Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
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Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#2That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#3That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
Yeah he was caught basically because he was still using twitter, Facebook, etc. under his new identity. If he had really "dropped off the net" it's unlikely he would have been traced.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#4That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
Yeah he was caught basically because he was still using twitter, Facebook, etc. under his new identity. If he had really "dropped off the net" it's unlikely he would have been traced.
Maybe, maybe not. At least once, being on the net allowed him to see that he was close to being caught. Also, he did make use of it to throw off pursuers.
Really, though, it wasn't that he shouldn't have been using twitter. Facebook, etc., it was just that he had gotten a bit too cocky and a bit too sloppy.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#5That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
I agree; it sounds like it was actually so easy for him (after taking the time to exercise appropriate precautions) that he felt he had to make it more interesting by purposefully leaving hints and doing the "challenges."
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#6That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
Yeah he was caught basically because he was still using twitter, Facebook, etc. under his new identity. If he had really "dropped off the net" it's unlikely he would have been traced.
Instead of using a stationary relay machine in Las Vegas, he should have used a laptop connected to a mobile broadband card. That would have been quite difficult to trace. Even if you can get the IP address of one of those cards, you still only have a vague idea of where it is. If you are the law, then how do you approach the judge to get a search warrant? You have no address to ask for a search of! You can buy such a mobile card in one part of the country, then carry it with you to another, so no useful address need be attached to it.
What's more, you can arrange to have such a machine mailed to a different location across the country. In one day, for the price of a Fedex, your relay is in a different state.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#7That was really long, but actually quite interesting. It seems as though he could have disappeared if he hadn't been quit so sloppy. Plus, he did a few things deliberately to leave hints. So, if this were a matter of life and death instead of just a game, he probably could've vanished.
Yeah he was caught basically because he was still using twitter, Facebook, etc. under his new identity. If he had really "dropped off the net" it's unlikely he would have been traced.
I agree, although it isn't so much that he was using the net per se -- he was caught because he couldn't stop following his own case. But that is probably typical.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#8'Tried to vanish' but posted updates, in public, to twitter (at least long enough for google to cache them) - does not compute...
He then stopped using Tor. Or his remote-login Vegas computers as proxies. Reopened his twitter account to the public. Added local businesses as friends on twitter.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#9What I don't understand is how the general public gets access to information about his ATM withdrawals.
Re: Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here’s What Happened
#105% reality, 95% dramatization. It's not hard to disappear if nobody is looking, and in this case the "search" was an artifice created by WIRED. However, it's entertaining nonetheless.
I've "disappeared" a few times simply going about my business--by moving to new cities knowing hardly a soul, and starting from scratch: Quetzaltenango in '03, Beijing in '07 and now Buenos Aires in '09.
It can be terrifying to realize that you really can walk away from everything you've ever experienced and take for granted. It's kind of like pre-living your own death. You see exactly who remembers, who cares, and who doesn't.
And when you choose to re-engage, you deeply understand that everybody you let into your life is a choice, not an obligation.