How to Be Invisible: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life
Author: J J Luna
From cyberspace to crawl spaces, new innovations in information gathering have left the private life of the average person open to scrutiny, and worse, exploitation. In this thoroughly revised update of his immensely popular guide How to Be Invisible, J.J. Luna shows you how to protect yourself from these information predators by securing your vehicle and real estate ownership, your bank accounts, your business dealings, your computer files, your home address, and more.
J.J. Luna, a highly trained and experienced security consultant, shows you how to achieve the privacy you crave and deserve, whether you just want to shield yourself from casual scrutiny or take your life savings with you and disappearing without a trace. Whatever your needs, Luna reveals the shocking secrets that private detectives and other seekers of personal information use to uncover information and then shows how to make a serious commitment to safeguarding yourself.
There is a prevailing sense in our society that true privacy is a thing of the past. Filled with vivid real life stories drawn from the headlines and from Luna's own consulting experience, How to Be Invisible, Revised Edition is a critical antidote to the privacy concerns that continue only to grow in magnitude as new and more efficient ways of undermining our personal security are made available. Privacy is a commonly-lamented casualty of the Information Age and of the world's changing climate-but that doesn't mean you have to stand for it.
Kirkus Reviews
A subversive, disturbing, and altogether remarkable exposure of our frightening transparency to government agencies, investigators, the media, and more malign forces. Luna, a security consultant who "spent 11 years running a secret operation in Franco's Spain" (presumably outwitting the state police), begins by presenting formidable evidence of the demolition of personal privacy in the information age, as well as a chilling hypothetical selection of ways in which this state of affairs can ruin the existence of Joe & Jane Citizen (from false criminal accusations to stalking to lawsuits). His wryly presented conclusion—that advanced privacy measures are "flood insurance"—are borne out through the clear-headed instructional chapters that follow. First he shows how to protect one's physical space: how to construct an alternative mail-drop and "ghost" address, how to keep your real domicile unknown, and how to avoid using one's social-security number and birthdate for identification purposes. Although his suggestions seem surprisingly simple, he offers stern disclaimers to consult legal professionals. Further chapters delve deeply into the complicated netherworld of trusts, limited-liability companies, personal nominees, secret home businesses, anonymous travel, hidden ownership of vehicles and real estate, and so forth. One cannot but note that such information, although certainly invaluable to people in particular demographics (such as undercover cops or abused women, who might well need to "disappear"), is most often utilized by a new breed of transnational organized crime (with examples evident from Nick Leeson to the Russian Mafia). Yet Luna—whoseslightlyornate prose suggests Nero Wolfe after several Belgian ales—makes a bracing, serious argument for the aggressive defense of one's informational and asset privacy, acidly noting throughout how governmental entities constantly attempt to seal the doors of invisibility, as in their harrassment of mail-receiving services. This is a memorable work which should be considered by many and undoubtedly will be acted upon by some.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | xi | |
| 1 | How This Book Can Make You Invisible | 3 |
| 2 | U.S. Mail--Serious Dangers | 20 |
| 3 | When Is a "Lie" Not a Lie? | 39 |
| 4 | Mailboxes, Public and Private | 47 |
| 5 | How to Obtain Your Own "Ghost" Address | 57 |
| 6 | Repairmen, Home Deliveries, House Calls, FedEx, UPS | 72 |
| 7 | Untraceable Trash, Anonymous Utilities | 83 |
| 8 | Your Social Security Number and Date of Birth | 90 |
| 9 | Your Alternate Names and Signatures | 110 |
| 10 | Telephones and Answering Machines | 121 |
| 11 | Cell Phones and Pagers | 140 |
| 12 | Handheld Two-Way Radios | 148 |
| 13 | How to Find and Use Nominees | 157 |
| 14 | Bank Accounts and Money Transfers | 161 |
| 15 | Limited Liability Companies | 173 |
| 16 | Hidden Ownership of Vehicles and Real Estate | 182 |
| 17 | Personal Computers | 197 |
| 18 | E-Mail and the Internet | 211 |
| 19 | How to Secretly Run a Home-Based Business | 232 |
| 20 | Secret Spaces, Hidden Places | 240 |
| 21 | Cool Stuff That Did Not Fit In Earlier | 248 |
| 22 | An Exam, a Secret, and an Invitation | 266 |
| Glossary | 275 | |
| Appendix | 276 | |
| Index | 279 |
Look this: Cost Accounting or Managing Organizations
Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional
Author: Akkana Peck
From first installation to advanced image manipulation techniques, Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, Second Edition explains how anyone can utilize The GIMP: a free, open source image manipulation program. You will learn how to install The GIMP on Windows, Linux, and MacOS X platforms. Once you’ve installed the application, you’ll learn about the interface and configuration options, and then jump into a quick and simple project to familiarize yourself.
You’ll learn how to prepare camera images for display on web pages—including processes like rescaling, cropping, and balancing color. Utilizing layers, paths, and masks are also covered in extensive detail. Of course, you will also learn how to draw lines and shapes; utilize patterns and gradients; and even create your own brushes, patterns, and gradients.
GIMP expert and author Akkana Peck teaches you how to touch up digital photographs, smudging away blemishes, fixing red–eye, and stitching panoramic images. You’ll learn how to tap into the powerful filters, effects, and plug–ins that are available for The GIMP and automate tasks using scripts. The entire book is approached in a project–based manner, and as you progress, numerous projects will help strengthen your newly acquired abilities.
What you’ll learn
Who is this book for?
This book is for graphics designers, digital photographers, and hobbyists. It’s is aimed at those who need to utilize a full–featured image manipulation program but don’t have hundreds of dollars to pay for Photoshop. The GIMP is also the preferred image manipulation application for the open source advocate. The GIMP is available on Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX.
About the Apress Beginning Series
The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry–level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from “novice to professional.” You’ll start your journey by seeing what you need to know—but without needless theory and filler. You’ll build your skill set by learning how to put together real–world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you there—it is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory!
Slashdot.org
All along, the author gives interesting tit-bits on various aspects of image creation and modification which would be eye openers for most people who are getting introduced to the art of graphics manipulation. Reading the book, I was able to get valuable insights into different aspects of image editing such as antialiazing, hinting text and such, which plays an important part in creating good graphics.
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