Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 96 posts

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#41

Post by cypherpunks01 »

stcredzero wrote: post #40
cypherpunks01 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is slightly vague on this point. It says NV/WY/NM "don’t require corporations to record their owner", but that is not really accurate. The owners are recorded when the LLCs are filed with the secretary of state, however these states are simply willing to keep the identities of the owners private, without publishing them as most other states do. As in most other states, you do need a Registered Agent, but…

The owners are recorded when the LLCs are filed with the secretary of state, however these states are simply willing to keep the identities of the owners private How hackable/social engineering proof are these state agencies? How likely is it that they are already compromised by people acting as resources for federal and non-governmental organizations?

They're just regular departments of their respective states. That is to say, probably about average susceptibility to hacking and social engineering. I don't know any specifics about what might be sent to the feds, but you can be damn sure if the IRS or any other federal agency calls the state they will fully cooperate. None of this would actually work to hide from the government, just from random non-expert members of the public.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#42

Post by gumby »

> To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address.

I don't understand: whose name appears on all the corporate vehicles driving around? A security van for Google, and Amazon delivery truck, a Brinks van: I'm supposed to think there's some employee's name on the title? What if that employee leaves?

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#43

Post by stcredzero »

cypherpunks01 wrote: post #29
CPLX wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wealthy maybe but not very wealthy. A very wealthy person would have many more options. This is more of a guide for someone that has money to burn on this as a (serious) hobby but isn't ludicrously out of reach for most readers.

I'd politely disagree, for most of the points yes, it's achievable for folks with disposable income, however I don't think the average reader (NYT or HN) can afford to buy 2 new homes and 1 new vehicle all in cash. > When he found a property to buy, he used the L.L.C. and a cashier’s check from the L.L.C.’s bank account to pay for the house in full. A mortgage was not going to be possible. > 9. Buy a boring car. > 10…

yes, it's achievable for folks with disposable income

People living in NC and TX generally have a lot more disposable income than people in CA at the same gross income level. (In that sense, those other places are more free.)

pay for the house in full. A mortgage was not going to be possible.

It's entirely possible for an LLC to lease property. I also know for a fact that there are people in Chinatown who, for a variety of reasons, can't get a mortgage, but they can get alternative financing to the tune of several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

> 9. Buy a boring car.

Very affordable. I just did this.

> 10. Buy a decoy house to fool the D.M.V.

In the Blues Brothers movie, I think one of the characters had Wrigley Field as their address. If you have friends at an organization like a church, you could use that address.

The subject of the article did it with money. There are other people who do some things like this through their connections.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#44

Post by Matticus_Rex »

mnw21cam wrote: post #6

Bitcoin is the very opposite of anonymous. Permanently recorded for posterity would be a better description. The best you can get is pseudonymous, and that's if you never actually spend any of the coin.

He didn't get targeted for having BTC -- he got targeted for being very public and loud about promoting BTC.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#45

Post by stcredzero »

jak92 wrote: post #2

Sounds good, but I suspect many of those steps won't actually work. That is, he hasn't truly vanished, maybe to online trolls who are into SWATTING.

Sounds good, but I suspect many of those steps won't actually work. That is, he hasn't truly vanished, maybe to online trolls who are into SWATTING.

If this sort of thing could be structured so that it could be delivered economically, there are a lot of YouTubers who would be a potential market for this sort of service. That level of security would be entirely appropriate for them and very valuable.

This certainly fits into the category of things that don't scale.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#46

Post by nexuist »

gumby wrote: post #42

> To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address. I don't understand: whose name appears on all the corporate vehicles driving around? A security van for Google, and Amazon delivery truck, a Brinks van: I'm supposed to think there's some employee's name on the title? What if that employee leaves?

Corporations can and do register cars in their names. I assume LLCs are not afforded the same privilege because they do not undergo the same level of regulation that a C corp does. When you're involved in a car accident, your insurance doesn't want to go through webs of shell LLCs to find out who they need to sue / file a claim with.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#47

Post by stuntkite »

SilasX wrote: post #19
ilamont wrote: post #4

I am surprised it is possible to get a corporate credit card without a human’s name or identity tied to it.

Isn't it tied to someone via the corporation's ownership, still?

A revocable trust can own an LLC. In that situation your name only exists on a piece of paper at your house. It's extremely common to get a Nevada or Delaware LLC with a revocable trust to protect identity. There are tons of libertarian companies that will sell you kits to set it all up.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#48

Post by ghaff »

nexuist wrote: post #46
gumby wrote: post #42

> To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address. I don't understand: whose name appears on all the corporate vehicles driving around? A security van for Google, and Amazon delivery truck, a Brinks van: I'm supposed to think there's some employee's name on the title? What if that employee leaves?

Corporations can and do register cars in their names. I assume LLCs are not afforded the same privilege because they do not undergo the same level of regulation that a C corp does. When you're involved in a car accident, your insurance doesn't want to go through webs of shell LLCs to find out who they need to sue / file a claim with.

A quick search suggests that a title can be transferred to an LLC. (e.g. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/transfer-private-vehicle-llc...). IANAL.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#49

Post by gumby »

chris_va wrote: post #17

> To make sure his phone wasn’t keeping a record of everywhere he’d been — and potentially transmitting it to apps he was using — he turned off all its geolocation services. ... Of course, IMEI tracking (from tower registration) can get you pretty much all of this data anyway. This article is more about how to partially obfuscate your identity to private actors. It would be interesting to know how fast a professional…

But private actors can't easily map IMEI to user. Law enforcement typically can but the article doesn't suggest he's trying to defend against them, just private actors.

Sure, individuals in law enforcement or the phone companies can be suborned (i.e. bribed) but all the procedures procedures described in the article are part of "defense in depth". And in fact some of the others make it harder to even know which IMEI to track. I don't know the IMEIs of the handsets of any of my friends -- or even my own, though I could look it up.

Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps

#50

Post by PeanutNore »

ghaff wrote: post #48
nexuist wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Corporations can and do register cars in their names. I assume LLCs are not afforded the same privilege because they do not undergo the same level of regulation that a C corp does. When you're involved in a car accident, your insurance doesn't want to go through webs of shell LLCs to find out who they need to sue / file a claim with.

A quick search suggests that a title can be transferred to an LLC. (e.g. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/transfer-private-vehicle-llc... ). IANAL.

A vehicle title and a vehicle registration are separate things, though. It's entirely imaginable that an LLC may be able to own a vehicle title while still not being able to register that vehicle.
Post reply on HN