By: Grandpa

Getting off databases, voter rolls, driving license registries, etc. is easy to do. How? The easiest and most effective way is to go to a new place, preferably a different country. Then, just be careful you don't get ON any lists. The whole philosophy is detailed in the series of "Bye-Bye Big Brother” reports now published by Eden Press.

Contrary to what a lot of people would like us to believe, there is no a complete police state in Canada or the USA—yet. One test of a police state is: Nothing is permitted without a permit. Where everything and anything IS permitted unless specifically forbidden by a rational law, you have relative freedom. Many places are "in between” with far too many laws declaring harmless, victimless activities as crimes.

It isn't a crime to exclude your name from most lists. For example, you don't have to provide your address and contact information to the utilities providers unless you actually use the utilities. In fact, getting on most lists is not required. One major exception, however, covers professional licenses. But even there, you can work around revealing where you sleep by making a deal to get mail and messages at a hotel.

Years of experimenting with list avoidance has taught me the "unavoidable” first step of onshore list avoidance is that you have to move. Most people, because of their current residence, end up on quite a number of databases, registries, rolls, and lists as part of their ordinary day-to-day living. State and local tax rolls, utilities, census, phone service, internet providers, cable TV, subscriptions, etc. make it almost impossible to disappear if you stay in your current residence, so be prepared to move.

Can you drop off lists without moving? You can try, but I would very seriously advise against it. It wouldn't take a private investigator long to figure out that someone has remained in the same place and simply done a paper shuffle. Your name and information will remain on the tax rolls and other documents with a high likelihood of being easily accessed. The neighbors, mailman, and utilities meter readers will all give you away.

I'm sure some people are silly enough to remain in the same place while deeding it to a Liechtenstein foundation, moving assets around, renting to themselves, and redirecting mail and such. But the fact remains, if you stay on any lists or in the places where you are known, you really haven't separated yourself from your previous information. You can be found by a good skip tracer or investigator in 24 hours or less.

After making the decision to move, you have to find a place to live that will not be required to be registered or recorded in your own name. A straw person, not known to be associated with you, can be useful in this regard. Suggestions? Secondary suites or cottages within another's estate, home or apartment (sublets). These are what I have found to be the best bets for an off-list residence. Sure you can sleep in a car or on a park bench, but PTs are not in the homeless class. Almost all the situations mentioned can have the utilities and services in the names of the prior tenant or property owner. The home owner also pays the taxes. You usually get access to services like security, high speed internet, etc., again, without your name appearing on any customer or "subscriber” list. The down-sides are fairly obvious since with a sublet, your choices are narrower than owning. Plus you don't want to spend a lot of money customizing a place you don't own.

Buying a property through a trust, foundation, or limited liability company can be an excellent idea in some cases. It allows you to use a straw person, lawyer, agent, or accountant to have all the utilities and registrations in a company's name. Panama still has bearer share companies. The down-side is that the company is easily connected to you and where you live, thus a little less private, but it's still a choice to consider.

Once you have a satisfactory physical place to live, it's best that you don't put your name on the mailbox or doorbell. Don't give out or use your address for any DHL, FEDEX, mail delivery, or telephone services, not even by using another person or company name. For any mail that does come to your location, mark it "not at this address," and drop it back in the mail. No one should know where you live or sleep. Hard copy mail or packages should be delivered to your mail drop address, or possibly to your lawyer, but even your lawyer should not know where you sleep. Likewise, a corporate owned or otherwise anonymous cell phone is much preferred to a land line connected to your residence.

If, like me, your career requires a real office or other professional address, use that address for all your mail. It helps to find a location with a city address that easily passes for a home address. Such an address can be used to apply for credit cards, vehicle registration, insurance, and licensing if you really need them. Don't connect them to your residence and never ask, "Can I use my business address?” Just give it to them.

Speaking of credit cards, there are so many stored value cards that act as a credit card that the only reason to have a real one is the borrowing power or the credit history. You don't really need either.

At this point, the biggest problem you have is the national and municipal census. You can simply not answer the door when they come around but they tend to be very persistent (I speak from experience). The good thing is they leave notices that you need to contact them. You can simply tell them you are the owner's representative but the property is currently not rented. That's just one possible strategy.

Finally, here’s a clever maneuver I learned from one of my readers. He writes:

"I need a car and driver’s license to live my PT lifestyle. I also need a passport to fly or travel anywhere. I don't own a car in my own name, and don't want one. When I do need a car, I hire one; I have no problem hiding in plain sight.

"If I need a car for longer, I can buy a cheap car, get it fully serviced, and gift it to a desperate single mother or anybody I know who wants the deal. Then I ‘lend’ it to myself until I don't need it, and give it back to the ‘owner’ when I leave the country. Naturally, I pay any parking or traffic fines, insurance, or other costs. The recipient never says ‘no’ to this deal. It’s a free car for them, and costs me less than a rental even if I need it for only a couple months. I like it better than having things owned by an LLC or some other legal entity, since they can and always will be traceable to you.

"And as far as staying in the same house or apartment you have been in in for years and then trying to get off lists, forget it. No insulation there. Incidentally, somebody mentioned that it’s becoming more difficult to travel internationally. That's not what I'm experiencing at all. If anything, the opposite is true. Leastways where I travel to and from! Of course, I stay out of the USA……”

Submitted by "Grandpa”