The Vanishing contest: a nice Sunday morning read

[Onkel Neal]

On Wired.com
https://www.wired.com/2009/11/ff_vanish2/

I'm passing on this article, it was a really interesting piece about a Wired writer who went off the grid/incognito for a month, with Wired magazine offering a $5000 bounty if anyone could locate him. It sounds easy, to disappear, and the writer took some extraordinary steps to be untraceable... at first. Then, he began to taunt the hunters--people all over the world took up the challenge to sniff him out through a myriad of IT tools and techniques.

So, it seems like this was a game, not a real serious attempt to be untraceable, which I would say is possible. Interesting story.

[Aktungbby]

What the digital trail will not reflect is that a few miles past the bridge I pull off the road, detach the FasTrak, and stuff it into the duffle bag in my trunk, where its signal can’t be detected. Nor will it note that I then double back on rural roads to I-5 and drive south through the night, cutting east at Bakersfield. There will be no digital record that at 4 am I hit Primm, Nevada, a sad little gambling town about 40 minutes from Vegas, where $15 cash gets me a room with a view of a gravel pile.

THE ARTICLE'S AUTHOR MAY BE WRONG ABOUT STUFFING THE FASTRAK IN A A DUFFLE IN THE TRUNK.... THE FasTrak COMES WITH A SMALL MYLAR BAG/CONTAINER TO CUT OFF THE TRANSPONDER SO THAT ROAD SENSORS ALONG THE HIGHWAYS TO ALLOW CALTRANS TO DO TRAFFIC STUDIES CANNOT GET THE SIGNAL; NO NEED TO STUFF IT IN THE TRUNK. MOST PEOPLE AREN'T AWARE OF THE MONITORING ASIDE FROM BRIDGE CROSSINGS. AS I VALUE MY PRIVACY, MY FASTRAKS ARE ALWAYS IN THE BAG UNLESS USING THE DEVICE-CASUALLY TOSSED ON THE DASH AT THE WINDSHIELD BUT NEVER AFFIXED TO THE WINDSHIELD- FOR BAY AREA BRIDGE TRANSIT. CAL TRANS MAINTAINS THAT THE INFO FROM ROAD SENSORS IS NEVER RELEASED BUT I CANNOT THINK THAT IS THE CASE IN SAY.... A HEINOUS CHILD KIDNAP OR LAW ENFORCEMENT 'AMBER ALERT'. https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2007/06/05/lawyers-dig-into-fastrak-data/

The system also is used to monitor traffic flow on most freeways, with roadside signals that read the windshield devices as drivers cruise past. Officials say that data is scrambled to allow anonymity. None of the lawyers interviewed by the Times said they received any of that data.
Tribune sister paper Contra Costa Times requested all subpoenas and search warrants of FasTrak records since June, 2005, when oversight shifted from Caltrans to MTC.

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FasTrak

[Skybird]

Had not expected I would really read it all, but then I ended up reading it all indeed. Something fascinating in that story. But also frightening.

What strikes me is to what degree the problems and/or risks Ratliff faced, are due to the limited availability of cash money, and his habits - just habits - of being digitally connected to mass media like Facebook and Twitter.

There are some warning conclusions in that story.

If you ever plan to vanish, I would recommend to just drop all digital, electronical media usage alltogether - and with the growing acceptance of face-recognition technology and cameras, even that might not save you.

Its frightening to realise how much you are being owned.

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Had not expected I would really read it all, but then I ended up reading it all indeed. Something fascinating in that story. But also frightening.

What strikes me is to what degree the problems and/or risks Ratliff faced, are due to the limited availability of cash money, and his habits - just habits - of being digitally connected to mass media like Facebook and Twitter.

There are some warning conclusions in that story.

If you ever plan to vanish, I would recommend to just drop all digital, electronical media usage alltogether - and with the growing acceptance of face-recognition technology and cameras, even that might not save you.

Its frightening to realise how much you are being owned.

You should write a book Sky ... I'm going to start copying your advice about staying off the grid with your fiances.


and thank you too Aktungbby I didn't know all of that stuff

[Skybird]

I add these charts to illustrate how quickly the world is changing. Whether for the right direction, I have growing doubts: its plenty of of power in a very few hands.

https://twitter.com/BenedictEvans/st...22591287156736

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Skybird

Had not expected I would really read it all, but then I ended up reading it all indeed. Something fascinating in that story. But also frightening.

Yes, same here. When I started the article, I was thinking I would skim it, but it turned out to be very engrossing.

I see that it is several years old, I wonder if anything has changed that makes it easier to track people and harder to avoid detection?

Like I said, the writer did a few things to liven up the game, that made it possible to find him. I'm pretty sure if someone wanted to avoid detection, having a good pair of shoes and a wad of cash would do the trick.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

I see that it is several years old, I wonder if anything has changed that makes it easier to track people and harder to avoid detection?

No doubt, yes.

I'm pretty sure if someone wanted to avoid detection, having a good pair of shoes and a wad of cash would do the trick.

Yes, thats why I said: skip all electornic communication and media if you want to vanish, do not just use TOR. Skip it all. But even then, depending on legislation in the country you are in, practical barriers due to digitization of services and legal demands may make practicla everyday life difficult, and findign m edical help without leaving your ID even illegal.

My prioritizing of cash payment, though mostly for other reasons, is known for long now.

Like the author of that text recommended Greyhounds, at least from a 90's perspective I recommend trains and ferries, even fisherboats. Wanting to use airlines by clever deception of your ID, is a hopeless cause. I did not want to vanish back in those years when i did my travels, but I am certain by the way I managed them I have not left a digital money trace at all. Only some Visas tell about it, and even these do not cover all of my dubious, suspicious acivities.

Boy, that is so long ago.

I seem to recall that in the US there are tighter limits for the ammount of cash you can pay with or carry with you, than in Germany (which will not last for too long, I fear). In Germany, payments up to 3000 Euros can be done cash, still, and Gold can be bought anonymously up to a day's value of 10,000 Euros. A year ago it still were 15,000. So they work on tightening the screws. When you sell Gold, however, the trader will note and keep your ID for 5 years.

Vanishing will become harder an dharder if one stays within the so-called civilised world. The civilised world will become more and more a surveilled, controlled, state-owned world, with the difference between state and corporations becoming increasingly blurry.