufficient for you to safely sell or donate your old computer. “Deleted” files actually remain on a computer until they are saved over with other information. They don’t show up on the regular operating system anymore, but those “deleted” files are easily recoverable by some nosy 10 year olds.

Completely Wipe The Hard Drive To Safely Sell Or Donate Your Old Computer

The entire hard drive needs to be wiped out to prevent any old files on the computer from being discoverable by a donee or subsequent owner. This sounds very technical, but it requires very little technical skill to do. If you can install a simple program on your PC, you can wipe your hard drive.

Step 1 – Get Free Software

You first need to download free software that will securely wipe your computer hard drive. I recommend Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN). Save the “DBAN 2.2.6 Beta” file to your computer.

Step 2 – Burn A Disk

You will need to save the file to a CD or DVD. Most computers now have CD or DVD burners. When you open your CD burning program, make sure to select the option to burn an “ISO” image. If you were looking closely, you will notice that the DBAN file you downloaded is a “.iso” file. Burn the disk like normal.

Alternative – You can also save the file on a USB drive if you want.

Step 3 – Boot Computer From The Disk You Burned

Now you need to put the burned disk with the DBAN file into your computer before you boot it up. If you have already booted up, restart the computer with the disk in. If you saved DBAN to a USB drive, plug that in before booting up or on reboot.

Step 3.5 – Configure Computer To Start From Disk Drive

If your computer started up like normal with DBAN in the disk drive, you need to reconfigure your computer to boot up off of the disk drive. You will need to restart your computer once again. Right when your computer is starting up, you will be able to access a menu with some very basic configuration options (the BIOS menu) if you press a button, usually “F2″ or something like that. Be quick because the screen only flashes for a few seconds.

Find the boot up options. Every menu is a little different at this stage, so you may have to search around for it. Once you have found the boot up options, make sure that the computer is looking to the disk drive where DBAN will be to boot up first. If you used a CD, look to the CD drive, if you used a USB, make sure the computer boots from that drive.

Step 4 – Point Of No Return

Make sure you really, really, really want to do this. There is no turning back from the next step. Back up anything you will need later.

Step 5 – Wipe Your Hard Drive

When your computer boots off of DBAN you will see a hideous blue screen and be given some options. You can simply type in “autonuke” then press “Enter” to erase your hard drive. This method is good, but it may miss some important data that can be recovered later. If you want to be very secure about erasing everything, follow this second suggestion.

Once your ugly blue DBAN screen comes up, hit “Enter” to go into interactive mode. Hit the letter “M” and then select “Gutmann Wipe” and press “Enter”. Use the “Space” key to select your hard drive. Press “F10″ to start wiping. This method will wipe your hard drive several times over and won’t leave any data behind.

Autonuke will take approximately one hour to completely wipe your computer. The Gutmann Wipe will take much longer.

Step 6 – Safely Sell or Donate Your Own Computer

You can now sell or donate your computer without having your data fall into the hands of strangers. The wiped computer will need an operating system do that before getting rid of it or let the next owner take care of it themselves.

Conclusion

You don’t have to destroy or throw out your old computers to protect your private data. You can still be generous or earn a little cash by selling or donating your old computer after wiping your sensitive hard drive of all private, personal information. These steps are for a PC. If you are donating a Mac, check out these other steps to delete your sensitive information.For other tips on protecting your digital privacy, check out the book How To Vanish.

Is Privacy Dead?

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:03:06 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Some people feel like it is useless to protect privacy. Privacy pessimists already feel the ubiquitous surveillance of almost every action they take. They envision a near future when every thought, word and deed are detected recorded and archived for later reference by anyone who wants to know. The advance of technology makes it seem like privacy is dead.

Privacy Is Dead Because Of Technology?

It is true that technology is advancing to track our every move, often without our knowledge. But technology is also advancing to protect privacy in ways that were not available before. There are already many tools that we can use to protect our private information and most of them are free and easy. Tor, Truecrypt, and GnuPG are three great examples.

Unfortunately, as Julian Assange alluded to following the release of “The Spy Files,” much of the technological effort is aimed at invading privacy. But, if privacy is valuable to people, more and more privacy protecting solutions will become available. If privacy is not valuable, then nobody will read this.

The reality is that privacy protecting technology is usually easier to employ than privacy invading technologies. For example, it is free and only takes a few seconds to encrypt files or emails. To break into those emails, you need a significant amount of technical skill, time and money.

Privacy Is Dead Because Of Social Norms?

Many also look to the changing social norms that seem to punish people who don’t want to participate in social network surveillance. Idiots get paid millions to display their stupidity on TV and on the internet. Governments and advertisers can now track people like the East German Stasi could only dream. But, even Mark Zuckerburg is publicly noting the dangers of social networking. Plus, the Stasi aren’t forcing anyone to use Facebook.

The Law Is Killing Privacy?

The Patriot Act has made constant, warrantless digital searches legal. Telecommunications are controlled by strict regulation, preventing communication without government permission. Your bank accounts are under government surveillance. Death by one thousand cuts of privacy invading regulation is a real problem, but the future is not as bleak as it may appear if we look at the bigger picture.

Americans of Japanese descent have much more privacy now than they did during World War II, even though the law allowing them to be imprisoned based on nothing but their heritage is still valid. Minorities, while still brutalized by law enforcement, are brutalized much less and enjoy much greater freedom than they did under Jim Crow laws.

Encryption Technology Is A Model For Privacy

The most significant protection from unjust law is the technology that has developed to make the law irrelevant. The history of strong encryption is a good example of this. Strong encryption was developed and used by the US military several years ago. At that time, fearing the power of encryption in the hands of the enemies of the US military, it was illegal to export high level encryption technologies to other countries. It was treated as a munition.

But, other groups outside the US were able to harness the power of mathematics and develop strong encryption on their own. Now, strong encryption is so ubiquitous it is available for free to anyone with access to the internet. The law preventing the export of encryption is as useful as a law preventing people from riding their bike in a swimming pool and was severely relaxed in the US.

Many other technologies are rendering other laws irrelevant. Torrents, Tor, GnuPG and other solutions allow individuals to communicate privately. Financial transactions can take place with Bitcoin across international borders with no limits on value, no declarations, and no ability to restrict a transfer.

Keeping Privacy Alive

As with most things in life, 80% of the benefits of privacy can be attained with 20% of the effort. Focusing on just a few of the most effective privacy tools and techniques will go a long way to protecting a material amount of your personal privacy. Giving up does not do any good.

Conclusion

Privacy is alive. We may not be able to unplug completely from the Matrix, but we can have a material amount of privacy by using a few tools that best fit our situation. All we need is to carve out some areas where we can keep our private files, communicate anonymously and transact anonymously. Other information, like our favorite color and our favorite food can be uploaded to the Matrix without much harm done to ourselves. I have no doubt that in some ways there will be privacy battles that are lost in the future. But at the same time, I have no doubt that many solutions to protecting the most fundamental aspects of human autonomy will be developed. There is no putting the genie back in the bottle for many of the privacy protecting tools that have been, or will be developed. Long live privacy!

Stop Frivolous Lawsuits Before They Start

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:14:09 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

It is no secret that some attorneys will initiate litigation of a weak case hoping that the defendant will settle instead of risking a trial. This is a very calculated move. Understanding the calculation and how privacy can affect the formula in your favor, can help lower the risk and cost of marginal litigation and stop frivolous lawsuits.

Most plaintiff’s attorneys will take a case on contingency. That means that they will not get paid unless the case is a winner, and they will only get paid a percentage of the judgment. If a law firm is going to stay in business, they need to make sure they don’t spend their time pursuing claims that will not recover as much as their costs to litigate.

Most successful attorneys will evaluate a case using the following formula:

Liability x Damages x Recovery > Cost.

As long as the left hand side of the equation is greater than the estimated cost of litigation, there might be some attorney willing to take the case. To stop frivolous lawsuits, the cost of the frivolous lawsuit needs to be greater than the other side of the equation.

Cost

Cost will be different depending on each firm. The higher the left side is relative to the cost, the more likely it is that there will be a lawsuit. Many things could affect the cost of a case, from the size of the law firm taking the case to the difficulty of the subject matter being litigated. Since you really have no control over the “Cost” side of the equation, the best way to stop frivolous lawsuits is to focus on reducing the “Liability x Damages x Recovery” side.

Liability

“Liability” represents how easy it is to show that someone is at fault. The more clear the liability, the more accurately the outcome of a trial can be predicted.

A case where the liability is very clear would be where a drunk driver drives onto the sidewalk and injures an old lady in front of a dozen people. The driver has clearly violated a bunch of laws, gone way beyond any type of acceptable behavior and there were plenty of witnesses. Fault is very clear.

A case where liability might be less clear is if a man was hit on the head by a pebble while fishing at a quiet pond. He thought he saw a woman tossing rocks into the pond earlier, but there was nobody else in the area. Although he had a small bump and bruise, he did not take any pictures of the injury and did not seek medical care. It would be very hard for anyone to prove liability in a case with such little evidence.

Damages

Damages are the amount of money that can be recovered in a lawsuit. Damages often include the medical costs, lost wages, costs to fix or replace damaged property, pain and suffering, among other things. Thus, the worse the injury the higher the damages.

In some cases there might be punitive damages involved. Punitive damages are available when harm is done intentionally or recklessly. Those damages can depend on the financial condition of the defendant.

If the drunk driver is found liable, she will be required to pay for the injuries she caused. She may be subject to punitive damages if she was intentionally trying to run someone over or was extremely intoxicated. If the rick thrower is found liable, she will probably only pay nominal damages for the insult of hitting a poor old man on the head, even if it was intentional.

Privacy is unlikely to be of any benefit to a person who finds themselves at the ugly end of a punitive damages claim. In these cases, the defendant is required to disclose their assets, no matter how well those assets are buried in the back yard. Failing to disclose something that should have been disclosed would be perjury.

Recovery

Even if there is clear liability, and even if the damages are very high, possibly including punitive damages, a key factor is the ability to recover from the defendant. If the person has no ability to pay a judgment, it is worthless to bring an expensive suit. Not being able to pay a judgment is often referred to as being judgment proof.

All attorneys will look at these factors when evaluating the strength of a case. If some factors are exceptionally high, the other factors do not need to be as high for a lawsuit to be worth it. For example, if damages are very high and the potential defendant has plenty of means to pay a judgment, they can be a target for claims where liability is marginal.

Privacy Can Stop Frivolous Lawsuits

Privacy can affect the perception of the ability to recover any judgment. As a result, the liability and/or damages will generally need to be much more clear for a case to be worth it. Before deciding whether to take a case, many attorneys will investigate potential defendants. They might look at the public records for their assets, send investigators to look at their home address, or find out what kind of job they have to see if the “Recovery” factor is high or low. If the potential defendant appears not to have much to their name, an attorney might pass on bringing a marginal claim against them.

Conclusion

If you feel like you might be a target because people are aware that your ability to pay a judgment is high it might be worth it to use a ghost address to protect your true home. It might be worth it to own real estate in the name of a trust or private business entity. Protecting your privacy might help you avoid court costs and attorneys fees to defend or settle marginal litigation and can help stop frivolous lawsuits.

5th of November Celebration

Bill Rounds Esq. — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:58:22 +0000

Reading time: 7 – 11 minutes

“Remember, remember the 5th of November…”

Cue the William Tell Overture!!!

If you have seen the movie V for Vendetta, you may remember the broadcast the character, V, sends out to challenge corruption and authoritarian rule. He did that while remaining completely anonymous. In that spirit, to celebrate the 5th of November, How To Vanish is also showing political activists, and every one else, how to do the exact same thing: exercise freedom of speech while protecting your anonymity.

People Are Fed Up

Political activism is growing around the world. The Arab Spring, Wikileaks, the Tea Party, Occupy Wall Street, these political activists are promoting ideas that challenge the current political and economic power structure and expose political and corporate corruption across the globe.

Challenging Power Is Risky

But challenging the powerful and exposing corruption is risky. Whistleblowers suffer financially, they are harassed, ostracized, and intimidated. In extreme cases they are faced with violence, imprisonment and even death. We don’t even have to look all the way back to the Mississippi civil rights workers in the 60s who were killed for examples. There are plenty of examples in recent memory.

Just a few days ago there were reports that 13 Syrian bloggers and journalists have disappeared.

A Google employee, was imprisoned for several days for organizing protests against the Egyptian government.

Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a CIA operative because he publicly criticized the Bush administration for using bad intelligence on WMD in the State of the Union address.

Wikileaks is being financially blockaded, crippling their ability to function and possibly leading to the end of the whistleblowing website.

These are mild cases of intimidation. For some political activists, the threat of violence is very real.

David Kelley, a British weapons expert, died under suspicious circumstances after revealing that the British government manipulated WMD data to make the case for the Iraq invasion.

High ranking US politicians have called for charges of treason and the death penalty for Bradley Manning for allegedly blowing the whistle by releasing evidence of crimes committed by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A 16 year old American citizen was targeted and killed in a drone strike, without criminal charges and with no due process of law.

Freedom Of Speech Is Threatened

The bottom line is that people need to be able to speak out to challenge ruling powers and expose corruption without risking their finances, their freedom or their lives. But that can be very difficult to do.

The Law Is Insufficient To Protect Free Speech

The law can’t protect political activists or freedom of speech. Very few countries have any kind of law that protects whistleblowers from unjust retaliation. Even where those laws exists, they are almost completely ineffective. In fact, those laws usually make it worse for the whistleblower.

Most countries also have laws that are used against whistleblowers to deter exposing corruption. In some countries, it is illegal to oppose the government. In places like the US, whistleblowers are often charged with all kinds of other crimes that could range from trespassing to treason.

The Powerful Are Above The Law

There is a different law for people in power. They rely on their chronies to insulate them from legal consequences. Tricky dick was pardoned by Gerald Ford and congress made AT&T immune to liability for illegal wiretapping. The investigation of the murder of the 3 civil rights workers in Mississippi in the 60s had to be done by federal officials because state officials refused to prosecute the murderers. The law is much more strict for the rest of us.

The last reason why the law cannot protect activists is because you can’t trust corrupt people to respect the rule of law. When corrupt people control the legal process, they will break the law to preserve their power and cover up their corruption.

Solution: Publish A Website Anonymously

But there is still a way for political activists to challenge the power structure and expose corruption without risking their finances, their freedom or their lives. It is by publishing anonymously on the internet with an anonymous website.

Free speech includes the concept of anonymous speech. There is a long history of anonymous speech in the US having a meaningful impact on justice.

The Watergate scandal was exposed by a person known only as Deep Throat. That scandal led to the resignation of Nixon and has had a lasting impact on politics in the US. That revelation was only possible because Deep Throat could remain anonymous.

We Need New Tools To Protect Anonymity In A World With New Technology

The techniques that were used in the past were well suited for their time. But now we live in the information age. We need a lot of new techniques and new tools to protect our anonymous speech. Those same tools that were used previously may not be as effective as they were in the past. There is simply more information now that is aggregated, filtered, sorted, archived, and often forgotten.

Placing an anonymous call to a reporter, slipping a note under the door of a newspaper, or leaving an anonymous comment on the web may not be enough to effectively challenge power and corruption. Wee need the power of the internet.

Constant Electronic And Financial Surveillance Make Anonymity Difficult

We are also living in a time of almost complete digital and financial surveillance. Every phone call you make, every email you send, very website you visit, every book you buy on amazon.com, and every financial transaction you make is recorded, databased and searchable. Usually without a warrant.

All of that activity can be traced right back to you, making it very hard to do anything anonymously. Advanced computer forensic tools can search through tons of electronic records and reveal our identity. So when a court ordered Judith Miller to reveal her source, there were plenty of ways for her to comply. When she refused, she was sent to jail. If her source had taken steps to protect his anonymity, even from the reporter, that reporter could not have been compelled to produce the identity of her source and would not have served jail time.

At How To Vanish we know how important it is to be able to speak anonymously. And we know some things about privacy that others don’t.

5 Step System To Create Website Anonymously

So we created a simple 5 Step System to publish a website, completely anonymously.

Protect Identity – This system will give political activists the anonymity they need to challenge the political and corporate power structure and expose corruption in high places while completely protecting their own identity.

Anonymous Internet – We show you how to use the internet completely anonymously to prevent electronic surveillance so your identity stays secret.

No Financial Transaction Record – We show you 4 easy ways to make anonymous payments for services that you might need to publish your information. There will be no audit trail that leads back to your bank account or credit card. Searches of financial records won’t lead to your identity, whether they have a warrant or not.

Prevent Financial Blockade – We also show you how to accept anonymous payments to prevent financial blockade like Wikileaks.

Forbidden Knowledge – Most of the solutions you will see to publish a website anonymously will not work. They rely on a complete false sense of security that will not keep the least motivated people from discovering your identity, let alone the corrupt individuals you expose. Only this 5 Step System will give you superior identity protection.

Easy – And finally, the 5 Step System is extremely easy and completely within the law so just about any political activist can use it. You don’t need to have any advanced hacking skills to use it.

Ultimately, this 5 Step System will show you how to speak freely without being subject to threats, intimidation, financial ruin, prison, or even death.

Get Your Copy Of 5 Steps To Anonymous Speech

“Remember, remember the 5th of November.” Get your freedom of speech back. Click on the order link now to get your 5 Steps to Anonymous Speech.

5th Of November Celebration

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:13:40 +0000

Reading time: < 1 minute

Remember, remember the 5th of November...!!! Check out the 5th of November special event from How To Vanish. There may be fireworks!

Privacy Screen For Urban Dwellers

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:34:18 +0000

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

Lots of people enjoy the peace and solitude of a private outdoor space. But we don’t have to be in a remote wilderness to bask in natural light and a gentle breeze. We can create our own private outdoor spaces in sprawling suburbia and in the vast urban jungles of modern life. Whether it is to cover an unsightly view outside, or to shield yourself from nosy neighbors, a little private outdoor space can make living in dense neighborhoods a lot more relaxing. If all you have is a little patio, deck, porch, or balcony, you can create a tranquil and inviting outdoor place all to yourself.

Privacy screens are a great way to enclose an intimate space where you can eat, read, or enjoy a nice conversation from time to time. Even if you have a home with a large yard but you either can’t install a fence, or you simply lack the desire to undertake a huge fence building project, you can use privacy screens to enclose a small area for an undisturbed, unseen sanctuary. Here are some simple ideas to get you a bit more outdoor privacy in the urban jungle. All of these solutions are relatively cheap, easy, and will work well to meet all kinds of needs.

Portable Privacy Screen

The simplest way to create a private outdoor space is to put up a privacy screen or two. Privacy screens are inexpensive, easy to install, easy to rearrange, and come in a wide variety of styles. Buy enough to surround your entire space or place them strategically to block certain views.

Potted Hedge

When planting your own privacy hedge is out of the question, potted plants, even fake ones, can be used to surround your patio with an attractive and eco-friendly green screen. It is also a great way to beautify an urban landscape.

Combo Package

Lattice growing plants are a great way to combine the ease of a privacy screen with some natural beauty. There are dozens of varieties of potted plants that grow up lattice work to create a beautiful but impenetrable screen to shield the outside world from your rest and relaxation.

Water Fountain

One aspect of an urban outdoor space that people don’t often consider is keeping their patio conversations private. If your neighbors are within earshot, they could easily overhear lots of fodder for juicy neighborhood gossip. Or, if you live near a busy street, you may want to cover up the pervasive sound of city traffic. A small water fountain is a great way to create a soothing background sound to keep eavesdroppers out of the loop and keep the hustle and bustle of the thoroughfare out of your ears.

Conclusion

We don’t have to give up a private outdoor space when we live in more densely populated areas. Practical privacy solutions, like portable privacy screens, potted hedges and water fountains, are great ways to give yourself a private sanctuary in a busy, nosy world. For other great ideas on making your home a more private place, check out the book How To Vanish.

Remember, remember the 5th of November…!!! Check back at HowToVanish.com on November 5th for a special event. There may be fireworks!

How To Create An Anonymous Website

Bill Rounds Esq. — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 06:28:37 +0000

Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes

Free speech is threatened when corrupt forces can pressure the means of distributing speech. Corrupt governments all over the world, or corrupt elements within governments, use the methods at their disposal to silence uncomfortable speech. One of the main methods they use is to threaten the source of speech.

Anonymous speech is important, even for more mundane reasons than scathing political criticism. Advocates of medical marijuana, proponents of evolution, gay rights activists, critics of local police, and many others may need the protection of anonymous speech to protect themselves while they voice their opinion. Efforts to censor online speech are doomed to fail because people will find ways to publish unflattering material online without leaving any trace of identity behind.

To publish a website, there are several points of weakness where identifying information could be gleaned. Political activists and whistleblowers will be able to easily circumvent identity requirements at each one of these points, allowing them to anonymously publish material online with an anonymous website.

Anonymous Website Domain Name

A website needs a domain name (one of those .com things) which must be bought and paid for through a domain registry like GoDaddy. Most domain registries allow people to protect their identity by using a domain registration proxy. Using these proxies is not sufficient to protect identity because identifying information must still be shared with the proxy, which can be pressured to reveal it.

To prevent the domain registry from revealing their identity to anyone, political activists will simply enter pseudanonymous information, like Publius or Silence Dogood. If they are really sneaky they may even enter the information of a competitor to register their domain or use an anonymous domain registrar.

Anonymous Website Payment

An important link in the chain is payment for services. Even if a pen name is provided, the person paying for the domain name could easily be tracked down by ruthless government officials by tracking down the source of payment, making an anonymous website less anonymous. To avoid leaving an audit trail back to their own financial accounts, political journalists may pay for their domain name with a money order paid for in cash, use a prepaid credit card (which they paid cash to acquire) or pay with Bitcoins. There are several companies that offer domain name registration for Bitcoins. If they send payment from a Bitcoin address that has not been published anywhere else, it will be hard to trace payments to them.

Anonymous Email

Domain registrars need to communicate with owners to provide information, remind them about renewals, and other things. Most of that communication is done by email. Whistleblowers will easily be able to set up an anonymous email address with any free email service.

Anonymous Website Hosting

Another critical part of maintaining a website is a server to host the website. Most websites are hosted by a web hosting company. As with domain registry, activists will use pseudonyms and anonymous email addresses to create their accounts to host their politically sensitive websites. And, they will pay with cash, prepaid credit cards or Bitcoins for the web hosting service.

Anonymous IP Address

As an extra layer of protection, anytime smart political dissidents connect to the domain registrar, set up or log into their email, connect to their web hosting company, or log into their website to post information, they will use anonymous web surfing techniques. Tor is free and easy, proxy servers are available all over the world. VPNs, especially those based offshore, will prevent authorities searching through service provider records from discovering the IP address of political activists. These methods are also a way to circumvent government blocked sites, a common practice in places like China.

Continuing Threats

Even if a clever political critic takes all of these measures, they are of course still subject to censorship from corrupt pressure on service providers to cut off service. The domain could be seized by government officials or the web host server could be confiscated.The activist themselves would still be protected, and they would be able to republish their information in other locations.

Even in the absence of legal action, a domain registrar, or a web hosting company can always be pressured to take information down. Offshore companies in jurisdictions that are unfriendly to the criticized government may be harder to pressure.

Conclusion

Free speech and the ability to dissent is threatened by censorship that results from threats of imprisonment, violence and assassination. Those threats are less effective to prevent people from publishing on the internet when people can easily publish information completely anonymously. For more techniques on protecting anonymity, check out the book How To Vanish and the upcoming report for political activists on Anonymous Internet Publishing.

Occupy Wall Street Protester Privacy

Bill Rounds Esq. — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:33:33 +0000

Reading time: 7 – 11 minutes

Why “Occupy Wall Street” Protesters Need To Worry About Their Privacy

It isn’t hard to see why the Occupy Wall Street movement got started. Outrage over massive fraud committed by huge companies, combined with a government that protects them from prosecution, then takes money from innocent taxpayers and gives it to those same fraudster institutions is hard to contain.

The goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement are not clear at this early stage, and they may never be clearly defined. Certainly there will be some demands that are a step in the wrong direction, but there may be some demands that would be a positive change. So far, the movement is peaceful. No matter what they are protesting, peaceful protest is not always safe. The Occupy Wall Street protesters, Tea Party protesters, and any other peaceful protesters around the world, can use a few simple tactics to protect themselves and be more successful.

Peaceful Occupy Wall Street Protests Upsets Powerful People

Like all who oppose the ruling class, Occupy Wall Street protesters face serious danger to their finances, freedom, and even physical safety. Unjust imprisonment, unfounded criminal charges, potentially unwarranted fines and financial control are all possible tactics of a justice system loyal to financial crooks.

Occupy Wall Street Needs Strategy

While some protesters welcome the opportunity for political martyrdom, offering themselves up to be arrested, others would rather take a more strategic approach to promoting massive change. For those looking for an effective strategy, a very powerful tactic includes protecting the identity of protesters. Anonymity can be an effective tool to protect many protesters from unjust pressure.

Why Privacy Is Important To Protect Peaceful Occupy Wall Street Demonstrators

There are several elements that show why privacy is key to protect peaceful demonstrators.

Police Funded By Target Of Protest

First, JP Morgan, one of the main subjects of protester outrage, has donated millions of dollars to the NYPD. This donation will help provide better surveillance software for the NYPD to use, presumably on Occupy Wall Street demonstrators. It is no small stretch to think that police, as benefactors of such largesse, might be more inclined to protect their wealthy patron rather than the public. Thus, the Occupy Wall Street protesters may be subject to unjust actions by police.

Electronic Surveillance Is More Cost Effective Crowd Control

Second, the brute force being used to police the protesters is costing millions of dollars. With the expectation that the protests will grow in size, the financial cost to police will become enormous, even if funded by Wall Street bankers. Electronic surveillance is much more effective and efficient to protect the Wall Street bankers from the Occupy Wall Street protesters. The donation of JP Morgan and simple economics will push the police to use alternative tactics, such as electronic surveillance and control of cell phones, bank accounts, credit cards, and more, to control Occupy Wall Street.

Police Already Brutalizing Protesters

Third, the police have already begun using unjust tactics to injure or arrest innocent people. After corralling a small peaceful assembly of people on a public sidewalk, officers used pepper spray on them without any justification. In another incident, police guided protesters from a pedestrian area (where protesters could legally be) to lanes of vehicle traffic (where protesters supposedly could not legally be) and arrested them en masse.

Types Of Electronic Surveillance

What kind of electronic surveillance might law enforcement conduct?

Cell Phone Surveillance

Law enforcement can get many cell phone records without a warrant. They can either ask the phone company for the records, claiming it is part of a criminal investigation, or they can hijack cell phone service and collect the information themselves. This could reveal the identities of many of the people who have cell phones at the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Those individuals could then be singled out for other types of selective enforcement of laws.

Facial Recognition

Police might use visual surveillance and facial recognition to identify individuals in the crowd. Police could then prompt protesters to J-walk, litter, smoke a cigarette within 20 feet of a doorway, or commit some other action that is captured by surveillance cameras and citations issued by mail. Citations are annoying enough, but failure to pay them could lead to more serious jail time, bigger fines, and other financial problems.

This kind of crowd surveillance has been used before. In Colorado in 2006, protesters gathered in the hundreds to voice their support for relaxed marijuana rules. Cameras scanned the crowd, later police offered $50 to identify individuals in the photos, and issued citations for trespassing, among other things. 5 years later, facial recognition technology may make it much easier for police to identify numerous Occupy Wall Street demonstrators.

Financial Blockade

Protesters that are identified by visual or electronic surveillance could be made known to the various financial institutions that people depend on. Protesters could see their Visa, Master Card, bank accounts or Paypal accounts frozen, payments refused, or services denied. Those organizations accepting donations for the Occupy Wall Street movement could also see a similar financial blockade.

These kinds of financial blockades have been used before. Visa and Mastercard stopped processing donations to Wikileaks and Paypal froze their account, causing serious financial trouble for the activist website. Paypal is notorious for freezing accounts for arbitrary reasons.

To Prevent The Crippling Effects Of Surveillance, Protect Privacy

To prevent potentially crippling pressure, protesters in any movement can follow a few simple tactics.

Stop Cell Phone Surveillance

To stop cell phone surveillance, buy a pre paid cell phone with cash and use that to communicate while at the protests. Otherwise, remove the battery of your cell phone or leave it at home. There will be no way for law enforcement to surreptitiously collect the data from your phone if you do.

Prevent Facial Recognition Software

To stop visual surveillance, wear a hoodie, hat and sunglasses to the protest. In places where masks and face paint are not illegal, they can also be used to prevent facial recognition. This may not apply in New York where there are laws making wearing a mask or face paint illegal.

Use Cash, Gold, Silver and Bitcoin

To prevent financial blockades, people can use cash, gold and silver to trade in person. Be careful using gold and silver as a medium of exchange. The capital gains tax on gold and silver is very high (28%) so using it may actually cause you to owe taxes that will go to bailing out the very banks that are being protested. For anonymous online transfers, Bitcoin may be a viable option. It not only protects the identity of users, but Wikileaks uses it to accept donations in spite of the financial blockade of the formal banking system.

Conclusion

Protecting privacy protects peaceful protesters of any cause. Smart strategy is needed to prevent financial blockades, unjust police action and other tools that could be used to cripple protest movements. Using these privacy tactics and others in the book How To Vanish can help peaceful people avoid unjust actions from law enforcement around the country and around the world.

Patient Privacy Rights And Private Hospitals

Bill Rounds Esq. — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:38:08 +0000

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

Secret Weapon To Protect Medical Privacy

Medical information is among the most private personal information. New healthcare laws in the US essentially require doctors to make all of their records electronic and store them in government databases. This poses a serious threat to patient privacy rights. There is one way to find private hospitals where your information will not be entered into US databases and you may even get better health care for much less.

Risk to Patient Privacy Rights

Having detailed medical information housed in one massive database makes it one of the most lucrative targets for hackers. It will not only contain health information (potentially worth its weight in digital gold to the highly ethical pharmaceutical industry), but it will also include demographic information, like race, ethnicity, primary language, and gender. This information is golden to marketers. And that says nothing of its value to identity thieves.

Government databases are well known as extremely poorly protected. They aren’t even capable of protecting classified and top secret material. I hate to think how well they will protect our medical data. It may only be a matter of time before our medical histories are public information.

There Is Bound To Be Abuse

The law permits use of the data for clinical research, even if the subject objects to the use of their data. North Carolina sheriffs have already asked to browse prescription records to look for potential pain medication abusers. With even more data available, who knows what kinds of crimes they think your medical records might be evidence of.

About 12 million people will have to have access to such a health system, from heart surgeons to grocery store pharmacists. It is inevitable that one of those 12 million will be able to accidentally or purposefully leak massive amounts of data.

And, if the US social services system becomes anything like the UK system, the government will be able to take away people’s kids for being overweight or for a learning disability. Having all medical records searchable means that many more innocent people with unfortunate genes could be the target of overzealous social workers.

Protect Patient Privacy Rights

To prevent medical procedures or conditions from showing up in US medical record databases, use offshore medical facilities. Seeking treatment in private hospitals in other countries is often called medical tourism and can be far more beneficial than just protecting privacy. Many hospitals in places like New Zealand, Thailand, India, Mexico and Costa Rica, cater to wealthy foreigners. In many cases the doctors are trained in the US. They offer as good, or better, health care than any US facilities and they are usually 50% to 90% cheaper, including all travel expenses like airfare and hotel.

Risks

Before seeking medical care abroad, be sure to do extensive research. Although some private hospitals may cater to wealthy travelers, not all hospitals in those countries will be the same. Some will offer substandard care in unhealthy facilities.

Most other countries will not protect patients from medical malpractice, like they do in the US, and pharmaceutical companies may not be liable for injuries from medications like they are in the US. Also, medical information in foreign countries may not be protected as private.

Protect Yourself From Risks

There are several companies that help arrange offshore medical visits to make sure you select the best facilities and doctors. There are also voluntary organizations that certify medical facilities such as the JCI to promote quality care. A considerable amount of research should be done before seeking medical treatment away from home.

Conclusion

Seeking medical treatment abroad can help protect patient privacy rights. Information about those visits will not be automatically entered into the US electronic health record database. Additionally, seeking care offshore can be far less expensive, it can be as good, or better than US care, and you may even have access to many treatments, drugs and procedures that are not permitted in the US. Don’t forget to check out the book How To Vanish for more ways to protect your privacy.

Internet Privacy Guard: Fraud Edition

Bill Rounds Esq. — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:47:36 +0000

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

Protect Yourself From Online Fraud With This Internet Privacy Guard

Fraud = Bad. Privacy is about protecting information and fraud is about misusing information. Protecting your privacy means preventing fraud. Check out the top 10 ways that you might be defrauded and the best privacy guard to protect yourself.

Trash Digging

An oldie but a goodie, people still dig through the trash looking for financial information. Once you have set your trash on the curb, it is actually legal for anyone to rifle through it. To protect your privacy, shred any documents that you throw out.

Email Scams

There are lots of ways that people use email to scam you out of information or money. Spammers could send you links to nefarious websites disguised as legitimate links, they can spoof an email from a friend with attachments infected with viruses, or they could just convince you they are a Namibian prince.

Preventing these kinds of attacks includes a bit of common sense and some software. The common sense part includes not opening emails from suspicious sources, not opening attachments that you aren’t expecting, even if it comes from friends, and not clicking on links in the body of the email, even if it comes from friends.

The software you need is simple anti virus software (make sure to keep it updated), and make sure your firewall is on.

Man in the Middle

This kind of attack occurs when someone intercepts your internet traffic and watches what you do online. It usually happens when someone picks up your unsecured wireless router signal, or picking up your traffic when you log in through a public wifi spot like at a coffee shop.

Protect your home or office router with a strong password. If you are surfing the internet from a public place, log into a secure VPN before you start browsing.

Website Spoofing

Fraudsters will sometimes try to imitate legitimate websites, like your bank website or email, to get you to enter personal information. They might try to get your email address, password, bank account info, credit card, or a whole host of other data.

To protect against this kind of fraud make sure that the URL is the one you expect to see. Many times fraudsters will try to capitalize on a slight misspelling in the URL. The spoofed websites will also often have spelling or grammar mistakes, or it will simply be slightly different from the website you normally visit. Double check these things before entering any personal information.

Spyware

Many websites can track your surfing activity after you have left their site, sometimes for months after you have visited. This lets them collect a lot of data about you.

To prevent this kind of tracking, delete cookies from your browser. You can also use private browsing modes or secure browsers, like Iron Browser.

Conclusion

Privacy is freedom. Some people abuse freedom and some people abuse privacy. That does not mean that honest people will not go to great lengths to get both. Using the right internet privacy guard, combined with some quick thinking, to prevent most kinds of fraud. For other tips on preventing information fraud, check out the book How To Vanish or subscribe to the list.

Living Trusts Protect Financial Privacy

Bill Rounds Esq. — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:39:12 +0000

Reading time: 4 – 6 minutes

We Are All Going To Die!…Someday

When we die the court system will take control of our financial lives and make one of the most private aspects of our lives public. This loss of financial privacy will happen unless we take one simple step to protect ourselves, our assets and our families with a living trust.

Probate is the Problem With Financial Privacy

When people die they leave behind some stuff (hopefully). Most people have a will, if they have anything at all, to determine who gets all of their neat stuff. To administer this process, for people who do or do not have a will, the courts take control of all the assets, make sure all the money goes to the right people, and make your will a part of the public record. This is called probate. Anyone particularly interested in learning what your kids got will be able to find out very easily. Some courts even make the information available online. This is a huge blow to financial privacy.

Living Trust

The only way to avoid having so much of your private financial life displayed for the public is to prepare a living trust. A living trust allows you to maintain control over your assets while you are alive, avoids the public probate process to distribute assets when you die and maintains your financial privacy.

There are some other great benefits as well. Compared to the cost of administering a living trust, probate is expensive. The cost is based on the value of the assets that the probate court deals with, so the more money you have, the more it will cost you. Probate is also slower.

Don’t Get Hit By A Bus

What happens in the unfortunate event that you are hit by a bus and turned into a vegetable? Whether or not you have a will, your assets are going to sit around and can’t be touched. They can’t be used to pay your medical expenses, they can’t be used to pay your mortgage, they can’t be used to pay for the groceries of your stalwart spouse. This can pose a very bad problem when assets exist to pay those costs, but you are incapacitated, covered in bandages and unable to get at those assets.

With a living trust, the unfortunate bus incident will not leave your assets untouchable until you die. The trustee can use the assets to pay for expenses while you are still alive but unable to manage your own affairs. This makes sure that the family members who are diligently at your hospital bed side can pay for the things they need, hopefully balloons and get well cards.

Living Trusts Are Common

The cost of having a basic living trust prepared is relative to its complexity. If your financial situation is simple, they can be quite inexpensive. If your financial situation is more complex, it will be worth the cost and effort to draft an adequate living trust. Many attorneys are able to prepare them and make sure they are properly funded.

Conclusion

The legal system still contains several tools that help ordinary individuals protect their financial privacy. Having a living will is one of the great ways to take advantage of that system. Living wills provide a private alternative, to public indignity. Check out the book How To Vanish for more legal tools to help protect your privacy.

Facebook And Fake Names

Bill Rounds Esq. — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 02:38:27 +0000

Reading time: 3 – 5 minutes

What What Happens If You Use A Fake Name On Google+ Or Facebook?

People love Facebook. Social networking is just a part of what humans do, so the fact that people use online social networks like Facebook and Google+ is no surprise. They are powerful tools for social change, business opportunities and developing strong relationships with friends and family.

But, people are nervous about providing their personal information to social networking sites, and with good reason. Social networking sites sell your information to the highest bidder. They make billions of dollars from the information that we give them for free. That information allows repressive governments to easily target undesirables, it could damage a career, or just plain cause embarrassment.

How People Protect Personal Information On Social Networking Sites

To harness the power of social networking while protecting personal information, some people use fake information in their profiles. There are lots of reasons people provide fake info. Everything from using a fake birthday or city, to using a fake profile picture or name are used by people who fear stalkers, by Egyptian revolutionaries, and by average people to protect their privacy. Only the most dedicated snoops can glean good information from a false trail.

But Facebook’s terms of use states that:

“Facebook users provide their real names and information, and we need your help to keep it that way. Here are some commitments you make to us relating to registering and maintaining the security of your account:

1. You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook…

2. You will not create more than one personal profile.

7. You will keep your contact information accurate and up-to-date.”

Google+ also states:

“To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you.”

Risks Of Using Fake Information In Social Networking Profiles

What happens to people who violate these terms of use and include fake info in their profiles? Failure to follow these terms of use simply means that the offending account could be shut down if discovered. Facebook doesn’t sue people for providing fake information and the cops won’t arrest people for using a drawing of a dog as their profile picture.

The likelihood that a social networking site will discover fake information is currently low. Many people use stage names, pen names, pseudonyms and nicknames every day. It is perfectly legal to use those alternate identities in many ways. Those names do not have to be the same as the one on a birth certificate and they can often be far more unique than what is found on a birth certificate. This makes it difficult for sites to tell what information is “real” or “fake,” as Google+ recently found out.

Don’t pretend you are someone else, don’t use another person’s real information and don’t commit fraud. That should be easy enough for you to avoid.

Are There Alternatives?

There are few alternatives to the information diarrhea on Facebook and Google+. Diaspora* is a potentially promising alternative but it is a long way from providing the value that Facebook does. Until Diaspora or some other alternative becomes viable, be careful the information you use to create your social networking profiles.

Ignore The Police!

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 18:18:05 +0000

Reading time: 6 – 9 minutes

For the past few months, police departments have been using a new iris scanning device to identify people they encounter. Many more police departments will begin using this device soon. The scanner can be held up to the eye of any person and almost instantly identify them more accurately than a fingerprint. Police have imposed restrictions on themselves to prevent misuse of iris scanners. Like a chubby kid guarding a Happy Meal, indulgence is more likely than restraint.

Currently, iris scanners are limited to checking the person scanned against a national database of iris scans. This database presumably only contains criminals, children and individuals who may need assistance, like alzheimers patients. The devices are not supposed to be able to capture and store new entries. These self-imposed limitations may only be temporary.

Warrantless Iris Scans Are Probably Unconstitutional

Although not yet tested, there are some potentially strong constitutional challenges to many iris scans that are likely to occur. If you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in some information or item, the police need a warrant to conduct a search. (Katz v. United States) There is no reasonable expectation of privacy for things that are in the plain view of the public. (Texas v. Brown) Technologies that enhance the senses to be able to see what is in plain view, like common binoculars, can be used by police without a warrant. (Dow Chemical v. United States) Something that is not visible to the naked eye is not in plain view. (California v. Ciraolo; Kyllo v. United States; People v. Arno) Police may also conduct a search that would otherwise require a warrant if they get consent. (Schneckloth v. Bustamonte).

An image of your iris and the detail of your iris is apparently very important information. Many people might reasonably expect to have a right to privacy in that intimate part of their body. Although the iris is held out to the public, the very intimate details, so much detail that the iris becomes a unique identifier, is not held out to the public because nobody can see that with the naked eye. A very powerful technology that can see more than the naked eye, even upon very close inspection, is required. Thus, such a search will likely be unconstitutional without a warrant.

Do Not Consent To An Iris Scan

If you agree to have your iris scanned for identification purposes, you give up any chance you had of fighting the constitutionality of a warrantless iris scan. Simply stating that you do not consent to having an iris scan taken should be sufficient.

Don’t Let Them Scan Your Face Either

These same devices are also capable of scanning faces for identification purposes. Preventing these scans is a bit more complicated because your face, and the ability to recognize you from your face, is most definitely held out to the public in plain view. To prevent face scanning requires knowing at what point in a police encounter the face scan is taking place. Knowing this will help you to know if you must submit or if you are free to leave.

Ignore The Police: “Free To Leave” Encounters

Police may stop people on the street in what is known as a “consensual” encounter for no reason at all. Police could potentially ask you for a face (or iris) scan during this “consensual” encounter. If you reasonably think you are free to leave you can ignore everything the police are saying and just walk away. (Florida v. Royer; Michigan v. Chesternut). If you aren’t sure, or you just want to be polite, one of the best things you can say is “am I free to leave or am I being detained?” Stopping the encounter as soon as possible before a scan of your face can be required is the best way to prevent a facial scan. If you aren’t free to go, you are being detained.

Detention

To detain you, the police need reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts that you are, have been, or will be committing a crime. (Terry v. Ohio) If a reasonable person thinks that they aren’t free to go, they are being detained. (United States v. Mendenhall). Here is where it gets a bit tricky. Some states permit you to remain silent to questions at this point, but many require you to at least provide your name. (Hiibel v. 6th Judicial District Court of Nevada) If you are in a no name state, you may be able to refuse a facial scan. This will probably make the police pretty mad so it might not be recommended. In states where your name is required, there is probably nothing you can do.

Arrest

If the police then have probable cause to believe you committed a crime, they may arrest you. They will take you into the mug shot room where a long line of celebrities have taken their most memorable photos. At this point, there is nothing you can do to keep the police from putting your face in their facial recognition database.

Conclusion

Warrantless, unconsensual iris scans are probably unconstitutional. Face scans aren’t as inherently unconstitutional, but can still be prevented. If you are a law abiding citizen, these, and other tips from HowToVanish, can help you protect more of your privacy from one of the worst invasions of privacy that exist, police encounters.

Is GoldMoney A Gold-Backed Bitcoin?

Bill Rounds Esq. — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:04:53 +0000

Reading time: 6 – 9 minutes

Bitcoin is new. There has never been anything like it before. It is also risky. A lot of things need to happen for it to be successful in the long term.

But many intelligent people have missed the fact that Bitcoin is new. I am not an economist or investor, but I have not seen any economists or investors analyze Bitcoin correctly because they do not fully understand what Bitcoin is. This is a serious mistake. Failing to analyze based on correct facts can lead to wrong conclusions.

Bitcoin Reduces Privacy Cost

The main benefit of Bitcoin is vastly reduced costs. Bitcoin eliminates many costs, but one of the most important is the cost of providing personal information to participate in the economy; the privacy cost.

Cash and precious metals have the lowest privacy cost of any medium of exchange. But cash and metals are mostly limited to small, in-person transactions. The world needs something more.

Before Bitcoin, every other financial transaction had an extremely high privacy cost, along with lots of other costs. Checks, credit cards, and bank wires require a significant disclosure of personal information to banks and governments.

Personal Information Is Extremely Valuable

Personal information is valuable. The market values Google and Facebook so highly, in part, because of the enormous amount of personal information they collect. Before Bitcoin, market participants had no choice but to disclose personal information. Bitcoin allows users to protect valuable personal information.

Doug Casey Is Wrong About GoldMoney And Bitcoin

One of the best ways to see how well Bitcoin protects personal information and privacy is to compare it to one of its best competitors, GoldMoney, on those issues. GoldMoney tries to take the private exchange of metals into the information age while protecting personal information by operating in the bank privacy haven of Jersey, in the Channel Islands. Doug Casey is a very smart investor, but he thinks there is little difference between GoldMoney and Bitcoin, except that GoldMoney is better because it is backed by gold. As has been aptly pointed out, Doug Casey is wrong on that issue. There is a huge difference. GoldMoney is not just a gold-backed Bitcoin. GoldMoney costs a lot in terms of personal information and privacy, Bitcoin does not.

GoldMoney Wants Your Location

GoldMoney requires customers to disclose the country where they are located. They only accept customers from about half of the countries in the world. The other half, like residents of Argentina, Egypt or the Netherlands, are prohibited from using GoldMoney.

Of the customers that they accept, some are required to disclose a lot more personal information, depending on the country. GoldMoney follows the know your customer rules so things like name, address, tax identification, photo identification and many other things might be required. There are other restrictions based on where customers live. For example, Germans can’t make payments of metal to other people and physical delivery of metal is only available in 40 countries.

Bitcoin does not know or care what country users are from. It can be accessed by any user that can manage to get on the internet. Third party wallet services mean users don’t even have to own a computer to use Bitcoins.

GoldMoney Centralization Makes Them Vulnerable

GoldMoney is centralized. Every transaction is recorded in their system. A rogue employee could reveal those transactions to anyone they wanted. A warrant or subpoena served on GoldMoney could also reveal lots of personal information. The strong bank privacy laws in Jersey, like those in Switzerland, may prove to be no obstacle for a powerful government capable of strong pressure on the centralized organization. Hackers could also compromise the GoldMoney system.

The decentralized Bitcoin network cannot be pressured by any government. The network will route around any such obstacles. No organization exists to subpoena or submit to a warrant search. The public transaction record is pseudonymous and there are plenty of anonymizing services to eliminate personal identification. There are no employees to go roque. Even a rogue developer on the Bitcoin development team must operate in the open source light of day. A hack of Bitcoin would not reveal personal information.

Tax Information

If you have more than a combined $10,000 in foreign financial accounts, including GoldMoney, those accounts must be reported on the FBAR. You need to report your name, birthday, address, where the account is held, the account number and the highest balance during the year, among other information. I guess it is so the treasury can send you a birthday card.

There is no information reporting requirement with Bitcoin. Although you need to report income, there is no requirement to disclose your payment addresses, details of transactions, the balance, where you store your Bitcoin wallet, or even that the income was earned in the form of Bitcoins.

Sending And Withdrawing Funds

You cannot fund a GoldMoney holding without first having a bank account. For US citizens, that means a lot of personal information disclosures. If you are going to accept goldgrams for labor, services, sales of products, donations, gifts, or transfers, you must disclose that banking information to GoldMoney, which keeps it on file. If you want to fund your account by buying gold directly, you must do so through a wire transfer. That wire transfer information is disclosed to GoldMoney, to your bank and to SWIFT, the main financial transaction network for most of the world.

Bitcoin does not require a disclosure of any personal banking information. You can accept Bitcoins for labor, services, sales of products, donations, gifts, or transfers without ever opening a bank account. You can even buy Bitcoins from exchangers on the street for cash to get some Bitcoins without notifying your bank or SWIFT.

Conclusion

Gold will always be money. GoldMoney is an excellent service. But that service is very expensive in terms of personal information and privacy. The privacy cost is so high, only a very tiny fraction of the world’s population can even use GoldMoney. Bitcoin does things that GoldMoney can’t.

Bitcoin is still risky and some people may choose not to use it. It may fizzle into nothing. But, in terms of privacy, its cost is lower than any information age alternative. The value we give to the banking system is at least as much as the value we give to Google or Facebook. We give them that value by giving them our personal information. Individuals have had no private alternative until now.

More privacy is not the only benefit of using Bitcoin. Most people who use it once, even to transfer an immaterial amount, begin to realize how powerful it is. We will eventually see if the market values those benefits. Smart economists and savvy investors need to understand those benefits before they can make an accurate assessment of Bitcoin.

Tim Ferris Is California’s Bitch – (When He Does Not Have To Be)

Trace Mayer, J.D. — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 23:35:27 +0000

Reading time: 6 – 10 minutes

A few years ago I ran into Tim Ferris after his speech at a WordCamp in San Francisco. I even told him about my new blog, How To Vanish, and he said the name was awesome.

Tim Ferris is a two time New York Times best selling author of books in two different genres: The Four Hour Work Week and The Four Hour Body. I have bought and read both and would recommend them. Please use my Amazon affiliate links to help support HowToVanish.

Tim is an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur. The type of person who creates massive value for society through great products, keen insight, job creation and profitable ventures.

CALIFORNIA AND AMAZON.COM

California has been perpetually struggling with large budget deficits, cash shortages and systemic financial mismanagement. In early July in an attempt to raise revenue the California legislature passed a bill into law that requires large out of state retailers to collect and remit sales tax to California if they have affiliates in the state. In defensive response Amazon.com canceled its affiliate program with all California domiciled affiliates. This same set of events has happened in other states.

TIM FERRIS’S EXPERIENCE

For whatever reason Tim has willfully chosen to be California’s bitch when he does not have to be by allowing his income stream to be castrated.

Tim Ferris used to earn some serious dough as an Amazon affiliate. In Tim Ferris’s Random Episode 16 at 13:44 he says about his Amazon earnings, “In any case, that adds up to in some cases uhh high in a few cases mid to high five figures a month. It really adds up. And that was just canceled, eliminated overnight.”

Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com, responded, “That sucks man, that is a lot of cash to lose.” to which Tim responded, “It does.”

INCOME STREAM REPLACEMENT COST

Kevin is not joking. Losing a $10,000-$90,000 per month passive income stream is material to anybody. Amazon affiliate payments are great because all you do is put in the bank details and they send the payment automatically each month kind of like a dividend or interest payment.

If Tim were to follow the principles in Four Hour Work Week and replace the lost Amazon income stream with something which does not take much time or attention then what would it take?

Using Google Advisor to find a 1-year CD to yield about $50,000 per month would require about $27,500,000 in principal. Exxon is trading at about $82 per share and paying a dividend of $0.47 per quarter so it would only take about 320,000 shares which would cost about $26,240,000.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE – FIVE FLAG THEORY

Back in October 2010 we wrote about how those people domiciled in Philadelphia need a $300 Business Privilege License to operate their blog. Perhaps California will follow their lead and Tim will have to get a Business Privilege License. Even earlier in March 2010 we wrote, in Colorado vs. Amazon: Who Wins In A Fight?, about how Amazon cut off Colorado affiliates in the exact same way and what Colorado affiliates could do to protect their income. Those who followed our advice protected their income streams.

As the politicians continue intentionally exacerbating The Greater Depression more state, local and national governments will continue greedily grabbing after more money. Of all the risks in the economy I think jurisdictional risk is the most potent. Sure, this poses a significant problem to the successful entrepreneur but they are, after all, problem solvers as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Tim Ferris even wrote a great post about this called How To Be Jason Bourne: Multiple Passports, Swiss Banking, and Crossing Borders which includes an introduction to the Five Flag Theory. A theory I devote almost the entire sixth chapter to in The Great Credit Contraction.

But Tim does not like to get political and it appears he has not followed the five flag theory he wrote about. For whatever reason Tim has willfully chosen to be California’s bitch when he does not have to be by allowing his income stream to be castrated. So how is that working out for you?

PROBLEM SOLVING

How could Tim Ferris have pre-emptively solved this issue that resulted in the loss of about $50,000 per month of income?

Pretty easily actually. For a few hundred dollars he could have setup a privacy conscious New Mexico LLC where no income is due if not New Mexico sourced or in another jurisdiction like Oregon where there is no state sales tax. For a few thousand dollars he could have gone international with a Saint Kitts or Hong Kong company, magnifying the positive effects. Considering this would be about one week’s of earnings, take a couple hours to get all setup and the income stream would be protected for years, I think it would have been a pretty wise thing for Tim to do. It will likely be many years before Amazon cuts off affiliates from these places.

Tim likely pays large amounts of income taxes to California, too. Imagine if he were domiciled somewhere like New Hampshire or Alaska which have neither state sales tax nor state income tax. He and those like him who earn at least $50,000 per year in location independent income really should consider our product State Income Tax Optimization. It is for those people who want to design their lifestyles by choosing where their state tax domicile is when they tired of being someone’s bitch.

CONCLUSION

I wonder what will be California’s next step in designing Tim’s lifestyle. Maybe they will decree he has to marry Paris Hilton for the public good and safety.

It appears the individual is just a pawn and this battle over the bottom line is only going to intensify. Politicians view you as their human livestock to be milked or turned into hamburger. Some, like Tim Ferris, appear to enjoy milking machines tickling their tit because they choose to endure the miking when they do not have to. In my opinion, the wise entreprenuer is diversified not only across states but also countries with trusts, LLCs, multiple passports, addresses, bank accounts, etc.

Fortunately, for the location independent entreprenuer, as opposed to a brick and mortor one, it is somewhat easier to legally plan their affairs and minimize the risk to their business, income and lifestyle. For those new to this way of thinking, to get started you might consider reading more articles around here or our flagship product: How To Vanish The Book.

Ready for round two Tim?

Colorado vs. Amazon: Who Wins In A Fight?

How To Vanish

Fun With A Decoy Drive

Privacy Tactics

Misdirection Helps People

Using A Decoy Drive With A Laptop

Decoy Drive Steps

Advanced Strategy

Conclusion

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Cloud Security

Dropbox

SpiderOak

Wuala

Conclusion

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Set Up Free Email Encryption In 15 Minutes

Email Account

1. Download Free GnuPG Encryption Software

2. Download Thunderbird from Mozilla

3. Install Enigmail Plugin

4. Create Your Encryption Keys

5. Penultimate Free Email Encryption Setup Items

6. Publish Your Public Key

Use Free Email Encryption

Free Email Encryption Prevents Email Scams

Conclusion

Stratfor Failed To Protect Their Customers By Not Accepting Bitcoin

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Taxing Baby Jesus

Jesus, Wise Men and Taxes

Transfer #1

Income Tax Liability Of Jesus

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Basis

Transfer #2

Capital Gains Tax

Higher Capital Gains Tax On Gold – 28%

Legal Tender Value Of Gold Coins

$1 ≠ $1

Challenge?

Conclusion

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Safely Sell Or Donate Your Old Computer

Deleting Doesn’t Cut It

Completely Wipe The Hard Drive To Safely Sell Or Donate Your Old Computer

Step 1 – Get Free Software

Step 2 – Burn A Disk

Step 3 – Boot Computer From The Disk You Burned

Step 3.5 – Configure Computer To Start From Disk Drive

Step 4 – Point Of No Return

Step 5 – Wipe Your Hard Drive

Step 6 – Safely Sell or Donate Your Own Computer

Conclusion

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Is Privacy Dead?

Privacy Is Dead Because Of Technology?

Privacy Is Dead Because Of Social Norms?

The Law Is Killing Privacy?

Encryption Technology Is A Model For Privacy

Keeping Privacy Alive

Conclusion

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Stop Frivolous Lawsuits Before They Start

Liability x Damages x Recovery > Cost.

Cost

Liability

Damages

Recovery

Privacy Can Stop Frivolous Lawsuits

Conclusion

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5th of November Celebration

People Are Fed Up

Challenging Power Is Risky

Freedom Of Speech Is Threatened

The Law Is Insufficient To Protect Free Speech

The Powerful Are Above The Law

Solution: Publish A Website Anonymously

We Need New Tools To Protect Anonymity In A World With New Technology

Constant Electronic And Financial Surveillance Make Anonymity Difficult