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Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

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Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#61

Post by mirimir »

leroy_masochist wrote: post #8

It's a really interesting topic and I'd say I was disappointed by the article for several reasons: 1. Very outdated in terms of the extent to which people hiding today would leave a digital signature. The article literally suggests leaving no available photographs of you, to the point where acquaintances have to work with a sketch artist to put your picture out. 2. Some very naive suggestions for jobs to take while o…

For the most part, I don't see the point.

For me, at least, what matters is keeping stuff private that I want private. For everything else, my primary goal is being unremarkable, except for career reputation and so on. Trying too hard to disappear just attracts attention, no?

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#62

Post by nickpsecurity »

mirimir wrote: post #61
leroy_masochist wrote: post #8

It's a really interesting topic and I'd say I was disappointed by the article for several reasons: 1. Very outdated in terms of the extent to which people hiding today would leave a digital signature. The article literally suggests leaving no available photographs of you, to the point where acquaintances have to work with a sketch artist to put your picture out. 2. Some very naive suggestions for jobs to take while o…

For the most part, I don't see the point. For me, at least, what matters is keeping stuff private that I want private. For everything else, my primary goal is being unremarkable, except for career reputation and so on. Trying too hard to disappear just attracts attention, no?

You're thinking along the right lines. They think in profiles of people that look or act a certain way. Some are much more traceable than others. You have to pick a profile that resists traceable tech while blending into that overall group. In my area, it's probably the rural rednecks given they have believable reasons to use little tech and mostly use cash. Those two traits, especially, have to be part of the culture to blend into less traceability.

Also, plenty nearby wifi connections for you to use with a cantenna. So, suburbs bridging city and rural types are best. ;)

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#64

Post by bbcbasic »

aquateen wrote: post #49
mirimir wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You posted an ad hominem attack on police in America. That doesn't even belong on reddit, although it's more common there. That said, police in America are stuck dealing with the consequences of many short-sighted policy decisions. They are not properly trained for social work, mental health services, and so on.

http://laurencetennant.com/bonds/adhominem.html

HN Rule 1 - he/she who Latins first ... wins the argument. Game over.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#65

Post by nickpsecurity »

kragen wrote: post #27
ryanlol wrote: post #23

Certainly an interesting writing style: >Remove the radiator filler cap if the engine is cold. (Opening the cap with the engine hot can get you badly burned. The fluid can start to boil once the pressure is relieved and spray all over you. The fluid will be quite painful resulting in first and second-degree burns. It's not likely to be disfiguring but if you accidentally burn yourself, you can very well go ahead with…

People get steam-scalded by car radiators all the time, even though they know that "touching hot things burns."

Very true. We warn people out here. My take is, if they know anything at all about it, that they intuitively think it will be OK when the car is off. They don't realize that the radiator keeps doing its thing for a while. I've had to shout to plenty of people "No, don't touch that shit! Wait an hour or two!"

It's the "little" things people rarely thing about that get them the most.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#66

Post by [deleted] »

samstave wrote: post #45
seibelj wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit would be a better place for comments like this. HN is for reasonable discussion

Jesus Christ I'm tired If this, get off your high horse and have the guts to have "a reasonable discussion" on a topic that doesn't fit within your comfort zone. You are a coward for posting your snide comment on an attempt to look intellectually superior. The state of the police in the US is a disease... Defend that if you're so inclined. Your snipey comment to try to quell discourse is abhorrent, and shows you're i…

[deleted]

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#67

Post by mirimir »

bbcbasic wrote: post #64
aquateen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://laurencetennant.com/bonds/adhominem.html

HN Rule 1 - he/she who Latins first ... wins the argument. Game over.

De gustibus non disputandem ;)

But what about Sanskrit?

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#68

Post by terryf »

megablast wrote: post #60
aaron_m04 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Made-up tinfoil-hat "facts". For example: "Satellites can bounce LASER light off of your windows and, by measuring the minute distance differences between a vibrating window and the satellite, reconstruct your speech -- from orbit!" I agree that this is untruthful, but speech reconstruction _is_ possible if the distance is much smaller (across the street, rather than dozens of km up in the sky).

> The pinnacle of laser surveillance (which is actually a real thing) is measured in the hundreds of meters. You skipped the very next line, which says exactly this. On top of that, while I don't think satellite laser listening tech exists, we don't in fact know what they are capable off.

I work with environmental data, part of which includes global measurement of wind speed at the water surface. Now, I'm certainly not an expert on how the sensors work exactly, but as far as I have read, satellites bounce microwaves off the surface of the water, where the wind creates ripples - not the big waves, but the small ones, often less than a centimeter in height. The scatterometer then analyzes the height differences of the ripples (differences are in millimeters or less) and runs a model to figure out how fast and from which direction the wind is blowing.

Based on this I would not be surprised if something similar as described in the grandparent post is possible with the latest and greatest in spy satellites. I'm guessing it would only be used with extremely high-value targets though. There is some interesting information available via the NRO if you dig around a bit.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#69

Post by WillyNourson »

I love this thing because if you remove the first four points, it's just a good how-to about life in general. Actually if you follow these rules you may never have to vanish :

#Discard your old life. #Limit the resolve and resources of your opposition. #Run from your opposition (and your old life.) #Hide from your opposition.

Make new friends. Acquire a (new) identity. (Legal papers: Birth record, Social Security #) Find gainful employment. Pay your taxes. Get medical, life, and automotive insurance. Get a credit card -- and keep it paid up. Perhaps take college courses to learn a new marketable skill. Acquire and maintain respectability in your community. Find a wife or husband: Make a (new) family. Don't drink heavily, don't use any illegal drugs, don't do any crimes. Die with dignity.

Re: Vanishing Point: How to disappear in America without a trace (2012)

#70

Post by morganvachon »

anigbrowl wrote: post #38
morganvachon wrote: post #18

A nitpick (beyond the spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors throughout): The part about "most states in the Union require 24 hours before reporting a missing person" is nothing but a Hollywood trope. The fact is, most agencies require a missing person to be entered into their respective state's database within a few hours of the report. I can say unequivocally that Georgia has a two-hour window, as I've entered m…

It's a trope with a basis in fact - that used to be the standard until relatively recently. I have had occasion to file 2 missing person reports and both times I was told on my first call that the person hadn't been gone long enough to justify a report. Both incidents were >10 years ago and obviously things have changed since then.

Then I would say the agency you called wasn't conforming to their state's regulations and was potentially endangering lives. I worked in law enforcement from 1999 to 2013 and missing persons cases always had a timely entry regulation during that time. My state's regulations are copied nearly verbatim from the federal rules (NCIC).
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