Why do you need "a" identity as in singular, why can't you have multiple identities, and it seems easier to adjust your lifestyle to require minimal identification rather than to get "a" new identity.
You can go to immense efforts to subscribe to 2600 magazine without the bank or the mailman or the FBI knowing who you really are. That's all very impressive in a way. But for the overall system, it turns out to be a heck of a lot easier, cheaper, safer, and just plain ole better to walk to the nearest B+N and buy an issue with cash.
This seems to come up over and over WRT identity. Changing how you use it is simpler than changing the identity itself.
I've heard some apartment rental companies are a pain, running all manner of checks and requiring all kinds of paperwork. Then again your average illegal unzoned HOA denied landlord simply wants cash for a "good tenant". And the guy who sleeps over at his friends apartment couch for cash as a roommate has no documentation at all.
Gearing up to use a grocery store loyalty card with a fake id for your fake checking account at the fake address with the fake loyalty card to save 15 cents on an apple takes a lot of work and risk and money, or ... you could just pay cash at the full price at the farmers market, probably cheaper than the supermarket anyway.
The outside the box thinking will help a lot more than a magical set of documents ever will. And I don't even have any use for this stuff, imagine what I could do if I put my mind to it.
I think in light of what we found out (or some who already knew) about our government's monitoring patterns, going out of ones way not be noticed is ... what will make you be noticed.
Over time defaults change. It used to be for example, that having a some silly Facebook account was a new and interesting thing, now not having one is perhaps odd.
Buying a car in cash was strange perhaps, you know walking in with a duffel bag bag full of $50s might end up them calling someone to report you. (War on Drugs and/or War on Tax Evaders etc etc).
2600 is probably not going to keep being sold in B+N. B+N might stop existing soon as people stop buying books made from dead trees.
> And the guy who sleeps over at his friends apartment couch for cash as a roommate has no documentation at all.
But do you want someone like that sleeping on your couch? We have been brainwashed to think those that put privacy high on the list are up to something illegal. They are criminals perhaps...
I think by "change how you use identity" I mean a lifestyle change not a minor procedure change.
As per your example, most people with no identity issues tend to walk into the car dealer and buy a car with a loan and the dealer runs a credit check on them before they even get to test drive (happened to me...). I agree, walking in with a duffel bag of cash is not going to work.
On the other hand, why not buy a "decent" project car for cash from a private citizen, then spend cash at car shops upgrading it to a quite nice hot rod?
Or the meta question of, why buy a car? If a decent fake ID is so expensive, and the cost of detection is so high, why not just pay a cabbie or live in NYC and not own a car?
The startup lesson here, if any, is optimize the big picture, then once that is done, work on optimizing the little picture stuff.
If the cost, both financial and risk, of having a car while remaining private is very high, then don't have a car.
On the other hand, as far as I know, fake profiles on facebook are no big deal, just put enough up not to be suspiciously empty. One important datapoint is I'm not operating under a fake ID, and I had a FB account years and years ago back when it was new and just opened to the public, it was a total waste of time, so after awhile I deleted it, and absolutely no one cares. Its right up there with being one of those guys who doesn't own a TV and tells everyone about it all the time. So a guy operating under a fake identity has at least one anecdote that at least one guy with a real identity found not having a FB account to be completely totally unimportant to modern living.
People who discuss living outside the identity system never seem to mention our explosively growing illegal population. This stuff has all been figured out, if you're willing to learn spanish and be friendly. If a hispanic looking dude can get away with calling himself an illegal, and everything turns out OK, then I can probably call myself a German illegal, or whatever. Germans have pretty good records and might cooperate with the locals... How about my becoming a south african illegal? That would probably work.
You can go to immense efforts to subscribe to 2600 magazine without the bank or the mailman or the FBI knowing who you really are. That's all very impressive in a way. But for the overall system, it turns out to be a heck of a lot easier, cheaper, safer, and just plain ole better to walk to the nearest B+N and buy an issue with cash.
This seems to come up over and over WRT identity. Changing how you use it is simpler than changing the identity itself.
I've heard some apartment rental companies are a pain, running all manner of checks and requiring all kinds of paperwork. Then again your average illegal unzoned HOA denied landlord simply wants cash for a "good tenant". And the guy who sleeps over at his friends apartment couch for cash as a roommate has no documentation at all.
Gearing up to use a grocery store loyalty card with a fake id for your fake checking account at the fake address with the fake loyalty card to save 15 cents on an apple takes a lot of work and risk and money, or ... you could just pay cash at the full price at the farmers market, probably cheaper than the supermarket anyway.
The outside the box thinking will help a lot more than a magical set of documents ever will. And I don't even have any use for this stuff, imagine what I could do if I put my mind to it.