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Dropping Off The Grid: A Growing Movement In America Part II


by Monty Henry on Friday, November 2, 2012 at 04:21pm

Please Do Not Request Additional Information.
Complete Article Can Be Found Here: http://tinyurl.com/cbgogkq

So you've decided you want to drop off the map and leave Big Brother behind.
It's harder than ever in our always-connected world, but if you're ready to plan
your big vanishing act, here are a few tips to get you started.


Now is your chance to flee society. Drop off the grid. Pull a Thoreau. Be you a
survivalist, an environmentalist or a cheapskate-ist, you can join the growing
movement of Americans embracing off-grid living.
"There's a desire to step out of the rat race, and in America, that goes very
deep in the national psyche," says Nick Rosen, author of "Off the Grid: Inside
the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern
America" and editor of www.off-grid.net . "You know, the pioneering spirit and
sturdy self-reliance -- these things which define the American character."

For some off-griders, it's a matter of having little or no impact on the
environment -- literally living off the power grid. This lifestyle has been
championed by celebrities Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr. Then there are those
who no longer want to be a blip on the societal radar.

Who hasn't thought about how nice it would be to start fresh somewhere new,
preferably with nicer weather and cheaper drinks? Whatever your reasons for
wanting to disappear maybe you just want to get The Man off your back with
enough diligence and planning you can vanish and start anew somewhere else.
For the low down on disappearing and starting your life over, we turned to the
book How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and
Vanish without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn and Eileen C. Horan. Frank Ahearn is
the grizzled grandfather of the vanishing act. After 20 odd years working as a
skip tracer an investigator who specializes in finding people who don't want
to be found he realized he could make just as much money and incur a lot less
risk helping people avoid investigators like himself. We've culled a few of
Ahearn's tips below, but if you're really serious, his book is a great pocket
guide to getting lost.

How Not to Disappear

The cardinal sin in any serious disappearance is drama. You don't successfully
vanish by staging an elaborate disappearing act that ultimately involves a tri-
state search, police dogs, and your home town believing that you were mauled by
a bear and dragged off into the dark night. Ahearn stresses the importance of
disappearing in a legal fashion. You shouldn't, for example, try and secure
false papers: It's a felony to use false identification, and you have no idea if
the papers you secured are legitimate. (What if your new social security number
belongs to a dead guy or a criminal? What if the passport you bought is bogus
and now you're staring down a customs agent?). Instead, you want to obfuscate
your identity in a way that it's so difficult for people to follow you that
anything short of a government task force will lack for the patience or funding
to keep doggedly trying to find you. Here's a little about how that might work.

Minimize Your Social Connections

People who hurriedly throw all their crap in a suitcase and run out the back
door are the ones who fail at disappearing. Instead, one of your most important
jobs, prior to your successful disappearance, is to slowly cut the fat from your
social life. Stop using Facebook ditch all social networks maybe under the
pretense that you're spending too much time online (or any other pretense that
people around you will accept besides "I'm going to torch my crappy life and
move to Belize").

You want to minimize the social footprint you occupy so that when suddenly
you're not standing in it anymore, few people will notice or care. If you're the
most prominent member of the local social scene and you vanish tomorrow, people
will notice. Minimizing your virtual trail is more important than minimizing
your real life trail. It takes mere minutes for an investigator to comb through
social networks and search results, but hours and additional expenses to
investigate on foot and by phone.

The one social connection most people are unwilling to ditch is communication
with their immediate family. Unless your immediate family is the reason you're
pulling a vanishing act, chances are you'll still want to talk to your parents
or siblings. This can the toughest communication to break, and it's where almost
everyone fails. All the planning in the world is worthless if you call your
relatives from your new location and a skip tracer gets her hands on the phone
records. If you want to communicate with your family or best friend after you've
vanished from the less desirable people in your life, then you need to figure
out, well in advance, how you will do so. Never communicate with them directly
from any account linked to your new life or new residence. Anonymous email
accounts and prepaid phone cards and cellphones are the only way you're going to
be finding out if Grandma's hip surgery went well.

Ditch the Plastic: Cash Is King

Get used to the idea of ditching the luxuries you had in your former life. Gone
are the credit cards, the convenience cards and loyalty cards, even simple
things like a video rental card. Pay cash for everything and don't use anything
that could link your new life and your plans to your old life. Don't check out
books about Chile from your local library or buy them with a credit card. Don't
use a credit card or frequent flier miles to book a flight out of the country.
Your goal in everything you do is to minimize the number of connections between
your old life and your new life. Whenever you undertake an interaction with
another person or business, ask yourself "Is this the least traceable method I
could use?" Paying cash for a cup of coffee at an old coffee shop? Obscure.
Paying with a credit card for a cup of coffee at an airport kiosk under the eye
of four different security cameras? Not stealthy in the least. Cash is king.

Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More

Ahearn goes into intense detail on the topic of disinformation and its
importance in disappearing. He notes that the thing skip tracers hope for most
is just enough information too little and they'll never find their prey, too
much and they'll waste all their time and funding looking in the wrong places.
Your goal is to create disinformation.

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Dropping Off The Grid: A Growing Movement In America: Part II: http://tinyurl.com/b89y8fp

  • 1. Dropping Off The Grid: A Growing Movement In America Part II by Monty Henry on Friday, November 2, 2012 at 04:21pm Please Do Not Request Additional Information. Complete Article Can Be Found Here: http://tinyurl.com/cbgogkq So you've decided you want to drop off the map and leave Big Brother behind. It's harder than ever in our always-connected world, but if you're ready to plan your big vanishing act, here are a few tips to get you started. Now is your chance to flee society. Drop off the grid. Pull a Thoreau. Be you a survivalist, an environmentalist or a cheapskate-ist, you can join the growing movement of Americans embracing off-grid living. "There's a desire to step out of the rat race, and in America, that goes very deep in the national psyche," says Nick Rosen, author of "Off the Grid: Inside the Movement for More Space, Less Government, and True Independence in Modern America" and editor of www.off-grid.net . "You know, the pioneering spirit and sturdy self-reliance -- these things which define the American character." For some off-griders, it's a matter of having little or no impact on the environment -- literally living off the power grid. This lifestyle has been championed by celebrities Daryl Hannah and Ed Begley Jr. Then there are those who no longer want to be a blip on the societal radar. Who hasn't thought about how nice it would be to start fresh somewhere new, preferably with nicer weather and cheaper drinks? Whatever your reasons for wanting to disappear maybe you just want to get The Man off your back with enough diligence and planning you can vanish and start anew somewhere else. For the low down on disappearing and starting your life over, we turned to the book How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn and Eileen C. Horan. Frank Ahearn is the grizzled grandfather of the vanishing act. After 20 odd years working as a skip tracer an investigator who specializes in finding people who don't want to be found he realized he could make just as much money and incur a lot less risk helping people avoid investigators like himself. We've culled a few of Ahearn's tips below, but if you're really serious, his book is a great pocket guide to getting lost. How Not to Disappear The cardinal sin in any serious disappearance is drama. You don't successfully vanish by staging an elaborate disappearing act that ultimately involves a tri- state search, police dogs, and your home town believing that you were mauled by a bear and dragged off into the dark night. Ahearn stresses the importance of disappearing in a legal fashion. You shouldn't, for example, try and secure false papers: It's a felony to use false identification, and you have no idea if the papers you secured are legitimate. (What if your new social security number belongs to a dead guy or a criminal? What if the passport you bought is bogus and now you're staring down a customs agent?). Instead, you want to obfuscate your identity in a way that it's so difficult for people to follow you that anything short of a government task force will lack for the patience or funding to keep doggedly trying to find you. Here's a little about how that might work. Minimize Your Social Connections People who hurriedly throw all their crap in a suitcase and run out the back door are the ones who fail at disappearing. Instead, one of your most important jobs, prior to your successful disappearance, is to slowly cut the fat from your social life. Stop using Facebook ditch all social networks maybe under the pretense that you're spending too much time online (or any other pretense that people around you will accept besides "I'm going to torch my crappy life and
  • 2. move to Belize"). You want to minimize the social footprint you occupy so that when suddenly you're not standing in it anymore, few people will notice or care. If you're the most prominent member of the local social scene and you vanish tomorrow, people will notice. Minimizing your virtual trail is more important than minimizing your real life trail. It takes mere minutes for an investigator to comb through social networks and search results, but hours and additional expenses to investigate on foot and by phone. The one social connection most people are unwilling to ditch is communication with their immediate family. Unless your immediate family is the reason you're pulling a vanishing act, chances are you'll still want to talk to your parents or siblings. This can the toughest communication to break, and it's where almost everyone fails. All the planning in the world is worthless if you call your relatives from your new location and a skip tracer gets her hands on the phone records. If you want to communicate with your family or best friend after you've vanished from the less desirable people in your life, then you need to figure out, well in advance, how you will do so. Never communicate with them directly from any account linked to your new life or new residence. Anonymous email accounts and prepaid phone cards and cellphones are the only way you're going to be finding out if Grandma's hip surgery went well. Ditch the Plastic: Cash Is King Get used to the idea of ditching the luxuries you had in your former life. Gone are the credit cards, the convenience cards and loyalty cards, even simple things like a video rental card. Pay cash for everything and don't use anything that could link your new life and your plans to your old life. Don't check out books about Chile from your local library or buy them with a credit card. Don't use a credit card or frequent flier miles to book a flight out of the country. Your goal in everything you do is to minimize the number of connections between your old life and your new life. Whenever you undertake an interaction with another person or business, ask yourself "Is this the least traceable method I could use?" Paying cash for a cup of coffee at an old coffee shop? Obscure. Paying with a credit card for a cup of coffee at an airport kiosk under the eye of four different security cameras? Not stealthy in the least. Cash is king. Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More Ahearn goes into intense detail on the topic of disinformation and its importance in disappearing. He notes that the thing skip tracers hope for most is just enough information too little and they'll never find their prey, too much and they'll waste all their time and funding looking in the wrong places. Your goal is to create disinformation.