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Indeed it is. https://inteltechniques.com https://inteltechniques.com has a podcast on OSINT/privacy run by a guy who performs this service to make people disap

Indeed it is. https://inteltechniques.com https://inteltechniques.com has a podcast on OSINT/privacy run by a guy who performs this service to make people disappear as best as possible (within realm of the law). His clients are mainly celebs, execs and domestic abuse victims. It is very difficult and expensive, as for full protection you need to register LLCs and legal trusts for many things like home ownership. Additionally because we live in a surveillance capitalism dystopia, one little mistake can ruin everything and cause you to start over.

krackers 6y ago
Would the techniques be similar to those used in witness protection programs?
- phobosanomaly 6y ago
  I looked around and was only able to find that Witness Protection offers a name change, with a lot of the service being relocation under that new name. I'd be curious to see if they go beyond a simple name change and issue, for example, a new SSN and birth certificate.
  - bonzini 6y ago
    Considering the security nonsense that SSNs are (essentially using a username as a password) they really should be replacing at least that one.
  - octoberfranklin 6y ago
    Yes, they do issue you a new SSN. In fact federal witness protection is just about the only entity that can change someone's SSN outside of the other two exceptions: (a) it contained the digits "666" or (b) it was issued consecutively with that of a relative. Both (a) and (b) are vanishingly rare nowadays.
helsinkiandrew 6y ago
Unless you're going to live as a near hermit or change country I wonder how effective all of this is in the long run without plastic surgery. If you wander in front of someone taking a photo that ends up on facebook, or socialise with people who post things on social media or someone from your home town sees you and mentions it to someone else. I think I'd always be looking over my shoulder
- yourapostasy 6y ago
  You are correct. Unless you pay for everything in cash or through a company front, it is extremely difficult to stay off the identity grid. Changing countries raises the bar, changing to a non-OECD nation raises it further, but you give up certain benefits of access to an advanced tech tree in exchange. In the US I helped a female relative obscure her trail somewhat from a stalker when she sold her residence and moved states. She could not get classified under the domestic violence identity protection program of her state until she suffered physical abuse of some kind recorded by the police. There was "only" police report of the stalker arriving outside her front door in a doorman-guarded complex, with security footage of him banging on her door for ~10 hours. Twice (after that, the complex security knew him by sight and threw him out the next three times before he gave up). So be aware that most of these types of programs across the US are reactive and not proactive. With enough money and patience, a lot of everyday people can be eventually found unless they submerge themselves into a highly-insular community. However, above a certain threshhold of money and effort, I believe the advantage accrues to the hider instead of the seeker, even with nation-state resources at the seeker's fingertips. I believe it is far more time-efficient for the seeker to burrow their way into the hider's network of contacts.
jacquesm 6y ago
"If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me".

krackers 6y ago

Would the techniques be similar to those used in witness protection programs?

phobosanomaly 6y ago
I looked around and was only able to find that Witness Protection offers a name change, with a lot of the service being relocation under that new name. I'd be curious to see if they go beyond a simple name change and issue, for example, a new SSN and birth certificate.
- bonzini 6y ago
  Considering the security nonsense that SSNs are (essentially using a username as a password) they really should be replacing at least that one.
- octoberfranklin 6y ago
  Yes, they do issue you a new SSN. In fact federal witness protection is just about the only entity that can change someone's SSN outside of the other two exceptions: (a) it contained the digits "666" or (b) it was issued consecutively with that of a relative. Both (a) and (b) are vanishingly rare nowadays.

helsinkiandrew 6y ago

Unless you're going to live as a near hermit or change country I wonder how effective all of this is in the long run without plastic surgery. If you wander in front of someone taking a photo that ends up on facebook, or socialise with people who post things on social media or someone from your home town sees you and mentions it to someone else. I think I'd always be looking over my shoulder

yourapostasy 6y ago
You are correct. Unless you pay for everything in cash or through a company front, it is extremely difficult to stay off the identity grid. Changing countries raises the bar, changing to a non-OECD nation raises it further, but you give up certain benefits of access to an advanced tech tree in exchange. In the US I helped a female relative obscure her trail somewhat from a stalker when she sold her residence and moved states. She could not get classified under the domestic violence identity protection program of her state until she suffered physical abuse of some kind recorded by the police. There was "only" police report of the stalker arriving outside her front door in a doorman-guarded complex, with security footage of him banging on her door for ~10 hours. Twice (after that, the complex security knew him by sight and threw him out the next three times before he gave up). So be aware that most of these types of programs across the US are reactive and not proactive. With enough money and patience, a lot of everyday people can be eventually found unless they submerge themselves into a highly-insular community. However, above a certain threshhold of money and effort, I believe the advantage accrues to the hider instead of the seeker, even with nation-state resources at the seeker's fingertips. I believe it is far more time-efficient for the seeker to burrow their way into the hider's network of contacts.

jacquesm 6y ago

"If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me".