Found a good "BBS Text" link? Let Us Know!

This paper is presented in an historical context and is indicative of the various rants, raves, treatises, etc., that were prevalent in the old BBS (Bulletin Board Service) days. Content has not been changed, though formatting changes may have taken place to make it more presentable. (Spelling, sentence/paragraph structure, etc.) Wherever possible, credit is given to the originating source.

 Return to BBS Text Files

100 Ways To Disappear And Live Free

(C) 1972 Eden Press Revised 1985

INTRODUCTION

To "live free" means to be able to control your own life and to avoid violence, or the threat of violence, by others. What you do and how you do it will almost always determine whether or not freedom will be yours. But YOU must take the responsibility for creating your own freedom. No one, especially the "government" will do it for you. To "disappear" means to make it impossible for other people to invade your personal world of freedom. Since most of such invasion is by means of electronic data gathering and cross-referencing, you must be able to short-circuit these procedures effectively.

The most efficient method today is through the use of what we call "alternate identification". If the new names and numbers you plug into the networks don't match the old ones, you have not only "disappeared", but have also been "reborn". And being reborn means leaving your past records where they can no longer affect you and your lifestyle.

This "disappearing" of individuals is obviously discomforting to institutions and governments determined to control personal activities in the Land of the Free. To them it appears downright seditious, since in reality their power depends directly on the number of people they can control -- through computerized records, of course.

To those who actually "disappear", however, the act is one of tremendous personal liberation. Free men owe very little to those who restrict opportunities on the basis of past records. An extreme example, which nevertheless applies to all of us, is this: When a person convicted of a felony has served his full sentence, is he then "free"? Hardly. What he will experience is really a LIFE SENTENCE of second-rate opportunity.

And what happens to the convict, in practice, happens to *everyone* who manages to have negative personal information placed in his "records". When it comes to the point of a person's having to live with a condemning past and ever- narrowing opportunities, it becomes easily understandable why he should be willing and anxious to scuttle his labeled identity and take on another.

Becoming a new identity, however, involves many things and requires careful attention to detail, as we shall show. At the heart of this process, though, is the ATTITUDE a person must assume if he is to make it work. He must forget about his "government"; he must become his own government, answerable only to himself, with his own rules, laws, and systems of behavior. This is an existential "moment" few are disciplined enough to experience, but it can be done. The result will be a growing detachment from BIG BROTHER and a corresponding increase of personal freedom.

The individual needn't worry about what would happen "if everybody else did this" because they WON'T. The object is for individuals, acting as individuals, to declare their mental independence from whatever System is attempting to enslave them. As individuals they are the best judges of what degree of slavery they can accept, how far down the road they can go before becoming robots for BIG BROTHER. Simply put, it's the Sheep and the Wolves. The Sheep go to slaughter, the Wolves wherever they wish...

There are numerous intermediate tactics between total compliance and complete disappearance, such as refusing to give your Social Security number (or giving it incorrectly), avoiding taxes, obtaining several foreign citizenships and passports, setting up bank accounts in several other countries, and planning at least two routes of escape to other countries, but in the end you will discover there really is no freedom in the world -- *YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN*. You must learn how to protect your own rights as you define them. No one else will do it for you, *NO ONE*. The object of this publication is to suggest ways an individual can, in practice, escape his past and secure a new future, *on his own terms*. Individuals will vary greatly in how they carry out their disappearances, and it is our hope that the ideas we present here are useful towards those ends. We make no claims of completeness or of exhausting the subject, as that could be potentially dangerous were individuals to rely solely on this information.

We must stress that everyone should think over his situation as carefully as possible, and then pick and choose which among our methods are best suited for his needs. Above all, he must begin using his head, trusting his hunches and instincts, and thinking of himself as separate, different, and even superior to those stuck in the System. He will have to become a Wolf. He must stand alone to be free.

--Barry Reid
January 1978

DISAPPEARING

If you need to dump your car, sell it yourself to a private party for cash. Be very careful not to reveal anything to this person about your real plans or reasons for selling. He would be an ideal source of information of this nature for snoopers, thanks to the efficiency of auto registration systems throughout the country. The buyer will, of course, be an excellent place to dump your *fake* information...

Once you relocate, should you need another car, pay cash for it even if it represents lowering your "status". Delay registering it as long as possible. By the time you do, hopefully you will have established a new identity completely unknown to the last owner of the car.

Changing completely your "profile" of the type of car you drive might help reinforce your new identity, too. If you last had a large, domestic, expensive car, try for small, foreign, economy car. Avoid splashy colors and styling, however. Look dull. Red cars get more attention from highway patrols--a proven fact.

If you need to move large amounts of personal property and can't handle the job yourself, hire some "no name" movers from a city or two away, and have them put your stuff in some kind of public storage where you control access. Days, weeks, or months later, have another mover transfer your goodies to your new address. Plan this latter move for a time when you feel there might be the least chance of surveillance of the storage premises. *DO IT QUICK*. Avoid any intervening visits to check up on your stored items. Remember, too, to give false and misleading information to the agents who rent the storage space to you.

Sever all ties with any unions, clubs, lodges, or other organizations to which you belong. Become a "lost" member. It's best to leave these groups "cold", that is, don't go around cashing your interests in special funds or private accounts to the point where it becomes obvious you're intending to pull up stakes. Leave a few bucks on the books.

*Never* send in Change-of-Address forms to publishers of magazines or other periodicals, and certainly don't leave such a form at the local Post Office. Your mail will be returned to sender stamped, "Moved, left no forwarding address", or "Unable to Forward", or words to this effect.

Never become friendly with the landlord. Hold up your end of the rental agreement, and he will undoubtedly be pleased to leave you completely alone. Landlords are fertile sources of information for snoops, so consider every conversation with them the same as if you were talking with the FBI. In this case, however, you are perfectly free to lie, mislead, and deceive all day long with impunity, so DO IT. Remember, however, that if you burn him for the rent when you split, you will gain not only an unpaid creditor but also an enemy who will bend over twice to help skip tracers.

Life insurance should be cancelled or allowed to lapse. If there is any cash value, take the money before you split. Insurance companies are great gatherers of personal information, so be sure not to tip off agents regarding your plans. Give them believable excuses like deciding to go with another carrier or your employer's group plan, etc.

When you change houses or apartments, be careful not to leave behind items that might serve as indicators of your past, your interests, hobbies, or lifestyle. Books and clothing items you no longer need should be donated anonymously to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

If you have grown children make it clear to them they will never know where you really are. Correspond through mail drops and make phone calls from pay booths if you must communicate. Cutting family ties can be painful, but sometimes the alternatives hurt more. Ideally, parents should train their children never to give personal information to third parties. Agents and investigators should be told to "get a warrant".

Don't worry about being tracked down by your photo. Tracing by photo isn't done unless you're a fairly notorious person, usually with a reward on your head. You've got to be "worth" the great effort and expense. It *is* possible to trace a person this way, but modern cops and dicks don't do it unless there is no other way *and* the search is justified. The FBI admits that at any one time there are at least 75,000 fugitives in the U.S., so the Post Office photos can't really be working all that well, eh?

It can be super-cool to room in someone else's apartment or home. Check the daily newspapers for ads under heading like "Rooms to share", "Rentals to share", or "Apartments to share". This way all records relating to occupancy will already be in someone else's name. You will make arrangements with the current occupant only, not the landlord and the various utilities. This arrangement is well suited to someone wanting to put lots of "distance" between one identity and another, a great way to "get lost", even if only a few blocks away. Once a new identity has been set up--a process that can take several weeks or months for someone wanting foolproof identity--he is much freer to appear, fully reborn, wherever he pleases.

Avoid getting involved in lawsuits or failing to respond to citations. If you have to split in a hurry, and can't make an appearance, you've just bought yourself a possible bench warrant which will be happily enforced the next time a traffic officer pulls you over for a "broken tail light". It is a well-known fact that arrests of most cons and fugitives are made in "circumstances unrelated to their crimes". Stops for traffic violations are number-one such "circumstances"....

Pets can be a drag if you need to move in a hurry, so consider your situation carefully if you simply must have one. Also, most urban areas require registering of certain kinds of animals, especially dogs. You can avoid registering them as long as possible, and give totally false information when an inspector catches up to you.

If you own or are buying a home, but want to disappear, arrange to have an attorney handle the sale and escrow. Attorneys can generally be counted on to follow their client's instructions, and are usually quite careful about divulging information to third parties (snoops). Short of a court order, data relating to their clients is considered private or "privileged". You will want to instruct your attorney in the manner of forwarding funds to you. He will have several ideas along this line, such as a trust account, conversion to cash, or deposit made out of state or the country.

There should be no problem in his handling the details of the sale once you grant him the power of attorney for this purpose. Don't be afraid to pay him well for his services, as he will remain a known "link" between your old and new lives. Should other methods of tracing fail, investigators will put pressure on him. Since most attorneys enjoy a good battle of wits, protect yourself by keeping him on your side. Wealthy people have always used smart attorneys to cover their moves, and so can you.

Similarly, if you have recently been the beneficiary of a will or have an interest in an estate, notify your executor that further transactions are to be directed through your attorney. Your address can thus be kept from public records. Since may probate matters can drag on for years, your present address will have to be known to executor. It shouldn't bother him that you wish a little privacy. If the estate in question is of great value to you, you would naturally want an attorney to look out for your interests, so this is the perfect excuse. Attorneys should be *used*.

If minor children are involved in your disappearing act, things can get complicated if they can't or won't cooperate with you. You will probably be changing identity, so you will have to get them to accept at least a new surname. Be serious about it and they should get the message. They will have to cut off contact with old neighborhood friends, and will have to enroll in new schools under their new names. Since most schools require records and transcripts to be sent from the last school of attendance, and enrollment of kindergarteners and first graders to be accompanied by birth certificates, a little ingenuity and cleverness is in order.

First, birth certificates can easily be faked as there are many sources of blank forms. Check the classified ads in any of the national tabloids ("Midnight", "The National Enquirer", etc.) under such headings as "Certificates" and "Miscellaneous". The ID cards offered by these mail order firms are often accompanied by free birth certificates, too. For more information on birth certificates and alternate identities, order a copy of "THE PAPER TRIP II", from Eden Press ($19.95).

In this latter book, you will also get ideas into how to create "records" of past activities, methods which will work in helping you cover your children's tracks as well. The basic technique is to recreate the records you want, provide the address of a mail forwarding service as that of the source of those records, and handle all correspondence *yourself*. By using photo duplication of altered documents, a little rubber-stamping, or even some "quick-print" offset printing, you can easily and rather quickly come up with working solutions to some of the most baffling problems in starting a new identity. You can have a field day creating all kinds of "backgrounds". The only limitation is your own imagination. These methods WORK, too!!

It would usually be a good idea not to give children an advance warning they are about to split the neighborhood, as they will be quick to tell their friends and schoolmates. Once on the move, keep them from communicating until you arrange for them not to give away your location. Mail forwarding services can help here, too. Have them begin using their new last names right away.

If you belong to an Automobile Association, let your membership lapse. If you decide to rejoin, do it several months later under a new name, or join some other Auto Club under the new name.

If you use a particular barber or beauty shop, give no indication you are about to move or make any kind of radical change in your life. Talk about the weather, politics, or sports, but keep you private thoughts from becoming popular knowledge. Gossip thrives in these places. The same goes for bars, pool halls, liquor stores, and restaurants which you have frequented in the past. Don't tip them off.

If you're planning to remain in the same general area, don't use your old library card anymore. Chuck it and apply for another at another branch, under another name, of course.

When dealing with any real estate people to set up you new location, use only your *new* name. Many real estate firms also handle rentals, and are thus good sources for tracers if they have a general idea where you are, or are headed. This underlines the need to begin creating a new identity *before* you decide to "move".

When you notify the utilities and telephone company to discontinue service, tell them not to send any refunds (if they are due) or closing bills until you notify them, as you are relocating and are not yet sure of the address. This way you will not be leaving any leads in this fertile field for investigators.

If you plan to remain in the general area serviced by the same utility company or companies, it would be advisable to have service begun either several weeks *before* you move (under the new name), or several weeks *after* you move. Snoops would find "connect" requests within five to ten days of your move worth investigating, dig?

If you ship personal property via UPS or common carrier, don't give them the address where you intend to locate, not even the city. Simply tell them to ship to one of their pick-up points reasonably nearby your new location. Tell them you won't have definite address for several weeks, and that you will pick the stuff up "Will Call". To put a good kink in pursuers' trail, collect your items at this latter destination and ship again, via another carrier, to a location nearer your actual destination. Do the "Will Call" number again, though. A cardinal operating procedure is never to establish a link between the new and the old. Use blind addresses, aliases and other covers to screen the actual transactions. Time delays work in your favor also, the longer the better.

If you decide to hawk your possessions before disappearing, be extremely careful not to give away your real reasons for doing so (you could be going into missionary work in Uruguay), and definitely not the destination you have in mind. You could even pretend you are an employee of the person moving, and that the "boss" is moving his business to another state.

A gambit used by many fly-by-night employers, such as carnival operators, is to claim that they can never make decisions (write checks) without their "brother's" approval and signature. Gee, they'd love to pay you, but their "brother" is tied up out of town until a week from next Tuesday.... Meanwhile, the operator splits.

If you decide to use a pawn shop for certain items, again, be discreet and careful not to divulge any information regarding your move. Pawnshops are natural haunts for snoops. Unless you're used to dealing with them, it might be safest to sell your items openly. Pawnshop operators are very astute observers of people, and you could easily tip them off without intending to. They can sense desperation before you even come through the door.

Although procedures vary from state to state, it is generally possible to trace a person through his vehicle registration. If you plan to take your car with you, as a first measure simply don't notify the Motor Vehicle people of your change of address. Sometime before you must pay the registration fees again, either sell the car outright, or, arrange a dummy sale to yourself under your new name--a transaction that can often be done by mail.

There is a national clearinghouse for vehicle registrations, which means a particular vehicle, if properly registered, can be traced through its various sequential owners. It would be a shame that one's love for his car were greater than for his personal freedom, but many people will want to "take it with them". A two-stage dummy sale would be much safer, especially if one of the transactions took place in another state. Registering the car in the name of a business could be another ploy to consider. The registration of other personal property, such as boats, trailer, and airplanes should be considered in the same light as that for automobiles.

Allusions to "going back East ", or "returning to college" can be helpful smoke screens in evading inquisitive landlords. Never let them know where you're really going.

J. Edgar Hoover stated many times that fully 90% of all arrests by the FBI are due directly to the "helpful cooperation" of neighbors and relatives. Need we say more?

Should you have school-age children and not want them to attend public schools, you can:

a. Find a suitable private school, 
b. Tell the neighbors the children are feeble-minded and that you are tutoring them at home, 
c. Tell the inquisitive you are a transient visitor from Mississippi, Virginia, or South Carolina, states which have repealed compulsory attendance laws, 
d. Move every three months or so to prevent rumors from spreading too far, and/or, 
e. Keep the children under cover during school hours.

Don't take the bus cross-country. Terminals are notorious hangouts for snoop informers who appraise bus travelers.

Keep your home, job, personal activities, and hobbies well separated, even self-contained. Don't let heat in one area endanger any of the others. How? Read on...

Keep the address of where you actually live a well-guarded secret. This is *VERY IMPORTANT*.

Never carry your actual address on you or in your car.

Let only those who are trustworthy and have a genuine need know your actual address. Set up a "legal" address somewhere else, such as a closet at a friend's house, containing some misleading personal effects (books on subjects you have no interest in, and clothes a few sizes away from your own). He can thus point to something if ever questioned; but, of course, he hasn't the slightest notion when you'll be returning from India...

Use this "legal" address for all your ID which you plan on using regularly, such as drivers license or state ID. Provide it also for your employer's records, should it be required.

If you need a telephone, not only have it unlisted, but have the records in a phony name. Let only the address be correct among the facts you are asked to provide. A small cash deposit is a small price to pay for anonymity.

Rent your apartment, house, etc., under yet another phony name, if you wish. Always pay utility bills and rent with money orders or cash. Cash doesn't have your name on it, and you never have to provide your correct name on a money order. Keep a few receipts with your current alias written on them in case you still haven't obtained a good ID. Virtually any recognizable paper document "with your name on it" can be good enough for you to "identify" yourself if stopped for questioning. When you are between identities, this is the most convenient way of proving you are at least more "substantial" than an escaped convict...

Receive all your mail at a 24-hour Post Office box. Use your "legal" address to obtain the box, or any "friendly" address for that matter. Once you have the box, and continue to pay the rent for it, you can move every day of the week, and the Post Office won't care.

Instead of a P.O. box you can employ a mail forwarding service. They will generally cooperate fully with you in your efforts to keep a good distance between you and anyone else, whatever your reasons. Most newspapers carry their ads in the classified section under "Personals". With two or more services you can route your mail in and out of the country, or from one coast to the other and back again, each mailing under a different "code" name. Houdini never had it so easy.

For people (and bill collectors) you want to "lose", provide a forwarding address out of the country. You can arrange to have letters mailed from foreign countries stating that you have no intention of ever returning. If they are to creditors, tell them to write you off and save the collection expenses.

Another ruse for covering tracks is to write "deceased" on the face of incoming mail. Drop unopened into public mail boxes. All but professional snoops will get the hint.

By far the most useful method of learning about a person "cold" is through his driver's license, a copy of which any investigator has no difficulty receiving. A postage stamp and the right request gets him the information in a few days. The best way to make sure snoopers draw a blank is to change your identity via one of the workable methods detailed in "THE PAPER TRIP II", from Eden Press.

Thanks to computers and credit cards, virtually everyone has lost his privacy, but the right maneuvers in the personal identity field can liberate an individual rather quickly from such information tyranny. Indeed, resorting to methods of "disappearing" are really the only feasible ways of evading what amounts to electronic control of your life. When you exercise the option of unplugging yourself from the computerized data exchanges, you can in fact "start over", or at least regain and maximize your personal privacy. We think it's well worth it.

It can be good discipline to do without a savings or checking account. If you must have one, set it up under a good alias for which you will need supportive ID. A driver's license or state ID card under a phony name can be obtained using any of the methods shown in "THE PAPER TRIP II", and the Social Security "number" you give can be totally fake, even made up right on the spot. Just remember as you recite your "number" that it has nine digits, however. For IRS purposes, the SS# used for your checking account is of no value, and on your savings account serves only as a cross check for the reporting of interest. This latter purpose, it has been revealed, is of little consequence in that the IRS virtually never bothers to verify interest reporting statements sent in by the banks. They have relied on the "basic honesty" of taxpayers...

A solid set of ID in another name is what can truly be called "freedom insurance". With the growing threat of arrest and prosecution for leading a "free" life, it's plainly comforting to have the option to cut and run, even if you choose not to.

Obtaining alternate ID should be done *before* you get into trouble. Take the time to do it right. In an emergency many other matters will compete for your time. In the future first-class ID may become more difficult to obtain, too.

The best ID to obtain is obviously that which is issued directly by government agencies themselves. Using forged, stolen, or counterfeited ID is bust in itself. Privately-issued ID is more lightweight, but in lieu of government-issued ID, can serve the same purpose, namely, protection from harassment. It won't get you a passport though.

With "legal" ID you will find no trouble in doing many tasks which would otherwise prove impossible or extremely difficult at best. Also with "legal" ID the risk of detection is reduced to a minimum. When and if you choose to disappear, you can appear instantly "identifiable".

With government-issued ID you can effectively erase the curse of a jail or prison record. Tens of thousands of "free" Americans carry with them the permanent label of "felon" or "ex-con". The real crime begins only after a person leaves the joint; legal and social ostracism continue all their lives. What better reason to disappear?

If you had the misfortune to receive a less-than-honorable discharge from the armed forces (thousands do so annually), the acquisition and use of an alternate identity will be your first step in beginning to live free. Even though you may have lost all or most of your G.I. "benefits", you'll at least be able to get a decent job--now. Watch out for fingerprinting, however. Big Brother has your prints, and will be only too happy to prove you're one of those "Dirty, rotten, rat-fink, Commie deserters". And you thought honest criminals had it bad...?

Using an alternate identity is another way of covering up bad employment, too, particularly if the law was involved in some adverse way, such as in cases of theft, embezzlement, etc. In some occupational circles the word gets around efficiently--and fast.

By obtaining the right documents individuals can rather easily take on foreign citizenships, too. Most countries have much more lax "safeguards" against paper penetration of their document systems than the U.S. Although superficially the more centralized countries appear to have better control of their subjects, it is precisely this bureaucratic patina of confidence and superiority that makes their record systems more vulnerable to subversion. If bribes and theft don't work (they usually do), then the documents themselves are very susceptible to forgery and counterfeiting. By approaching the right "trade ministers", many international businessmen have obtained numerous "legitimate" foreign citizenships, passports included. IT CAN BE DONE, U.S. "law" notwithstanding.

Many people have made a regular practice of beating creditors and collection agencies through the adroit use of aliases and alternate identities. They are living proof that debts belong to yesterday. Financially they live quite free--today.

A quick way up the occupational ladder is to combine mail order school diplomas, certificates, and degrees with expert ID. Not only can a clean break with the past be achieved, but a sharp increase in income as well. The only limit here is your imagination and desire.

Some of the sharpest operators create ID as a physician or clergyman and rake in commercial discounts as well as hundreds of free offers and special deals once their names get on "preferred" mailing lists. Such ID can be of great benefit socially, too.

Alternate ID is the quickest way to starting all over in the credit world. The most atrocious credit record is gone forever when your old name disappears. This is an oversimplification, of course, but what else can be said when your aren't "you" anymore?

Once some form of commercial or consumer credit is established, it becomes very easy to obtain all the various forms of credit cards, from bank cards to the Travel and Entertainment cards. Complete plans for starting all over in the credit game are outlined and detailed in "CREDIT", from Eden Press.

Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven "Raw Data for Raw Nerves"

EDEN PRESS
P.O. BOX 8410 
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA 92708

 

Please Read The Website Disclaimer!
Copyright 2006, The Survival & Self-Reliance Studies Institute (SSRsi), All Rights Reserved
Site conceptualized, designed, created & maintained by MEG Raven
Snail Mail: SSRsi, PO Box 2572 Dillon, CO. 80435-2572