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Stay Off the Grid, Win $10,000
DariusD writes "Last summer, Wired writer Evan Ratliff wrote a story about how people erase their identities and start over. After it ran, he tried to disappear — spending 25 days on the lam until a few enterprising Wired readers tracked him down through some brilliant hacking and sleuthing. Now we're going to try the experiment again. Evan, Wired, Loneshark Games and I are working with Universal Pictures to do another, similar contest connected to the new film Repo Men, and this time we want you to go on the run. We need four applicants willing to disappear from their lives from late February to late March. If they can stay hidden for that time period, they'll end up with $10,000 each."
This is a great opportunity for those unemployed to ,well, still be unemployed!
Easy with one caveat. It would only be easy for people who wouldn't want to take part in the first place.
For the twittering, facebooking, wannabe internet-celebrity, attention whores, who would take part; they'd blow it.
I'll be out of the office for a month. Please ignore the anonymous person checking stuff into the svn repo, I swear it isn't me...
Can I mod something +1 Scary if it's true but I wish it weren't?
The summary seems misleading. From what I understand, you aren't allowed to actually drop off the grid - they want you to actually perform certain activities, check in, provide clues, etc.
Otherwise I'd just take a month off of work and buy a ton of food and go wilderness camping somewhere (Canada would be nice, but not in Feb). There is almost no way anybody would be able to track you down.
On the other hand, I'd never take a month of vacation time just to live like a hermit and maybe win $10k - they really need to up the ante if they want people to do this for real.
It sounds like the contest is just about lying low, but posting hints. That obviously makes you far more detectable than if you were allowed to participate without any constraints.
That's fine, I'll also ignore sending pay-checks to this anonymous fellow as well, as he clearly isn't you.
http://wiredinsider.com/repomen/
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
I have seen this setup many times before. Once you sign up you are soon hunted for sport by wealthy businessmen and heads of state. You will disappear forever and "win" the $10,000, but your stuffed and mounted corpse won't be able to spend it from the underground chamber it is displayed in. I have seen this happen; beware.
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
Have gnu, will travel.
Maybe it knows the importance of not being seen...
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
http://www.howtobeinvisible.com/
After several months of unemployment, I landed a job a couple weeks ago otherwise this would be a cakewalk.
1. Pay cash for EVERYTHING.
2. If you must use a PC, use a foreign proxy. (To check in by the rules, etc.)
3. If you must use a phone, keep the battery removed unless required by the rules to check in.
4. Don't frequent places you normally do. (If you play tennis a lot, take up bowling, etc.)
5. Head back-country for some extended camping. Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Minnesota or the Dakotas come to mind.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
Provided your country allows that. Mine doesn't. "Wild camping" is not permitted, it's considered a form of squatting (which is also not allowed).
Police state? Just 'cause I have to inform the authorities when I spend more than 30 days in one place (or not in my usual place)? How dare you say that?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Congratulations on winning 10k$ !! Please come down to our office and collect it anytime.. day or night.. we'll wait.
http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
Sign up just before beginning a deployment on a nuclear missile sub.
"If you are the owner or webmaster for this web site please contact your web site hosting company's support department."
It looks like the webserver for this story entered the contest.
There are huge chunks of crown land in many parts of Canada where any citizen can backcountry camp for free and unregistered. Unfortunately, they also tend to be in places you wouldn't really want to spend March. It'd be an unpredictable time to pack for a month, given that you could have a spring melt or -25C. It'd be a lot more comfortable in a heated yurt or tentipi in a national or provincial park, perhaps with some cross-country ski trails for entertainment. They'll claim they want your name but I've never shown any ID when checking in.
Actually, that sounds kinda fun. I'd never be able to carry enough books and wine for a month in the backcountry.
Welcome to the wonderful world of the EU. Of course, my guess is that this law is a relict of about 70 years ago. We still have a few of those.
The worst isn't the law itself, the worst is how people view it. It has been this way for so long that people got used to it and don't even question it anymore. They just do. I'm guilty of that behaviour as well. It wasn't until my first visit to the US that I started to wonder. When you travel to the US, you have to state where you will spend the first four weeks of your trip. No problem for me, I was used to that. It wasn't until I asked where I have to go to inform the authorities that I was going to change my place of residence that I got weird looks.
Until then, even I didn't wonder what this should serve questioned it. And I'm usually quite sensitive to privacy invasion concerns. So I guess if we want to fight the erosion of privacy rights, we have to do it now before people get too used to it.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The application asks you to list 5 restrictions or activities that you will commit to doing. They will pick people who list interesting things. They will not people who list sleeping, eating and drinking.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
There are giant swaths of canada that are beautiful, until the black flies eat all the flesh from your bones....
Holy crap you guys have some evil bugs.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You can't, because it's a national park.
This is stupid. Anyone able to camp for a month could just go live in the bush. Or draw as much cash as you'd need and go hire a camper van for a month if you're a sissy for the outdoors. Double points if you find a way to park your camper van 100 yards from the offices of the guys holding this competition. Triple points if you wear a disguise and use their lobby toilets every day.
I hate printers.
There's "Everyman's Right" in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland and Austria. They allow hiking and camping on areas that aren't obviously someone's backyard. Scotland allows walking in the wilderness freely, but with some heavier restrictions (though what I have seen of the country, they couldn't really enforce if somebody would decide to set up a camp for few days). England and Wales allows hiking, but apparently camping is frowned upon.
From experience, I also note that while camping in forests may not be exactly allowed by law, it isn't really frowned upon in Germany and Denmark, at least if you try to stay out of the way. At least, nobody bugged me when I was too cheap to make a camp at the backyard of a boarding house (I like to travel carrying a tent on a bike).
In a nutshell; the denser the population, the more likely you are to be bothered (if you camp somewhere without asking permission).
Chronologically late.
The EU isn't a country. There are many countries in the EU where you don't have to tell anyone if you don't want to. Of course, if you live in a property pretty much anywhere in the western world you have to register with someone because there will be property taxes of some sort. At least in the UK (an EU country) you don't have to report to the authorities if you're staying somewhere for a while.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
That wouldn't even cover the expenses incurred covering your tracks, nevermind having to get by after the fact until you can find a new job.
I'd do it for half that, but my guess is they won't let somebody outside the US take part (site's slashdotted, so I can't check). They only want about a month's worth of hiding, so I'd need about $2500 for expenses. I'm willing to give up my time for another $2500. Might be an interesting way of spending a month.
Hiding out in the bush is boring. Well, nice to experience nature, but not the best place to hide, especially if law enforcement is after you. If you're in a county, state, or federal park, you'll likely encounter a fish & wildlife officer or park ranger. If you're on private property, you'll likely get a visit from the local Sheriff's department, when the landowner or a neighbor calls. No matter how isolated you think you are, someone will notice you, and complain.
The best place to hide anything, including yourself, is in plain sight. In a rural area, you may be the only person for miles. In Manhattan, your face is mingled with hundreds of thousands of others, who wouldn't remember seeing you walking down the street. You're no different than anyone else they see.
But, the best way to hide is to not be obvious. Book a hotel room under another name, preferably with all the required credentials. You can be out of sight, and out of mind, without being out of the area.
The 100 yards from the organizers facility isn't a bad idea, but it has to be done right. Sleeping in your car or a camper in their parking lot will raise suspicions. A nearby hotel with a view of the front door of their building is much more advantageous. It's also more entertaining to provide pictures of the staffers entering and exiting, *AFTER* the contest is done. You'll get the urge to brag, and when you send the first picture, it's a matter of elimination to figure out where it was shot from.
As always, know your environment. In the hotel, there may be a main elevator to the lobby, and that would be watched. What about stairways? I spent some time in a hotel for work. The elevators opened in the lobby, in plain sight. From the 2nd floor, you could take the stairs closest to the room to the 3rd floor. From there, you could cross the floor and take the other stairwell to an outside exit, without tripping a fire alarm. I wasn't scouting it because I was worried I was being followed. I was bored and exploring. It turned out that if I took the stairs to the 3rd floor, walked the length of the floor, and took the other stairwell down, it was quicker to get to always empty parking. That was faster than going the lobby route.
Pay attention to available spaces. Can you go in the laundry room, and lock the door from the inside? How about a janitorial closet that's usually unlocked.
At some point, you'll need food. In a high density environment, you won't be noticed.
Sometimes it's easy to leave all traces of yourself in one state, while being in another. Give someone your credit card and cell phone. Have them use the cards, and phone on a regular basis, to give the illusion that you are still there. Loan him your car for the duration. Folks believe I am in one state, and I'm actually in a distant state. My friend with the phone knows my new disposable cell phone number. I wander around, turn the phone on, check my voicemails that the friend leaves, and then return to my "home base".
Where am I today? I could be at a friends house. I could be in a hotel. I may be sleeping in my car in between locations. My IP? VPN'd to the state where I want to appear to be, on a private VPN. If I even begin to believe my location is burnt, I move on. Don't settle in one place too long. Have your bags ready to move within 5 minutes.
Traveling on cash for gas, and sleeping in the car leaves little evidence of my travels. I be anywhere in the US within a few days, and I still look like I'm home. Use your car like the burn phones. Buy one on Craigslist, slap the old plate on, and keep moving. If you're caught driving with the wrong plate, you can produce the bill of sale showing that you just bought it, and say you are going to properly register once you get back to your home state. With the title in hand, it's easy to swap ca
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Wow, way to overgeneralize. Having spent 8 years in the EU, I can guarantee that that's not what I lived. France, for instance, required none of that.
Maybe next time you'd like to say the countries you were in, instead of just the blanket "EU"?
www.eissq.com/BandP.html Ball and Plate System. Amuse your friends. Crush your enemies.
I have camped just about anywhere in the Netherlands, one of those countries which do not allow 'free camping'. Once I had my tent set up next to a forest path in the province of Limburg (bordering Belgium, in the south) when a police officer came by on his bicycle. I happened to be cooking some food. Guess what the policeman did?
He wished me a pleasant dinner and cycled off.
Those rules about 'free camping' are in the books and will be enforced against those who misbehave by littering, making noise, destroying stuff or camping in places where it is clearly not wanted. If you keep a low profile (both figuratively and literaly - take a small tent and a bicycle or backpack, don't camp in groups) you'll probably find you get the same reaction.
Now I live in Sweden where we have 'allemansrätt' (the "everymans's right" mentioned above) so the whole point is moot. Yay for freedom!
--frank[at]unternet.org