INTRODUCTION

To "live free" means to be able to control your own life
and to avoid violence, or the threat of violence, by others.
What you do and how you do it will almost always determine
whether or not freedom will be yours. But YOU must take the
responsibility for creating your own freedom. No one,
especially the "government" will do it for you.
To "disappear" means to make it impossible for other
people to invade your personal world of freedom. Since most
of such invasion is by means of electronic data gathering and
cross-referencing, you must be able to short-circuit these
procedures effectively.

The most efficient method today is through the use of
what we call "alternate identification". If the new names
and numbers you plug into the networks don't match
the old ones, you have not only "disappeared", but have also
been "reborn". And being reborn means leaving your past records
where they can no longer affect you and your lifestyle.

This "disappearing" of individuals is obviously discomforting
to institutions and governments determined to control
personal activities in the Land of the Free. To them
it appears downright seditious, since in reality their power
depends directly on the number of people they can control --
through computerized records, of course.

To those who actually "disappear", however, the act is
one of tremendous personal liberation. Free men owe very
little to those who restrict opportunities on the basis of past
records. An extreme example, which nevertheless applies
to all of us, is this: When a person convicted of a felony
has served his full sentence, is he then "free"? Hardly.
What he will experience is really a LIFE SENTENCE of second-rate
opportunity.

And what happens to the convict, in practice, happens to
*everyone* who manages to have negative personal information
placed in his "records". When it comes to the point of a
person's having to live with a condemning past and ever-
narrowing opportunities, it becomes easily understandable
why he should be willing and anxious to scuttle his labeled
identity and take on another.

Becoming a new identity, however, involves many things
and requires careful attention to detail, as we shall show.
At the heart of this process, though, is the ATTITUDE a person
must assume if he is to make it work. He must forget
about his "government"; he must become his own government,
answerable only to himself, with his own rules, laws, and
systems of behavior. This is an existential "moment" few
are disciplined enough to experience, but it can be done.
The result will be a growing detachment from BIG BROTHER and
a correspoding increase of personal freedom.

The individual needn't worry about what would happen "if
everybody else did this" because they WON'T. The object is
for individuals, acting as individuals, to declare their
mental independence from whatever System is attempting to
enslave them. As individuals they are the best judges of what
degree of slavery they can accept, how far down the road
they can go before becoming robots for BIG BROTHER. Simply
put, it's the Sheep and the Wolves. The Sheep go to slaughter,
the Wolves wherever they wish...

There are numerous intermediate tactics between total
compliance and complete disappearance, such as refusing to
give your Social Security number (or giving it incorrectly),
avoiding taxes, obtaining several foreign citizenships and
passports, setting up bank accounts in several other countries,
and planning at least two routes of escape to other countries,
but in the end you will discover there really is no freedom
in the world -- *YOU MUST CREATE YOUR OWN*. You must
learn how to protect your own rights as you define them. No
one else will do it for you, *NO ONE*.
The object of this publication is to suggest ways an
individual can, in practice, escape his past and secure a
new future, *on his own terms*. Individuals will vary greatly
in how they carry out their disappearances, and it is our
hope that the ideas we present here are useful towards those
ends. We make no claims of completeness or of exhausting
the subject, as that could be potentially dangerous were
individuals to rely solely on this information.

We must stress that everyone should think over his situation
as carefully as possible, and then pick and choose
which among our methods are best suited for his needs. Above
all, he must begin using his head, trusting his hunches and
instincts, and thinking of himself as separate, different,
and even superior to those stuck in the System. He will
have to become a Wolf. He must stand alone to be free.

--Barry Reid

I. DISAPPEARING

If you need to dump your car, sell it yourself to a private party
for cash. Be very careful not to reveal anything to this person about
your real plans or reasons for selling. He would be an ideal source of
information of this nature for snoopers, thanks to the efficiency of
auto registration systems throughout the country. The buyer will, of
course, be an excellent place to dump your *fake* information...

Once you relocate, should you need another car, pay cash for it
even if it represents lowering your "status". Delay registering it as
long as possible. By the time you do, hopefully you will have
established a new identity completely unknown to the last owner of
the car.

Changing completely your "profile" of the type of car you drive
might help reinforce your new identity, too. If you last had a large,
domestic, expensive car, try for small, foreign, economy car. Avoid
splashy colors and styling, however. Look dull. Red cars get more
attention from highway patrols--a proven fact.

If you need to move large amounts of personal property and can't
handle the job yourself, hire some "no name" movers from a city or two
away, and have them put your stuff in some kind of public storage where
you control access. Days, weeks, or months later, have another mover
transfer your goodies to your new address. Plan this latter move for a
time when you feel there might be the least chance of surveillance of
the storage premises. *DO IT QUICK*. Avoid any intervening visits to
check up on your stored items. Remember, too, to give false and
misleading information to the agents who rent the storage space to you.

Sever all ties with any unions, clubs, lodges, or other organizations
to which you belong. Become a "lost" member. It's best to leave
these groups "cold", that is, don't go around cashing your interests
in special funds or private accounts to the point where it becomes
obvious you're intending to pull up stakes. Leave a few bucks on the
books.

*Never* send in Change-of-Address forms to publishers of magazines
or other periodicals, and certainly don't leave such a form at the local
Post Office. Your mail will be returned to sender stamped, "Moved,
left no forwarding address", or "Unable to Forward", or words to this
effect.

Never become friendly with the landlord. Hold up your end of the
rental agreement, and he will undoubtably be pleased to leave you
completely alone. Landlords are fertile sources of information for
snoops, so consider every conversation with them the same as if you
were talking with the FBI. In this case, however, you are perfectly
free to lie, mislead, and deceive all day long with impunity, so DO IT.
Remember, however, that if you burn him for the rent when you split, you
will gain not only an unpaid creditor but also an enemy who will bend
over twice to help skip tracers.

Life insurance should be cancelled or allowed to lapse. If there
is any cash value, take the money before you split. Insurance companies
are great gatherers of personal information, so be sure not to tip
off agents regarding your plans. Give them believable excuses like
deciding to go with another carrier or your employer's group plan, etc.

When you change houses or apartments, be careful not to leave behind
items that might serve as indicators of your past, your interests,
hobbies, or lifestyle. Books and clothing items you no longer need
should be donated anonymously to the Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

If you have grown children make it clear to them they will never
know where you really are. Correspond through mail drops and make
phone calls from pay booths if you must communicate. Cutting family ties
can be painful, but sometimes the alternatives hurt more. Ideally, parents
should train their children never to give personal information to third
parties. Agents and investigators should be told to "get a warrant".

Don't worry about being tracked down by your photo. Tracing by
photo isn't done unless you're a fairly notorious person, usually with
a reward on your head. You've got to be "worth" the great effort and
expense. It *is* possible to trace a person this way, but modern cops
and dicks don't do it unless there is no other way *and* the search is
justified. The FBI admits that at any one time there are at least
75,000 fugitives in the U.S., so the Post Office photos can't really be
working all that well, eh?

It can be super-cool to room in someone else's apartment or home.
Check the daily newspapers for ads under heading like "Rooms to share",
"Rentals to share", or "Apartments to share". This way all records
relating to occupancy will already be in someone else's name. You will
make arrangements with the current occupant only, not the landlord and
the various utilities. This arrangement is well suited to someone
wanting to put lots of "distance" between one identity and another, a
great way to "get lost", even if only a few blocks away. Once a new
identity has been set up--a process that can take several weeks or months
for someone wanting foolproof identity--he is much freer to appear,
fully reborn, wherever he pleases.

Avoid getting involved in lawsuits or failing to respond to citations.
If you have to split in a hurry, and can't make an appearance,
you've just bought yourself a possible bench warrant which will be
happily enforced the next time a traffic officer pulls you over for
a "broken tail light". It is a well-known fact that arrests of most cons
and fugitives are made in "circumstances unrelated to their crimes".
Stops for traffic violations are number-one such "circumstances"....

Pets can be a drag if you need to move in a hurry, so consider your
situation carefully if you simply must have one. Also, most urban areas
require registering of certain kinds of animals, especially dogs.
You can avoid registering them as long as possible, and give totally
false information when convassing inspector catches up to you.

If you own or are buying a home, but want to disappear, arrange
to have an attorney handle the sale and escrow. Attornies can generally
be counted on to follow their client's instructions, and are usually
quite careful about divulging information to third parties (snoops).
Short of a court order, data relating to their clients is considered
private or "privileged". You will want to instruct your attorney in
the manner of forwarding funds to you. He will have several ideas
along this line, such as a trust account, conversion to cash, or deposit
made out of state or the country.

There should be no problem in his handling the details of the sale
once you grant him the power of attorney for this purpose. Don't be
afraid to pay him well for his services, as he will remain a known "link"
between your old and new lives. Should other methods of tracing fail,
investigators will put pressure on him. Since most attorneys enjoy a
good battle of wits, protect yourself by keeping him on your side.
Wealthy people have always used smart attorneys to cover their moves,
and so can you.

Similarly, if you have recently been the beneficiary of a will or
have an interest in an estate, notify your executor that further
transactions are to be directed through your attorney. Your address can
thus be kept from public records. Since may probate matters can drag
on for years, your present address will have to be known to executor.
It shouldn't bother him that you wish a little privacy. If the estate
in question is of great value to you, you would naturally want an
attorney to look out for your interests, so this is the perfect excuse.
Attorneys should be *used*.

If minor children are involved in your disappearing act, things can get
complicated if they can't or won't cooperate with you. You will probably
be changing identity, so you will have to get them to accept at least a
new surname. Be serious about it and they should get the message. They
will have to cut off contact with old neighborhood friends, and will have
to enroll in new schools under their new names. Since most schools
require records and transcripts to be sent from the last school of
attendance, and enrollment of kindergarteners and first graders to be
accompanied by birth certificates, a little ingenuity and cleverness is in
order.

First, birth certificates can easily be faked as there are many
sources of blank forms. Check the classified ads in any of the national
tabloids ("Midnight","The National Enquirer", etc.) under such headings
as "Certificates" and "Miscellaneous". The ID cards offered by these
mail order firms are often accompanied by free birth certificates, too.
For more information on birth certificates and alternate identities, order
a copy of "THE PAPER TRIP II", from Eden Press ($19.95).

In this latter book, you will also get ideas into how to create
"records" of past activities, methods wchich will work in helping you
cover your children's tracks as well. The basic technique is to
recreate the records you want, provide the address of a mail forwarding
service as that of the source of those records, and handle all
correspondence *yourself*. By using photo duplication of altered
documents, a little rubber-stamping, or even some "quick-print" offset
printing, you can easily and rather quickly come up with working solutions
to some of the most baffling problems in starting a new identity. You
can have a field day creating all kinds of "backgrounds". The only
limitation is your own imagination. These methods WORK, too!!

It would usually be a good idea not to give children an advance
warning they are about to split the neighborhood, as they will be
quick to tell their friends and schoolmates. Once on the move, keep
them from communicating until you arrange for them not to give
away your location. Mail forwarding services can help here, too. Have
them begin using their new last names right away.

If you belong to an Automobile Association, let your membership lapse.
If you decide to rejoin, do it several months later under a new name, or
join some other Auto Club under the new name.

If you use a particular barber or beauty shop, give no indication you
are about to move or make any kind of radical change in your life.
Talk about the weather, politics, or sports, but keep you private
thoughts from becoming popular knowledge. Gossip thrives in these
places. The same goes for bars, pool halls, liquor stores, and
restaurants which you have frequented in the past. Don't tip them off.

If you're planning to remain in the same general area, don't use your
old library card anymore. Chuck it and apply for another at another
branch, under another name, of course.

When dealing with any real estate people to set up you new location,
use only your *new* name. Many real estate firms also handle rentals,
and are thus good sources for tracers if they have a general idea where
you are, or are headed. This underlines the need to begin creating a
new identity *before* you decide to "move".

When you notify the utilities and telephone company to discontinue
service, tell them not to send any refunds (if they are due) or closing
bills until you notify them, as you are relocating and are not yet sure
of the address. This way you will not be leaving any leads in this
fertile field for investigators.

If you plan to remain in the general area serviced by the same utility
company or companies, it would be advisable to have service begun
either several weeks *before* you move (under the new name), or
several weeks *after* you move. Snoops would find "connect" requests
within five to ten days of your move worth investigating, dig?

If you ship personal property via UPS or common carrier, don't give them
the address where you intend to locate, not even the city. Simply
tell them to ship to one of their pick-up points reasonably nearby your
new location. Tell them you won't have definite address for several
weeks, and that you will pick the stuff up "Will Call". To put
a good kink in persuers' trail, collect your items at this latter
destination and ship again, via another carrier, to a location nearer your
actual destination. Do the "Will Call" number again, though. A cardinal
operating procedure is never to establish a link between the new and the
old. Use blind addresses, aliases and other covers to screen the actual
transactions. Time delays work in your favor also, the longer the better.

If you decide to hawk your possessions before disappearing, be extremely
careful not to give away your real reasons for doing so (you could be
going into missionary work in Uruguay), and definitely not the
destination you have in mind. You could even pretend you are an
employee of the person moving, and that the "boss" is moving his business
to another state.

A gambit used by many fly-by-night employers, such as carnival
operators, is to claim that they can never make decisions (write checks)
without their "brother's" approval and signature. Gee, they'd love to
pay you, but their "brother" is tied up out of town until a week from
next Tuesday.... Meanwhile, the operator splits.

If you decide to use a pawn shop for certain items, again, be discreet
and careful not to divulge any information regarding your move.
Pawnshops are natural haunts for snoops. Unless you're used to
dealing with them, it might be safest to sell your items openly.
Pawnshop operators are very astute observers of people, and you could
easily tip them off without intending to. They can sense desperation
before you even come throught the door.

Although procedures vary from state to state, it is generally possible
to trace a person through his vehicle registration. If you plan to
take your car with you, as a first measure simply don't notify the
Motor Vehicle people of your change of address. Sometime before you
must pay the registration fees again, either sell the car outright, or,
arrange a dummy sale to yourself under your new name--a transaction
that can often be done by mail.

There is a national clearinghouse for vehicle registrations, which
means a particular vehicle, if properly registered, can be traced
through its various sequential owners. It would be a shame that one's
love for his car were greater than for his personal freedom, but many
people will want to "take it with them". A two-stage dummy sale would be
much safer, especially if one of the transactions took place in another
state. Registering the car in the name of a business could be another
ploy to consider. The registration of other personal property, such
as boats, trailer, and airplanes should be considered in the same light
as that for automobiles.

Allusions to "going back East ", or "returning to college" can be
helpful smoke screens in evading inquisitive landlords. Never let them
know where you're really going.

J. Edgar Hoover stated many times that fully 90% of all arrests by the
FBI are due directly to the "helpful cooperation" of neighbors and
relatives. Need we say more?

Should you have school-age children and not want them to attend
public schools, you can:

a. Find a suitable private school,
b. Tell the neighbors the children are feeble-minded and that you are
tutoring them at home,
c. Tell the inquisitive you are a transient visitor from Mississippi,
Virginia, or South Carolina, states which have repealed compulsory
attendance laws,
d. Move every three months or so to prevent rumors from spreading
too far, and/or,
e. Keep the children under cover during school hours.

Don't take the bus cross-country. Terminals are notorious hangouts
for snoop informers who appraise bus travelers as "only niggers, spics,
college beatniks, and other commie types". (You'd never believe who
said this, but then again, you may very well know...)

Keep your home, job, personal activities, and hobbies well separated,
even self-contained. Don't let heat in one area endanger any of the
others. How? Read on...

Keep the address of where you actually live a well-guarded secret.
This is *VERY IMPORTANT*.

Never carry your actual address on you or in your car.

Let only those who are trustworthy and have a genuine need know your
actual address.
Set up a "legal" address somewhere else, such as a closet at a friend's
house, containing some misleading personal effects (books on subjects
you have no interest in, and clothes a few sizes away from your own).
He can thus point to something if ever questioned; but, of course,
he hasn't the slightest notion when you'll be returning from India...

Use this "legal" address for all your ID which you plan on using
regularly, such as drivers licence or state ID. Provide it also for
your employer's records, should it be required.

If you need a telephone, not only have it unlisted, but have the
records in a phoney name. Let only the address be correct among the
facts you are asked to provide. A small cash deposit is a small
price to pay for anonymity.

Rent your apartment, house, etc., under yet another phoney name,
if you wish. Always pay utility bills and rent with money orders or
cash. Cash doesn't have your name on it, and you never have to provide
your correct name on a money order. Keep a few receipts with your
current alias written on them in case you still haven't obtained a good ID.
Virtually any reconizable paper document "with your name on it" can be
good enough for you to "identify" yourself if stopped for questioning.
When you are between identities, this is the most convenient way of
proving you are at least more "substantial" than an escaped convict...

Receive all your mail at a 24-hour Post Office box. Use your
"legal" address to obtain the box, or any "friendly" address for that
matter. Once you have the box, and continue to pay the rent for it,
you can move every day of the week, and the Post Office won't care.

Instead of a P.O. box you can employ a mail forwarding service.
They will generally cooperate fully with you in your efforts to keep a
good distance between you and anyone else, whatever your reasons. Most
newspapers carry their ads in the classified section under "Personals".
With two or more services you can route your mail in and out of the
country, or from one coast to the other and back again, each mailing
under a different "code" name. Houdini never had it so easy.

For people (and bill collectors) you want to "lose", provide a
forwarding address out of the country. You can arrange to have letters
mailed from foreign countries stating that you have no intention of
ever returning. If they are to creditors, tell them to write you off
and save the collection expenses.

Another ruse for covering tracks is to write "deceased" on the face
of incoming mail. Drop unopened into public mail boxes. All but
professional snoops will get the hint.

By far the most useful method of learning about a person "cold" is
through his driver's licence, a copy of which any investigator has no
difficulty receiving. A postage stamp and the right request gets
him the information in a few days. The best way to make sure snoopers
draw a blank is to change your identity via one of the workable methods
detailed in "THE PAPER TRIP II", from Eden Press.

Thanks to computers and credit cards, virtually everyone has lost
his privacy, but the right maneuvers in the personal identity field can
liberate an individual rather quickly from such information tyranny.
Indeed, resorting to methods of "disappearing" are really the only
feasible ways of evading what amounts to electronic control of your life.
When you exercise the option of unplugging yourself from the computerized
data exchanges, you can in fact "start over", or at least regain and
maximize your personal privacy. We think it's well worth it.

It can be good discipline to do without a savings or checking account.
If you must have one, set it up under a good alias for which you
will need supportive ID. A driver's licence or state ID card under
a phoney name can be obtained using any of the methods shown in "THE PAPER
TRIP II", and the Social Security "number" you give can be totally fake,
even made up right on the spot. Just remember as you recite your "number"
that it has nine digits, however. For IRS purposes, the SS# used for your
checking account is of no value, and on your savings account serves
only as a cross check for the reporting of interest. This latter purpose,
it has been revealed, is of little consequence in that the IRS virtually
never bothers to verify interest reporting statements sent in by the
banks. They have relied on the "basic honesty" of taxpayers...

A solid set of ID in another name is what can truly be called "freedom
insurance". With the growing threat of arrest and prosecution for
leading a "free" life, it's plainly comforting to have the option to cut
and run, even if you choose not to.

Obtaining alternate ID should be done *before* you get into trouble.
Take the time to do it right. In an emergency many other matters will
compete for your time. In the future first-class ID may become more
difficult to obtain, too.

The best ID to obtain is obviously that which is issued directly
by government agencies themselves. Using forged, stolen, or counterfeited
ID is bust in itself. Privately-issued ID is more lightweight,
but in lieu of government-issued ID, can serve the same purpose, namely,
protection from harrassment. It won't get you a passport though.

With "legal" ID you will find no trouble in doing many tasks which
would otherwise prove impossible or extremely difficult at best. Also
with "legal" ID the risk of detection is reduced to a minimum. When
and if you choose to disappear, you can appear instantly "identifiable".

With government-issued ID you can effectively erase the curse of a
jail or prison record. Tens of thousands of "free" Americans carry with
them the permanent label of "felon" or "ex-con". The real crime begins
only after a person leaves the joint; legal and social ostracism continue
all their lives. What better reason to disappear?

If you had the misfortune to receive a less-than-honorable discharge
from the armed forces (thousands do so anually), the acquisition and use
of an alternate identity will be your first step in beginning to live free.
Even though you may have lost all or most of your G.I. "benefits", you'll
at least be able to get a decent job--now. Watch out for fingerprinting,
however. Big Brother has your prints, and will be only too happy to
prove you're one of those "Dirty, rotten, rat-fink, Commie deserters".
And you thought honest criminals had it bad...?

Using an alternate identity is another way of covering up bad employment,
too, particularly if the law was involved in some adverse way,
such as in cases of theft, embezzelment, etc. In some occupational
circles the word gets around efficiently--and fast.

Many young men of draft age split to Canada during the Vietnam fiasco
to escape what they considered the illegal obligation of fighting
an immoral war. Their return was often facilitated by the acquisition
of alternate identity. And who knows when the next immoral war will
be foisted on us? It can't hurt to be prepared.

By obtaining the right documents individuals can rather easily take on
foreign citizenships, too. Most countries have much more lax "safeguards"
against paper penetration of their document systems than the U.S.
Although superficially the more centralized countries appear to
have better control of their subjects, it is precisely this
bureaucratic patina of confidence and superiority that makes their record
systems more vulnerable to subversion. If bribes and theft don't work
(they usually do), then the documents themselves are very susceptible to
forgery and counterfeiting. By approaching the right "trade ministers",
many international businessmen have obtained numerous "legitimate"
foreign citizenships, passports included. IT CAN BE DONE, U.S. "law"
nonwithstanding.

Many people have made a regular practice of beating creditors and
collection agencies through the adroit use of aliases and alternate
identities. They are living proof that debts belong to yesterday.
Financially they live quite free--today.

A quick way up the occupational ladder is to combine mail order
school diplomas, certificates, and degrees with expert ID. Not only
can a clean break with the past be achieved, but a sharp increase in
income as well. The only limit here is your imagination and desire.

Some of the sharpest operators create ID as a physician or clergyman and
rake in commercial discounts as well as hundreds of free offers and
special deals once their names get on "preferred" mailing lists.
Such ID can be of great benefit socially, too.

Alternate ID is the quickest way to starting all over in the credit world.
The most atrocious credit record is gone forever when your old name
disappears. This is an oversimplification, of course, but what else can
be said when your aren't "you" anymore?

Once some form of commercial or consumer credit is established, it becomes
very easy to obtain all the various forms of credit cards, from bank cards
to the Travel and Entertainment cards. Complete plans for starting all
over in the credit game are outlined and detailed in "CREDIT", from
Eden Press.