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TEN ADDITIONAL PRIVACY TIPS

Most of the following information, in no particular order, comes from my privacy blog (http://blog.invisible-privacy.com), where I have been posting tips since 2008. By the time you read this, there will be dozens if not hundreds of additional tips, so be sure to check it out.

1. HOW YOU CAN HIDE YOUR IDENTITY WHEN YOU STAY AT A HOTEL

Suppose it is known that you will be in a big city on a certain date, and that you often stick with a certain hotel chain? How would you like to hide your identity and thus avoid calls from persons such as ex-employees, ex-wives, ex-in-laws, or even private investigators?

In days gone by, you could hide your identity by checking into a hotel under any name you liked, pay cash, and that was it. No longer, of course. All major (and most minor) hotels will not rent you a room without a valid credit card and government-issued ID. So, can you still hide your identity today? Yes, you can.

Since I am a privacy consultant, many readers of How to Be Invisible know that I often meet my clients at the Westin in Bellevue, the Encore in Vegas, or the W in San Francisco. Does anyone ever try to call me there?

Perhaps, but I have no way of knowing because callers will be told, “Mr. Luna is not registered here.” How can this be?

Like a magician who reveals a magic trick, when I reveal my secret, it will seem to be obvious. Nevertheless, only a few of my clients who’ve had personal consultations with me bother to use this system. The following is how I hide my identity when staying at a hotel:

I have a single Visa credit card account, originally issued in my own name. However, I later applied for a second card on the same account. Reason: I needed to separate expenses when I traveled in my “professional” name. The second card was issued with no problem. You can do the same. Your reason can be that you use another name as an author, an actor, a musician, or whatever. No one will check.

Then, when you travel, you have a choice. Either travel under your real name, but give out the professional name, or vice versa. When checking in, you will be asked for ID. Show your passport. Even when you’ve made your reservation under the assumed name, my experience has been that all the clerk wants to see is your picture. If a question should ever arise, just explain that the name in your passport identifies you, but the reservation was made in your professional name because your credit card is in that name.

2. HOW YOU CAN HIDE YOUR SECRET HOME ADDRESS FROM THE UPS

As has already been explained, you should never receive anything at your true home address. However, some companies irritatingly refuse to ship to a PO box. One solution might be to use the address of a relative or friend. However, that may present a serious loss of privacy. The following is a recent example of how that can be solved without using someone else’s address:

Burnett Williams, recently retired, sold his home where he had lived for thirty years and moved from Montana to a secret address in Arizona. Given the way the Federal Reserve is currently printing money by the trainload, he feared that a serious devaluation was coming within a few years, so what to do with all the cash?

After checking with some knowledgeable friends, he decided to put 20 percent of it into silver bullion. The immediate problem he faced was that silver bullion is heavy and is usually shipped only by UPS. UPS keeps an international database with the address of every shipper and every receiver. Once your address gets into their system, it never gets out.

Williams was not about to let any neighbor or friend accept this shipment on his behalf because the contents (given the shipper’s business name and the weight) would be obvious. End of privacy! He therefore gave the following name and address to the supplier. (This is the address of a UPS Customer Center. Note that he did not give them his distinctive first name.)

B. Williams

ATTENTION—HOLD

1975 E. Wildermuth

Tempe, AZ 85281

When he picked up the shipment he used his passport for ID, since passports never include an address. And if anyone googles “B. Williams,” some 600,000 results will show up!

3. HOW TO HIDE YOUR LAST NAME WHEN YOU ORDER ONLINE

The trick here is open a bank account in the name of a trust. Once that’s done, you’re all set because your credit card will have an added abbreviation after your last name. For example, let’s say your name is Susan Wellington. Your credit card will read Susan Wellington TTEE. The TTEE is short for trustee and is listed because you are the trustee for your trust account.

AMAZON.COM

Open your account in the name of Susan Ttee. Forever after, Amazon will think that Ttee is your last name.

FEDEX AND UPS

Your goal is to have your books, handgun, gold bullion, or whatever, delivered to a customer service center. You order your shipment in the name of Susan W. Ttee. When you go by to pick up your package, show your passport when asked for ID. You may or may not be questioned about this, but if asked, show your credit card. A simple explanation might be: “I ordered this online and I had to fill out my name as shown on my credit card. I guess they didn’t understand that Ttee just means that I am a trustee on this account but anyway, the package is for me. My name is Susan and my last name does start with a W.”

4. HOW TO AVOID TROUBLE FROM TRASH TRUCK DRIVERS

The following information came from one of my readers:

I know of one city that pays the trash truck drivers a cash bonus every time they report someone who is building or remodeling without a permit. If the drivers see any activity, they report the address to the permit office. If no permit has been issued for that address, the building inspector makes a visit. The trash truck drivers go to every house & business in the county once or twice a week, and any construction activity is easily noticed. Even swapping out an electric water heater, a very easy job, will get you busted if you toss the box & packaging out to the curb to be picked up.

I don’t know how many cities pay cash bonuses to the trash drivers but I suspect they are encouraged to report any suspicious activity to Homeland Security. Also, what if a burglar is paying a trash driver to watch for empty cartons from computers, flatscreen TVs, and home theater systems? The burglar can then target those homes for a visit!

Most of the trash truck drivers, of course, are just out to do their job and deserve our respect. Nevertheless, I suggest you keep a low profile by disposing of telltale boxes at some other location.

5. HOW TO ACTIVATE A NEW CREDIT CARD WITHOUT REVEALING YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS OR TELEPHONE NUMBER

My wife has a Visa credit card in her initials and maiden name. All the bank has is an untraceable PO box in another town. No e-mail address. No telephone number. However, each time a new credit card arrives, this message is pasted across the front:

IMPORTANT

You MUST activate your card NOW to begin using your card. CALL 1-866-537-8424 from your home phone.

Why do they insist she call from our home phone? To capture the home phone number, of course. (There is also an option to activate the card by going to the bank’s Web site, but this would involve giving them her e-mail address and revealing her IP address—both a no-no.) So what’s a person to do?

Why, call from some other phone, of course. But do not use the telephone of any friend or relative because you do not want Wells Fargo to think you live there, either, right? One way is to use a pay phone, although pay phones are getting increasingly hard to find. Another might be to call from a library. However, we prefer to wait until our next trip. Then, we call the number from our hotel room, and, thus, the card is activated.

6. HOW TO USE A LEGITIMATE RETURN ADDRESS THAT WILL NOT BE TRACED BACK TO YOU

In the UK, it is a common practice to mail letters with no return address. Nevertheless, I do not recommend it and here’s why:

Suppose you made an error in the address, or the person you sent the letter to has changed to a PO box, or perhaps has moved away? Your letter will then go to the dead-letter office where it will eventually be opened. Will your address be inside? Or even a check? Further, you may assume the letter was received, whereas actually, it was not. Many of you readers may already have a ghost address in another state or a foreign country. If so, why not use that address as your return address on some of your mail? That way, if a letter bounces, you will get it back from your mail-forwarding service.

7. HOW TO DELAY THE SERVING OF A SUBPOENA

A subpoena is an order, usually signed by a notary public, to attend a legal proceeding such as a trial or deposition. A subpoena duces tecum means you are ordered to bring certain documents with you, which can be anything from bank statements to old love letters. The purpose of a subpoena is to force you to produce something you do not want to produce, and/or to appear in a civil or criminal court case when that is on the very bottom of your “things-I’d-like-to-do” list. Although it is not correct to say that if they can’t find you they can’t serve you, this process certainly can, and often should be, delayed as long as possible, thus giving you time to think things out.

(At this late date, don’t do a Nixon and erase tapes, nor an Ollie North and shred documents. If your tape, document, or photo files need work, stop reading now and start erasing, burning, flushing, burying, encrypting, and shredding before the storm clouds gather.)

In a civil case, a subpoena can be delivered by a law firm employee, a professional process server, peace officer, or anyone else of legal age (in some counties, registered and bonded) capable of making multiple attempts, able to correctly fill out the proof or certificate of service, and who can testify as a credible witness if the service is challenged.

In a criminal case, service will be achieved if you acknowledge receipt of the subpoena by telephone or mail, as well as in person. It has even been done to those who have Facebook! The way you identify yourself (should you ever want to…) is by name, date of birth, and driver’s license number.

Delaying service of a subpoena is not for amateurs. Beyond a certain point, if it can be shown that you willfully disobeyed it, the court can issue a bench warrant for your arrest. Now is the time to call in an experienced shark—preferably of the species great white, bull, tiger, or oceanic whitetip. This lawyer will know many sneaky tricks about serving subpoenas and will, thus, be able to tell you how and up to what point you can delay service.

Now then, if service appears to be inevitable, at least take control of where and when this is to happen. Don’t get caught unaware like Franklin K. from Cleveland. He owed his lawyer money, but he had a daughter’s wedding coming up, so he chose to stall the lawyer and throw an elaborate wedding reception. The lawyer learned about this and decided to cause the most possible humiliation to his delinquent client.

At the precise moment Franklin stood up to propose a toast to the new bride and groom, the sheriff barged in and served Franklin with a subpoena! Learn from this, and if you fear you will be served with a subpoena, do not attend a public gathering where you may be known, and do not admit your identity to a stranger.

If you are served, have your legal beagle bring a motion to quash. (You may have heard that the process server must touch your face or body with the papers. Not true; he can just toss the papers at your feet, or whatever.) Have him claim that service was improper and statutory requirements were not met.

When all else fails, follow the advice of the anonymous writer who penned these words:

When uncertain,

Or in doubt,

Run in circles!

Scream and shout!

8. HOW TO HANDLE UNWANTED MAIL

Make up some stickers with either of these two messages:

• MOVED. NO FORWARDING ADDRESS

• NOT DELIVERABLE AS ADDRESSED UNABLE TO FORWARD

When an unwanted letter arrives, place the sticker over the address (but not the name). You must also black out the barcode along the bottom. Then, draw an arrow pointing back to the return address.

9. HOW TO SEND PRIVATE, SECRET INFORMATION BY E-MAIL

• Go to www.thismessagewillselfdestruct.com

• Enter a message in the box on the left.

• Enter a password. (This is an option, but is recommended. It can be something simple, such as the first name of the recipient or the number of a PO box, or the day of the week. Send a clue about this password to the recipient in advance.)

• Check the box where you accept the Terms of Service.

• Click on the button “Save This Message.”

• A URL will then show up. Click on the small icon at the end of the URL. It will say “COPY.”

• Address an e-mail to yourself first, to test this out. In the body, hit “Control + C” to paste the URL in the message. Send it.

• When the e-mail arrives, click on the URL.

• Enter the password.

• Read your test message. Remember, once you leave the page, the message is gone.

10. HOW TO CREATE AN INVISIBLE OWNER FOR YOUR NEW BUSINESS

The “owner” will be invisible because he or she does not exist. Unless fraud is involved, I believe this practice to be entirely legal. Let’s suppose your name is Anita B. Chavez, Golda A. Goldstein, or Bashiyra Binte Nur Um Lifti. You resolve to start a business via the Internet, and you decide that, in the particular field you have chosen, a generic-sounding man’s name would look better.

First, choose a three-word business name with the same initials as yours. Then invent a man’s name with the same initials. For example:

Your actual name:		Anita B. Chavez
Business name:		Awesome Birthday Cards
“Owner” name:		Albert B. Caldwell
Checks made out to:		A.B.C. (bank will allow this)

The opposite is true, of course, if you are a man who wishes to sell merchandise that will appeal to women. Choose a woman’s name that seems best to go with the product.