How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, And Vanish Without A Trace

I want to preface this by saying that, if you are reading this, you probably need to at least reduce your digital footprint and/or become harder to find. Most of us have no need (or desire) to disappear completely (although you may certainly have days where you feel like disappearing). However, we are all being pursued, at minimum, by black hat hackers and social engineers who wish to gain access to our information (one of the principles outlined in the book is that your information is valuable whether you know it or not), money, etc.First, let's talk about what this book isn't. You're not going to pick this thing up and be able to put yourself in something that would dwarf federal witness protection. In some extreme cases, if you're pursued by a stalker, crazy ex, etc. (and I'm so sorry if you are and I hope and pray you get away from that person) you may garner enough basic knowledge to lead you in the right direction to disappear from your pursuer. But it's not a magic wand.Now, what this book is - it's advice from two highly successful skip tracers who are telling you how they go about finding people and subsequently ways to counteract those tracing techniques. This should increase your awareness so you know how to supplement your reading (and if you are truly trying to vanish, remember to pay cash for those resources or use the Tor browser online) and gain detailed knowledge on ways to reduce (or, if need be, eliminate) your digital footprint and therefore your exposure to cyber crime.That brings us around to the beginning. Cyber crime is way up. It's expected to increase dramatically. A good, realistic awareness of how people are tracked down or how personal information is found is needed so that you can counteract efforts of cyber criminals to victimize you . . . and they ARE seeking to victimize you . . . and everybody else. Protect yourself, your loved ones, and your data. Start educating yourself now.

If you wish to disappear and not be quickly and easily found it has many helpful suggestions on how to avoid the many common mistakes making people easy to find and how to leave false trails. For that it is worth buying. However, the authors deliberately avoid any discussion about changing your identity.As the authors point out, whether intentionally or unintentionally, it is very expensive and difficult to hide without changing your identity and you certainly cannot hide from the government without changing your identity.The authors have no experience or expertise about changing your identity so they avoid the issue by claiming it is a bad idea. They do offer one suggestion. That is, to pay someone in an impoverished country $2,000 per year to borrow their identity. However, the authors offer no suggestions as to how to do that. Nevertheless, that one suggestion and examples of how to leave false trails and to avoid common mistakes, makes the book worth buying.Otherwise, the book is a disappointment because, without changing your identity, as the authors point out, it will cost many thousands of dollars and an extreme amount of time and effort to hide from anyone willing to spend a few thousand dollars to find you.Therefore, since the book offers no help in hiding from the government, is of little value to most people. The book is of primary value to wealthy individuals that want privacy from individuals (not government) wanting to find them and willing to spend $10,000 or more to do so.If you are not hiding from the government, most people can just move and not be found since it is unlikely that anyone they know would spend several thousand dollars to find them.The vast majority of people that need to disappear, need to disappear from the government due to some minor youthful indiscretions such as having sex at age 17 with their 16 year old girlfriend and being placed on the list of sex offenders until age 40 or having a criminal record for smoking a joint. For such individuals, other than the short hint about borrowing someone's identity by paying them $2,000 per year, the book is of no value. The government does not spend money looking for and tracking these individuals. However, their youthful indiscretions prevent them from getting a good job and having a normal life.

The first few chapters had me rolling my eyes. The guy is basically tooting his own horn... and some of it seems like outlandish, over-the-top, this crap can't be true sort of stuff. However, if you can make it past chapter 5, the book really opens up and gets into the meat... and it all makes a lot of sense. When you get to that part, you'll start to understand just how he was able to pull off half the crap he was feeding you in the first half of the book - and how to stop people like him from doing it to you.The things he talks about a super cool, realistic, instructions that anyone with enough determination can pull off. Now, obviously, I have no intention of trying to disappear (as I already broke 3 or 4 rules of his - just by buying the book off Amazon and writing this review), but it has given me so much to think about when it comes to our personal information and privacy in this day and age.Keep in mind, none of what he tells you to do is illegal - some of it may fall in the 'questionable' activity area if someone finds out what you're doing. Remember the old adage about if you've got nothing to hide what are you worried about? Expect ALOT of those looks if anyone finds out your reading this stuff, and especially if you start applying it. Of course, if you really are trying to vanish, no one should know about it at all.When you get into the mail drops and the burner cell phone type stuff, it really starts to read out like a how-to spy manual. Really, fun, interesting stuff. If you like crime dramas, spy novels, or are just really concerned about your privacy or personal information, buy it and read it... tack on How to Be Invisible by J.J. Luna too.

Generalized information you can find on Google

Short book written very very simply. I wished to learn something new and was expecting something more detailed.

Low on real content.

This book won't tell you how to change your identity and escape the authorities, your debts, unplanned parenthood or a s***ty marriage. The author makes it clear several times : they do not advocate breaking the law, and changing identities in this computerized era is both more difficult and riskier than just assuming your mistakes.That being said, for people who need to not be found because you're followed by a stalker or actual criminals, this is the book about getting away, in a pretty legal way, from anyone who would do you harm ; also for those who just don't like the idea of big companies having so much intel about their lives, this may seem like a lot of work, but some will see the value.The authors take their experience as modern "bounty hunters" and tell you the usual pitfalls that made them so good at their job in their heydays. Assume obviously that methods change and they change quickly ; do not assume this book will tell you everything. A solid start, though, and makes you realize just how easy it is to screw up a carefully planned escape.

The book is filled with practical advice, the first one being don't buy the book online, don't borrow it from a library and if you buy it at a book store, pay cash, if you are serious about disappearing.I read it out of curiosity and it was illuminating. I have to say, though, that it made me feel a bit paranoid, which is apparently a must-have feeling if you actually want to disappear successfully.If you are serious about disappearing, you should definitely read it, but stick to the advice I mentioned in the first sentence!

I bought this book on a lark, and had a great time reading it. There are some very compelling reasons, I’ve now discovered, to at least minimize our profile online. The anecdotes were very entertaining and the how-to details were great.