Social Media Can Help You Fake Your Own Death

Julie188 writes "We are inundated with warnings that social media is systematically stripping away our privacy. But Frank Ahearn, the so-called 'Dear Abby' of disappearing, is attempting to show folks how to use those same technologies to regain your privacy, even helping you go as far as faking your own death. Ahearn is a professional skip-tracer who has hunted down people like Monica Lewinsky. In an interview with Ahearn on Network World, he says, 'One can legally disappear through the use of corporations and offshore corporations. The idea is to embrace technology and to become a virtual entity.' My favorite tip is that New Zealand is the place to land once you leap off the grid. Not only is it far from most of the rest of the English speaking world, he says, but it also has great beaches."

Comments

Obligatory Simpsons

[antifoidulus]

Marge:"When I asked you if that Twitter account was to fake your own death you told me no."

Damnit

[DeadBeef]

Where am I supposed to skip to if I'm starting in .nz?

Re:Damnit

[Anonymous Coward]

Where am I supposed to skip to if I'm starting in .nz?

I guess to the same place the rest of you Kiwis skip too... Australia. Slightly lower sheep:man ratio here but the weather is better!

Re:Damnit

[Anonymous Coward]

Northland. All the good weather of Australia, and a far lower aussie:human ratio.

Re:Damnit

[Kittenman]

Brother, if you're in NZ already it's almost like being dead.

Re:Damnit

[phantomfive]

Fiji. You can go there and live off the land. There are some isolated islands where there is nothing but a bunch of villagers. They will take pity on your pathetic incompetence and give you food from time to time after you demonstrate that you don't know how to fish or open a coconut. Bonus if you're white because they think white person's flesh is not suitable for human consumption. Of course that is only a theoretical consideration since cannibalism hasn't existed in Fiji for over a century. Or so they say.

(note: this post is based on a true experience someone told me).

Re:Damnit

[Anonymous Coward]

Brother, if you're in NZ already it's almost like being dead.

I thought I was dead once. Turns out I was just in Christchurch.

Re:Damnit

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you tried North Korea? When you disappear there, you're pretty much guaranteed never to be found in any realistic time frame, ever again.

Of course, there IS that small matter of the funny neighbor with the odd glasses you might meet. He seems to insist that his name is "Dear Leader" or some such nonsense, and from what I've heard, he has a pretty bad temper. You might wish to avoid him.

Re:Damnit

[AK Marc]

You are a Kiwi and don't know? Perth, of course. Or Tasmania. Darwin? No one will go there looking for you. And you are already a resident there, sort of.

Re:Damnit

[GrumblyStuff]

Thank sir/ma'am! You're the ever vigilant patriot every country needs to keep an eye on the most southern continent. We must keep watch in case the Emperor Penguin makes his move on the rest of the world!

Re:Damnit

[YoshiDan]

ut's true eh cuzzy bro

Doesn't matter

[JoshuaZ]

Even if you go off the grid the terminators will still track you down.. SkyNet will triumph. Neither Arnold nor Summer Glau can save you.

Re:Doesn't matter

[monkeySauce]

That's what you think. Summer Glau saved me twice last night, and it was wonderful.

Re:Doesn't matter

[MaskedSlacker]

You know, they do have names:...T-800 (don't think it had a name?).

So, what you're saying is, they do-don't have names?

Meanwhile, here in New Zealand...

[Seriousity]

It was revealed today that a member of parliament had been arrested for stealing the identity of a dead baby and thereby falsely obtaining a passport.

The Government here has a few thousand monkeys that spend all their time browsing through the various redundant overlapping government agency databases to catch you out for identity fraud, benefit fraud, unlawfully riding a train without a ticket or forgetting to tie your shoelaces in the morning. But yeah, we have some nice beaches, so it's worth the risk :D

Re:Meanwhile, here in New Zealand...

[Ian Alanai]

Costa Rica, it has no army. And a good dose of tranquilo. And a Caribbean coast. And Latino lovers. And volcanoes, but they are very relaxed and not all uptight like the NZ ones.

Re:And if you want to be dead

[Heytunk]

Unlike the rest of the world New Zealanders have a knack for surviving natural disaster so we have to find other ways to kill ourselves.

Facebook could do it all

[Lord_of_the_nerf]

It's easy.

Lord_of_the_nerf has changed his relationship status to Single
Lord_of_the_nerf likes The Cure and Why Does Everyone Who Loves Me Leave???
Lord_of_the_nerf's current status: *sigh* WHEN DOES THE HURTING STOP???
Lord_of_the_nerf likes Schick Razors and Warm Baths

Re:Not Australia

[Ian Alanai]

And the poisonous spiders that hide in the dunnies. And the poisonous snakes that hide in your shoes. And the poisonous jellyfish that hide in your togs. And the poisonous crocodiles that hide in the sewers. By god, it's no wonder they drink so much.

Interesting twist

[Target Practice]

And here I thought social media was used to fake a life...

Re:And if you want to be dead

[Spad]

Even your natural disasters are boring :)