Table Of ContentGovernments keep a lot of secrets from
their people . . . Why aren't the people in return allowed to keep secrets
from the
government? PHILIP ZIMMERMAN,
DER SPIEGEL
1
HOW THIS BOOK CAN
MAKE YOU INVISIBLE
Governments keep a lot of secrets from their people . . .
Why aren't the people in return allowed to keep secrets from the government?
—PHILIP ZIMMERMAN, DER SPIEGEL
Sometimes life has a way of appearing as nothing more than a string of minor
and major disasters, a series of challenges that, when considered in their totality,
can overwhelm even the most levelheaded of individuals. In fact, it's only
prudent to prepare for the worst that life has to offer: thus, life insurance, home
insurance, extra batteries, security systems, dead bolts, a little fire extinguisher
in the kitchen, and on and on. However, there's one glaring omission in most
people's planning, one gap in their vigilance which is potentially more
devastating than if they went through life smoking in bed, shampooing with
gasoline, and taking out-of-date aspirin. And this omission is their personal and
financial privacy.
So think of this book as flood insurance. If the river near you has not yet started
to rise, I can show you how to move to higher ground. If the river is already
rising, I hope at least to show you how to build a raft. And just because the river
has never flooded before does not mean it will never flood in the future.
Unexpected torrential downpours can come in many forms.
PHYSICAL HARM
In Europe, rapes and murders are just a fraction of the number committed in the
United States. No nation on earth has more guns per capita, and few if any have
a larger percentage of the population in prison. Besides the muggers, the robbers,
and the serial killers, you may suddenly be confronted by:
• An irate neighbor, a fellow worker, or a disgruntled client.
• An ex-spouse, an ex-lover, or an ex-employee.
• In-laws, outlaws, or someone mentally deranged.
• A kidnapper, a burglar, or a con man.
MENTAL HARM
The mental damage from worry and fear can be even more devastating than a
physical attack. This may come from:
• Stalkers, investigators, or anonymous phone calls in the night.
• Telephone conversations secretly taped, then passed around. . .
• "Confidential" medical records released to your employer, your clients, or your
insurance company. These records might divulge mental problems, impotence,
abortion, alcohol/drug abuse, a sexual disease, or [fill in the blanks].
FINANCIAL HARM
Make a random list of twenty people you know. On the average, six of them
have already been sued, or will be in the future.
Lawsuits are not filed only because of accidents, negligence, separations,
divorces, or contract disputes. In the United States, anyone can sue anyone else.
One of Wiley Miller's Non Sequitur cartoon strips is entitled LEGAL
MUGGING. It shows a businessman on the sidewalk of a dark street with his
hands in the air. A sign on a post reads
"CAUTION: Watch for trial attorneys." Stepping from a narrow alley is a lawyer
wearing a stocking cap, dark glasses, and holding out a legal document.
"This is a frivolous lawsuit," says the attorney to his victim.
"You can either spend years and thousands of dollars defending yourself, or we
can settle out of court right now."
Although this was in a comic strip, what it portrays is not comical. More than
one million lawsuits are filed each year in this country. How many of those do
you think are frivolous, but are nevertheless settled out of court? Thousands of
private investigators would be out of work tomorrow if lawyers stopped
employing them to find out who has "deep pockets," that is—
who has enough money to make a lawsuit worthwhile.
By putting into practice what you will learn in the pages to follow, you may well
be able to shield yourself from lawsuits and the resulting financial harm.
TOTALLY UNFORESEEN TIDAL WAVES
You peek out your window. Look! Reporters, photographers, and trucks with big
satellite dishes! If you think this cannot happen to you, then kindly allow me to
give you a homework assignment. From this day forward, when you read your
newspaper or watch the news on TV, start searching for cases where an unknown
person is suddenly thrust into the national spotlight.
Then ask yourself, Could this possibly happen to me?
Here are just a few of the many things that could bring the media, or worse, to
your home address:
• A bomb goes off, you were in the area, the FBI thinks you fit the profile . . .
• You win the lottery. (More tears have been shed over winning a lottery than not
winning one.)
• An Ident-a-Sketch of a the person who robbed the convenience store at 11:45
last night is flashed on TV, and it looks just like you! And you don't have a
plausible al-ibi for that time that anyone's going to believe.
• Your were innocently involved with the wrong people and the 60 Minutes crew
has just tracked you down.
• Someone faked your e-mail address when searching for
"young virgins" on the Internet and the postal inspectors (yes, the Net is now in
their jurisdiction) are about to confiscate your computer.
Do not for a moment think that the information to follow is of mere academic
interest—it may useful beyond your wildest imagination. A recent article in
Newsweek, titled "Getting the Wrong Man," gives a chilling example of
something that occurs more often than we care to think about.
"Tom Kennedy found the body of his wife, Irene, who had been strangled and
stabbed 29 times while on her daily stroll through a park in the Boston suburb of
Walpole. Then, a few hours later, the police called at a nearby dilapidated
bungalow where Eddie Burke, a 48-year-old handyman, lived with his mother . .
. He was practically a textbook match for police pro-filers: a loner who knew the
victim and was clearly eccentric."
[What on earth does "eccentric" mean? My best friends—with a smile—call me
eccentric. Do I, therefore, fit a certain profile?]
"Burke was visibly nervous and gave contradictory answers when questioned by
investigators."
[Wouldn't you be nervous, too?]
"There was blood on his clothes and hands. And forensic dentists would soon
match his teeth with bite marks left on Mrs.
Kennedy's breast."
Burke was arrested for murder. Within twenty-four hours, the police learned that
the DNA from the saliva on Mrs. Kennedy's chest could not have come from
Burke. Did they then release him?
"Incredibly, they ran more tests, which again exonerated him.
In addition, blood found on Burke turned out to be feline; he had been tending to
injured cats. A palm print left on Mrs. Kennedy's thigh didn't match Burke's
hand, while the bite-mark evidence proved inconclusive . . . Yet for six weeks,
police kept insisting they had the right man in j a i l . . . While he was locked
away, Burke's life was put under a microscope. He was demon-ized in
newspapers and on TV, each story accompanied by a menacing courtroom image
of Burke. The sociopathic profiles were fueled by details of his home's contents
—X-rated videotapes, kitchen knives, the book Men Who Hate Women and the
Women Who Love Them. "They didn't mention the three Bibles in my room,'
Burke says. 'They could just as easily said I was a religious fanatic.' "
The police claim they followed a logical course and "had the backing of reputed
scientific experts." Let us assume that is correct. The point is that even though
Burke was the wrong man, the contents of his house were published by the
media.
Suppose you are suddenly arrested, even though innocent, and the contents of
your home are made public? Would anything on the following list—if found in
your house—give you cause for concern?
• Excess cash.
• Guns and ammunition.
• Telephone records of all long-distance calls.
• Books, magazines, brochures, correspondence.
• Empty whiskey bottles or evidence of substance abuse.
• Statements from your bank, your broker, your credit-card company.
• The contents on your computer's hard drive, including so-called deleted files,
along with a list of sites you once entered on the World Wide Web.
If the police are after you, whether you are guilty or not, what is your first
priority? Is it not time?
Description:For most of us, privacy means an unlisted telephone number. But what about your Social Security number? Your credit card numbers? Your bank account statements? Your personal health data? You may think this information is also secure, but if you've ever ordered anything over the Internet, or if your
