There are many places in the world where you can disappear or vanish without a trace, but the US isn't one of those places. If you live in the US, you should already know that big brother, as depicted in "1984", is alive and well there. You have widespread government wire-tapping, red light cameras, video surveillance and a whole host of privacy-intruding technology to deal with on a daily basis.
Collected Data and Tracing People
The US social security system was put into place way back in the 1930s. The crafters of the legislation had no way of knowing how the data collected would be used later in the 20th century. Social security numbers, with the corresponding names and dates of birth, are attached to anything dealing with credit, jobs and other things that would take me hours to list.
The credit reporting agencies collect related information. As far as credit goes, they know what you've bought or sold, how late you are with payments and what your current employment status is. Credit ratings are now tied into different kinds of insurance and insurance rates are higher for people with bad credit.
Unless you live 100 percent from your wallet, never use credit, don't have any bank accounts and don't work in a normal kind of job, you can be found anywhere in the US. It's not just the FBI or other government agencies that can find you. In fact, government agencies don't have the manpower to track down everyone, even if they do have the technology and the tracking information.
There are some really bad people out there, who should not have access to the data, but have access to all of the data the agencies collect. If both the good guys and the bad guys can find you, what can you do to escape?
Move to Another Country
If you want to disappear or vanish without a trace, you have to move to another country. Impoverished countries like the Philippines are perfect places to get away from the privacy-intruding agencies (and non-agencies) of the US and other modern societies.
It's easier said than done, but it can be done. Other than my government pension arriving at a Philippines bank, the US has no way of tracking me in the Philippines. Heck, the Philippines can't even track me in the Philippines. There are only a few entities in the Philippines which have any information on me at all:
- US Embassy
- Philippine Bureau of Immigration
- Philippine National Bank
- Philippine Airlines
- Continental Airlines
- Certain stores
What information do these places have? The majority of them only have a name, address and telephone number. Only the US agencies have more.
How to Completely Disappear or Vanish without a Trace
Although the Philippines has little information on me, they still have some. The local government agencies could find me at home at almost any time because I don't have a job to go to. What if I wanted to disappear completely off the radar?
I'm a man of modest requirements and I'm able to adapt to whatever circumstances I'm in. While I love to drink coffee and tea, I could do without them if completely necessary. I can eat almost anything edible. The key word is "almost".
If I really wanted to disappear, all I would have to do is to live with a relative in one of the provinces and forgo having any money — I could make enough through ingenuity to get by. Even still, it wouldn't be hard to get to my government pension when necessary. My location wouldn't be compromised — I would simply have to take trips to bank branches in other provinces.
The vast majority of people have nothing to identify them with, other than second-party vouching. Only certain employees are registered with the government social security department (mostly government employees) and there are no credit reporting agencies. You can purchase almost anything on installment plans because cash is paid each and every time. Very few people have credit cards here and most stores don't accept anything but cash.
Advantages and Disadvantages
There are both advantages and disadvantages to living in a place where you've effectively vanished without a trace. The good people can't be found and neither can the bad people. It's a double-edged sword.
At the end of the day though, I'd rather take my chances without all my information being collected, traded, bought and sold without my knowledge or consent. At some point in the future, I may be moving back to the US. In the coming years, I'm going to learn how to stay under the radar there as well, without giving up on all of the modern conveniences.
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