Cash anyone?

Anyone who's used [mint.com] will notice that there's already software in place that tracks purchasing habits - all they need now is a government subpoena...

Okay, this is here because worrying about where you leave hairs is important?

Christ, if you don't want to be found in the United States, then leave the United States. Leave the modern world entirely if you want.

there is a perfect way to hide, just toss away this mortal coil and no government can catch, unless you believe in an afterlife, then you got a problem, in that case, go to the middle east and travel to Africa via local transportation and live in a forest with the locals

@chouchou: Exactly. Pay in cash, get paid in cash. Prostitutes, drug dealers, etc etc lots of people pull it off.

POS tracking has been in place for a long time. For example, if you cc number shows up for X returns in Y days you're blacklisted. That's by a private group. The government has all sorts of extra information tied to your SSN. Google has even more.

Uh, if you read like, 2 paragraphs of this "essay," it's obviously an escape guide for people who have just commited a serious crime. Comparisons to OJ, multiple references for how to handle cops, not leaving any DNA behind...the only lengths one has to go to to get "off the grid" in modern America is to use only cash. All ya gotta do. Wanna buy a house? Then you're on the grid anyway, and you would have been in olde-tymie America too.

Speaking of tracking, when did everyone start using their return address on mail they send out? I grew up in the early 80s, and I remember hardly any mail at that time having that information.

The author conveniently gave the latitude and longitude in the Mojave Desert where a person on the run can hide after taking super extreme drastic measures to disappear.

It was the most amusing article (and complete waste of eyesight) I've been exposed to all month.

@chouchou:

The 'cash anyone?' remark is sort of missing the point. Have you seen the movie Conspiracy Theory, in which Mel Gibson's character is located via a purchase of Catcher in the Rye?

They're not saying any single purchase will do this, but potentially, some time in the future, if they notice that chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, salad fixings, and the occasional key lime pie are regularly bought from a grocery store (and this will be tracked, allegedly) then they have good reason to suspect that I am shopping there on a regular basis.

It's combinations of certain purchases that are unique or nearly unique to a very small number of people, this is what will allow them to identify people.

@Alvis: Yeah !! And why is it that the post office clerks get all freaked out when you try to mail a small parcel without a return address ?? Many times I've been told, 'oh but we must have a return address'. Why ? I see no good reason.

They couldnt give me a good reason.

"Consider shaving your arms if you're a man -- seriously. Women usually do in the United States and it's perfectly acceptable for men to do likewise."

Oh crap! I've been walking around all this time with my arm hair intact. How embarrassing.

The article lacks any mention of tinfoil hats, which would be highly important if you're trying to avoid any sort of detection/interference by government/big business.

@InThrees: Well, in that movie, his character had an implanted urge to get copies of the catcher in the Rye. So when they were looking for him, they knew he would purchase THAT book during times of stress, and investigated any purchases of it in the city.

@Alvis:
Speaking of tracking, when did everyone start using their return address on mail they send out?

Since forever. It's not a "tracking" thing. The post office has to return your mail if it's undeliverable, hence the return address. Just because you never noticed it doesn't mean it never happened.

@Suzi: "Women usually do in the United States "

Yeah, what women does he know????

(I dated a swimmer once who shaved his arms for meets. Creepiest. Thing. Ever.)

@Suzi: Yeah...me too. Really, does anyone shave their arms? I know a couple girls who did it in high school and it was very itchy and embarrassing for them to grow it back in. I would think that unless you're willing to make a time commitment to shaving your arms every morning when you're on the run, it's not a hot idea.

Let's face it, gadget-fans. Our particular hobby can renders us particularly unprivate people. These days, you can't so much as turn on a telephone without telling a half-dozen corporations everything from your birthday to your blood type.

The first thing this made me think of was the "How not to be seen" sketch from Monty Python

@BritBoy: Remember shortly after 9/11 when people started getting envelopes full of anthrax?

Yeah, that's one reason why they want return addresses. Obviously, you could put your neighbor's address if you're mailing out poison but they won't deliever anything if the sender leaves the corner completely blank.

Let me pose a situation for you.

You go to a cash machine to withdraw money. You withdraw money and little did you know that the money in the machine was cataloged for their serial numbers bu the FBI. So now "the man" knows the numbers on your money. When that money gets used by you later, on the run from "the man" you use that money for gas in some US border town before you make your great escape. At the end of the day that gas station manager takes all his money to the bank and deposits it for the night. Whoop whoop! RED FLAG! You moneys serial numbers just popped up in Laredo, TX. The FBI is en route to Texas. Better hurry.

Money is not safe either.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a paranoid guy or a conspiracy theorist. This stuff is just obvious if you just think about it.

CAROOFIKUS AT 09/25/07 10:40 PM said:

"Anyone who's used [mint.com] will notice that there's already software in place that tracks purchasing habits - all they need now is a government subpoena..."

Many companies are willing to turn over that information WITHOUT A SUBPOENA.
AT&T is an example by regarding actually volunteering to work with Homeland security to track millions of their customers calls without notification to the customer that their privacy rights are being violated by doing this.

They are already viewing our spending habits. Look at the Kroger Plus cards, the CVS pharmacy cards. It's a paranoid essay, yes, but sadly naive.

In the future? No. It's already done.
Citigroup and other large financial institutions that have credit cards have some of the most sophisticated data mining operations on the planet. Data mining techniques on purchases allow these companies to validate purchases (and also target new offers and new customers better). You thought they just GUESS when to call you about if you bought something they thought was unusual? HA.

@Suzi:
@Eyebrows McGee:
@kimsama:

I shave my arms and I'm female. I have black hair and the hair on my arms was black as well and it really bothered. Just a little something that makes me feel better about myself.

@awelfle: Yeah, but you don't have to supply them with your information or even sign up for them. I always take the card but don't give them my address.

@alice_bunnie: That assumes 1) if I provide a known valid address, the USPS can't do what my postage pays them to do or 2) I care if I get my letter back.

I take the first for granted, and the second isn't a legitimate cause for suspicion, yet it's become as such.

@BritBoy:

Off the back of my head, sending out death threats to people.

I had a friend who was african american, when him
and his wife moved to a new neighborhod years ago, they got death threats mailed to them.

No return address, but they did eventually find out who was mailing it anyway. Iroically, it turned out not to be racially motivated, but the letters themselves were racist in nature and it was unnerving for them.

You could do what I do.

Write the address of the person you want to send the letter to in the "return" area, and your name in the "To" area. Don't put any postage.

They'll "return" the letter to the person, claiming insufficient postage.
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I'm such a rat bastard.

You guys don't seriously put your own name and address on your Giant discount cards, do you?

Do you?

Every time I go to Target, they give me a $1.50 off coupon for their store brand bath tissue automatically. It's good TP, no doubt.

Does anyone know where I can buy one of those machines that removes the tracking device from your body through the nose? Like in Total Recall.