One of my fav Wired articles was about this...
https://www.wired.com/2009/08/gone-forever-what-does-it-take...
How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
51–60 of 96 posts
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
None of this would actually work to hide from the government, just from random non-expert members of the public.
In 2019, one should be most worried about throngs of people who have less income and delusions of grandeur who can organize their groupthink online.
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When he purchased a new car, he picked a much less flashy model, and he used the L.L.C. to sign the papers. > To register his car, the D.M.V. insisted on a real name — not an L.L.C. — and a street address. As far as I can tell, the car belongs to the LLC, it's not in his name, but his real identity is a registered driver or some such to said car.
And the address his DMV records are tied to is a crap box his LLC owns somewhere he doesn't live.
It's *not the address that matters, it's linking him to a specific LLC. If he bought his car under the same LLC that bought the house where he lives, then you can find him through the LLC.
If he used one LLC for car, another for the house, the point is moot... but the article leads me to believe they are under the same LLC, hence the initial comment.
I suppose a better question to have asked would be if there was/is any benefit for the DMV associated car+house to be purchased with an LLC rather than outright?
EDIT: a word
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That's fascinating. How and why?
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#55> 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…
If you could determine the name of the LLC or the IMEI, a possible attack vectoris to social engineer/flat out bribe Cellco reps into giving you more data.
This is not that hard and there are private web forums where cellco reps surreptitiously offer their services for money/bitcoin/
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#56> 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?
I feel like another unstated risk here is that if someone can get his plate number through the DMV registration, they could buy tracking on it from one of the large ALPR firms and deduce his home location.
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#57It just all seems like cosplay. Time, expense and inconvience in order to gain anonimity from casual twitter followers? Will this protect him against a slightly funded and half motivated actor? Probably not. “Announcing Jameson Lopp as a speaker at Baltic Honeybadger 2019 Bitcoin conference #bh2019, (link: https://bh2019.hodlhodl.com ) bh2019.hodlhodl.com” https://twitter.com/hodlhodl/status/1099286199783481350 Unles…
> Will this protect him against a slightly funded and half motivated actor? Probably not.
He hired a PI to test the work. Presumably that defeats this viewpoint? Not saying it protects him from the FBI, but I'd say if a PI can't find you then anyone who does want to is going to need to be more than slightly motivated to do so.
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#58Earlier 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…
I think the premise presupposes some level of funds. I mean if you don't have any excess cash what are you worried about in the first place?
But with that said you can buy houses for $20k in lots of places in this country, which I suspect the average HN reader could probably swing.
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Vehicle registration is a common service offered by registered agent companies in the states mentioned in the article.
An out-of-state license plate could attract unwanted attention though, which may be why Lopp chose not to employ this technique.
Re: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 Not So Easy Steps
#60It's weird to see someone publishing info about how he's concealing. I'm hiding, here's how I did it. Perhaps, he sees an opportunity in concealing identity business.