20 Items for Your Low Profile Life

Moving on with the low profile living theme, here's some things you may need to live on the down low:

• A pre-paid cell phone purchased with cash and not associated with your name in any way.
• A firearm not registered in your name (I am not advocating anything illegal. In many jurisdictions, you can buy a firearm from a private party and you don't have to register it in your name).
• $1000 in cash. At least.
• A netbook or laptop which is not registered in your name. Use it via free wifi portals instead of through a work or home internet service which can be traced to you.
• A generic phone calling card, paid for with cash of course.
• A ghost address (an address where you receive mail that is in no way connected to you).
• A car which doesn't have a "black box" in it (older than mid '90s for many, but not all, cars).
• A bicycle. Seriously. This in one of the few forms of transportation that doesn't need to be registered to you.
• Medical/dental care done in a foreign country (it helps if you live overseas or close to the Mexican border). Medical care in the US forms a paper trail that will follow you forever.
• A skill. Maybe many skills. With a skill you can work just about anywhere, often times without all of the paperwork that regular employment entails.
• Minimal disguises (ie: glasses, sunglasses, hats, etc).
• A bank account in some else's name (off shore accounts are growing more "iffy" by the day).
• A cross-cut shredder.
• A secure storage unit that is not associated with your name.
• A "hide out" in case you need to crash somewhere for a night or two (this could be an abandoned home, a friend's cabin, etc).
• A safe (preferably hidden where no one else knows where it is).
• Nothing with an RFID chip in it (or if there is a chip, conveniently disable it).
• If you must use store loyalty cards, have them in a random assortment of names/info (of course you will be paying cash only for your purchases).
• Electronic voice changer.
• Pre-paid Visa/debit cards.

Urban Bug Out Gear...Some Ideas

When people think about putting together a Bug Out Bag, they often think of lots of camo, lots of (impressive) weapons, and lots of other cool gear that they can pick up at the local military surplus store. In most environments, especially urban environments, you may want to think again. Here's some stuff to consider for your low-profile urban Bug Out Bag:

• Instead of an ALICE pack, consider a more urban option for carting your gear around such as a messenger bag, or urban-styled backpack (Dakine, etc)
• Instead of camo clothing, consider urban appropriate clothing in generic colors (khaki, brown, black) from REI (west coast) or LL Bean (east coast)
• Instead of combat boots, consider, again, well made urban option such as Keen or Merrell shoes/boots.
• Instead of an AK or other similarly impressive firearm, consider something much more concealable (for close quarters urban needs, a good handgun will lend an element of surprise and be more easy to conceal).
• Instead of radios to communicate with your team, cell phones are a more urban alternative if the system is still up.
• Instead of canteens hanging on your belt, consider a more urban SIGG or Nalgene water bottle in your backpack.
• Instead of a bag of MREs, consider some urban options such as beef jerky, dried fruit, nuts, and other portable foods found in your local grocery store which has a long shelf life.

Anyway, you get the idea. Take a look at your BOB and compare it to the location you are most likely to use it. Does it match? Does it stand out like a huge target? Do you look "like everyone else" or do you look like you just stepped out of a military movie? Consider "un militarizing" your BOB so that you will be able to more easily blend into your environment.

Some Ideas for Living on the Down Low

I met a number of interesting people this past week. Among them are a few who are living virtually untraceable lives. Here's how they do it:

• One person was from a foreign country and is now living with a new husband in the US. Although I am sure this person is completely documented in the USCIS system, she does not have anything in her name (bills, mortgage, car, etc).
• Another guy is now living with his elderly father. He has always kind of lived on the down low, first having lived with a girlfriend for a number of years and now with his father. He has no debts, no bills in his name, drives his father's car under whose name it is registered and insured, and while he has a driver's license, I think that is about the only official document with his name on it.
• A few people are here illegally. They simply walked across the border from Central America looking for work. I am guessing they are totally undocumented in all aspects of the word.
• One interesting lady seems to have fallen into a pretty good situation. She lives as a house sitter and often gets long term jobs (ie: summers in hot places and winters in cold places) at a variety of locations around the country. She stays in a client's home, watches their house, waters the plants, takes care of the mail, the yard, and other small tasks, and seems to live quite well.
• All of these people get by by living in someone else's residence either as a spouse, renter, border, caretaker, or other such situation which allows them to pay low or no rent with none of the usual house bills in their name.
• All of these people seem to have "under the table" job skills. You won't find a neurosurgeon working under the table (most places are sticklers for licenses, insurance, etc), but many other jobs transfer quite nicely to the "pay for work" job market (ie: handyman, care taking, agriculture jobs, construction, masseuse, etc).
• These people all seem quite charming. Personality counts when it comes to working one-on-one for others. Most jobs such as these are spread by word of mouth so making a good impression, being trustworthy, being perceived as a hard worker, and getting along with others are almost as important as their actual job skills.
• These people all carry cash. Not once did I witness anyone using a check or credit card. All, when they needed to purchase anything, used cash.
• They didn't have a lot of possessions. Lots of possessions tend to tie you down. How easy would it be to pick up and move if you have to haul a 60" TV, a desktop computer, a grand piano, a jet ski, and all of the other assorted items that the "average American" has?
• They all seemed very flexible. If you say "do you want to ____" 99.9% of the time they will say yes. They aren't stuck in a rigid schedule, don't do things the same way every day, and they are all open to opportunity (how else, I guess, would they be able to put together such unique lifestyles).
• They aren't radical anything (radically political, radically anti-government, radical anti-anything else) they just seem to have come by these lives because they are happiest living this way. I'm not so sure they live the way they do to make any kind political statement, I believe chance, interesting opportunities, minimalist living, and other more social/personal reasons prevail for their choices.
• They get the things they need in unique ways: one has a cell phone under a girlfriend's name, a couple use pre-paid cell phones more to have a lack of a monthly bill rather than to be untraceable, one is just the most charming, personable person you could ever meet and therefore is invited to a lot of things such as parties, functions, and events which means she rarely would even need to buy her own food because it is all provided to her via others.

The point of this post isn't to suggest this lifestyle for everyone. It would be difficult for many to live in such mobile, uncertain situations, even more so if you had a passel of kids, or other responsibilities to take care of. However, being open minded to opportunities and not doing things "like everyone else does" will go a long way towards making your life more interesting (and possibly more untraceable).

25 Ways to Fly Under the Government's Radar

Say you want to avoid being tracked by the government. Obviously doing one or two things won't make a difference because there are a multitude of ways to track you, and because we are all so intimately tied into easily accessible surveillance systems, it is getting easier by the day for the feds to track your every movement (and therefore more difficult by the day to avoid them). Should you want or need to avoid surveillance, consider these ideas:

1. Pay cash only; no credit/debit cards or checks.
2. Shop way out of the way stores where they do not have surveillance systems. In a similar vein, don't patronize casinos or other locations with surveillance systems.
3. Don't have anything registered in your name (boat, car, house, phone bill, etc).
4. Have a couple of separate identities with full documentation (btw this is illegal).
5. Don't travel with a passport; don't have a passport.
6. Don't travel by plane, train, or bus (most of these modes of transport require positive identification when you buy a ticket or before you board).
7. Don't have a driver's license.
8. Don't make calls from a phone (cell or home) that is registered in your name.
9. Use only disposable cell phones purchased with cash; turn off the phone and take out the battery when it is not in use.
10. Don't get involved in the legal system (no arrests, lawsuits, etc).
11. Don't apply for anything (credit cards, public welfare benefits, concealed carry license, etc).
12. Home school your children.
13. Be self employed.
14. Don't join the military or work in any field that requires a security clearance/biometrics/etc.
15. Pay your taxes on time. Better yet, be able to live an a tiny income which would preclude you from needing to pay taxes.
16. Only access the internet surreptitiously (ie: from unsecured signals on a computer that is not registered to you).
17. Don't regularly drive a car that has GPS/On Star capabilities.
18. Don't use store loyalty cards or join membership type stores (ie: Costco).
19. Have a doctor and dentist on call who can treat you without documentation (some of these providers will treat you if you pay cash and don't need anything major (narcotics, an operating suite, etc).
20. Don't have any registered firearms.
21. Don't have a bank account or other financial accounts.
22. Don't be registered anywhere online (ie: PayPal, EBay, Amazon, etc).
23. Do your own home and car repairs (don't get into anyone's 'system').
24. Don't get any tattoos/piercings/other identifiable marks on your body.
25. Don't vote, serve on a jury, or do anything else that would get you registered in a government system.

After reading this list, you may deem a task such as avoiding government surveillance impossible. You may be right. There are a very few, however, who can do this. They don't have conventional lifestyles and don't do a lot of things that we consider "living a normal life", however this is the choice they have made for whatever reason.