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Ask Slashdot: How To Back Up Physical Data?
An anonymous reader writes "After many years I now have a backup of all my digital data in (at least) two physical locations. But what do people recommend to back up my physical data? And then how to prove my identity? I call it the 'gas leak problem,' because a gas leak in my town caused an explosion that leveled a house. If it had been my house, it would have destroyed all my paperwork that proves who I am. If I'd come home from work and found my house was now a pile of rubble, how would I prove I lived there, knowing my key no longer fits the smoldering lock? If I'd left my wallet at home, my bank cards would have been destroyed so I couldn't withdraw money or book into a hotel. Or if I'd left my phone at the office, I wouldn't know anyone's number to call, or get anyone to vouch for me. What preventative steps can you take? Since having this nightmare, I've exported my phone's VCF file to an online repo, made online notes of all my bank account numbers and passport ID, I keep ICE numbers with me at all times (separate from phone/wallet), and I've hidden a spare mobile phone and house key in a box in a nearby field. But there must be more to do!"
Tell me more about this field. I'll keep it all safe for you.
You could start working from home, because then proving your identity will be the coroner's problem, not yours.
When they issue a photo I.D. for someone the state also keeps a record. The same goes for Passports(federal), they want your picture in a database.
Loosing credentials happens to travelers in foreign countries all the time. You go the embassy and request new credentials.
You don't think the DMV or passport office have your photo stored with your address details? Or banks and other institutions have your address and signature on file? There are plenty of people(and families) who have lost their houses and everything they own due to fire or acts of God, and have rebuilt their lives. It hasn't even happened to you yet. Calm down.
How about moving to a smaller town where people actually still know each other, because they're, you know, neighbours?
..and everybody does, it will not be a problem to get your identity back. In fact even when you die they still come for your wallet.
If it had been my house, it would have destroyed all my paperwork that proves who I am.
There's this marvelous service called a safe deposit box that banks offer...
all my paperwork that proves who I am
If you live in a society that requires papers to prove who you are, you have a bigger problem.
Back in the 1960s, we had a saying. "I am not a number, I am a free man!" Apparently the popular saying in the 2010s is, "How may I obey today?"
Hint: you are the problem.
First, backing up your physical data: Digitize it. That way you reduced the problem to one that you know a solution for.
Second: Go get that key from the field. Security by obscurity doesn't work. You can leave the cellphone, but I'd advise erasing the numbers in case any have been stored.
Third: Rent a storage box at a bank. Make it so you can access it by signature and password, fingerprint if your bank offers that service (and if not, shop around, banks have started offering such a service). Put everything you need in such an emergency in that box, i.e. a proof of ID, a spare house key, a list of phone numbers and account numbers along with everything else.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The answer to your fears is government. In a normal country (i.e. a unitary nation state), the government has all people counted and issued with papers, like personal ID, tax number, social security ID, passport, weapon holder's permit and driver's licence. They have a sequence of your face photos on file, usually required to be renewed every 5-15 years and maybe even your fingerprint and DNA.
Not all of those things exist in the USA and if they do, they are often fragmentary and held by the various member states, counties or townships, rather than the federal government. That is why the tea party "birthers"can continue to question Obama's eligibility to office, even though he is Barack Malik Shabazz Jr., the illegitimate biological son of slain black civil rights activist "Malcolm X" and Ms. Stanley Ann Dunham, thus being a 100% natural born US citizen.
I think the USA urgently needs to convert to a nation-state with uniform laws, so that murder gets the same death penalty everywhere and the governance needs to be centralized. otherwise the USA will soon fall apart into pieces like Duchy of Texarkana and California Republic, as the econimic crisis prompts the rich parts to secede from the less fortunate Chicago area, etc. What is the long-delayed mega earthquake hits the Yellowstone or the Pacific shore? Internal cohesion is very weak in USA, the mid-west pitchforkers would shoot homosexual refugees from LA on sight and only a strong unitary nation state government could hold the USA in one piece under such conditions, with fire and brimstone, if necessary. The alternative is "ukrainization" of USA, which is the ultimate goal of Israel, as they are in the process of changing allegiance, to China!
Surely there is one person in your street or at work that you can ask to crash on a couch for a night. Not every problem is solved by the cloud. Human interaction will get you a long way.
FYI: Banks, courts, and the Government issued ID have processes for people who have lost everything. It generally involves someone signing a document that vouches for your identity. It's not a big deal. If you really want to speed the process, a couple of scans of your documents emailed to yourself will help them simply look up a record and reprint the documents.
Also for the hotel problem. If you really don't have a neighbour that would let you spend the night (just what did you do to them?) the fire department and police department have contacts of places you can stay and worry about the bill later.
TLDR; You live in a society, when your house blows up, it is time to redeem your credit. Relax.
No way to back up paperwork. You can have photocopies, scan images (which are photocopies) and so on.
But they are not back ups. They are just copies with little or even no legal value.
I had all my documents stolen.
I went to the Police Station to open a file, then to the city hall to have my identity checked against their files and had a brand new id. From there I went back to the Police Station and started a procedure to get all other documents back.
1. you have your license on you
2. you have friends and relatives
3. your ownership/lease/rent is registered
and so on
This, lol. Maybe if your Bank/Government issuer will give you copies you could store them in a safe deposit box or something. At the very least you could just get a strong fire/water proof safe or storage container :)
When I read the title I was thinking maybe somebody had large volumes of say, ... laboratory experiment results.. not their personal ID :/
If it had been my house, it would have destroyed all my paperwork that proves who I am.
There's this marvelous service called a safe deposit box that banks offer...
But what if a comet hits the bank? Dear God, is there no where on Earth that is safe? Can you charter a service to put a spare house key on Mars?
Periodic copying, on a copier/xerox, of the contents of your wallet works well. Make sure you copy both sides of credit cards and such, as they have numbers to call for cancellation or replacement. You could even simply scan the contents, then encrypt and store it somewhere.
For contacts, calendar, cellphones: Google works well for contacts, but you can use any caldav application. This handles your "physical" rolodex. And if your phone is destroyed, you can restore the contacts to a new phone.
You don't need backups of your physical stuff, you need to be able to quickly replace it.
Oddly enough I had a conversation with my parents a week or two where they said they'd paid off all but £100 of their mortgage years ago. I asked why they hadn't done the the last bit, and they said there was an arrangement with the bank: you keep £100 on the mortgage indefinitely, pay interest on that and in return they keep all of the deeds and other paperwork related to the house in a safe, off-site location. As long as you have photo ID and a bank card to prove you're their customer (you carry your driving license and bank card around, right?) you can then still get hold of the deeds no matter what happens to your house.
My Dad also gets a bit paranoid about this sort of thing, so when they travel they make up a "disaster kit": copies of all important data and documents, contacts, etc. on a USB drive and given to one of us kids.
Like others have said, off-site storage if you're paranoid.
Scan all your important documents and they'll be automatically backed up with the rest of your digital things. After your house is destroyed, go to your local library, access your digital copy, and print off new unofficial documents. You should be able to use those to boot-strap getting new records. You'll need proof of address (utility bill), SSN card, and birth certificate.
Why do you need a space phone (and hopefully a charger?) and house key? Buying a pre-paid phone isn't difficult and you should be able to live without a mobile phone. Pay phones do exist and most companies have 1-800 numbers. The spare house key isn't too useful in a random field. If your house is destroyed the key no longer matters. If you lose your key you can break in or call for a lock-picker. I'd recommend storing your space key in the car compared to the field. Will you always have some way to dig it up? If you can easily dig it up with your hands then you didn't hide it well enough. If you always have a shovel on you, you might as well switch the shovel for the keys.
Unless you have non-standard medical beliefs you don't need to keep ICE data on you at all times. Keeping it in your wallet and/or cell phone is best. If someone searches your wallet for ICE info and doesn't find it, they're not going to search the rest of your pockets. They're going to deal with the current emergency first. If you die, someone will eventually notice. There's little reason for the police to call your sister, who lives half a country away, 7 minutes after you die.
If you left your phone at your office, go back and get it. You have your office id else you wouldn't have been working that day anyway. Sleep in your office or sleep in your car. Really, the most important thing you need to do right now is calm down and relax. Then next thing to do is learn how to think and understand that life isn't always perfectly pleasant. A few rough days (and weeks) shouldn't harm you.
If the lock is smoldering that doesn't matter. Your house is a pile of rubble, you can get into that from 5 directions.
You need a weapons cache in a different field, fake IDs in another one, foreign money in still a different one, a few other houses in different locations, summer homes in different countries.
A numbered account in Switzerland an the Caiman's, you can store paper copies in your planes and yachts.
Hide a tele-operated submarine with copies and money somewhere an install a hidden fortress in the arctic.
That should do it.
Or just store copies of your personal papers at a friend's.
I think the only thing left to do is buying loads of a aluminium foil.
karma police: arrest this man, he talks in maths; he buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio. [radiohead]
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=paranoid&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=97EE3F3AAA55F2E7A8BC97EE3F3AAA55F2E7A8BC
Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
And if you have an ID, your bank will let you into yours.
made online notes of all my bank account numbers and passport ID
I just hope you put this up encrypted with a key you have on a thumbdrive you keep on your person at all times...
If it had been my house, it would have destroyed all my paperwork that proves who I am.
There's this marvelous service called a safe deposit box that banks offer...
But what if a comet hits the bank? Dear God, is there no where on Earth that is safe? Can you charter a service to put a spare house key on Mars?
What if a comet hits the whole USA when you are abroad, then your hotel burns down when you are at the swimming pool. That could make proving who you are really difficult
Quite aside from your important personal documents, it's good practice to keep scanned copies of every bit of potentially-useful correspondence, and throw them in a Dropbox. The sizes aren't huge even for passable quality. If you have - or have access to - a good sheet-feed scanner, it's not even a particularly arduous process. These days I have a rolling two-year buffer of things like utility bills; each month the new one goes through the scanner, and the oldest one goes through the shredder.
Well, when I can be bothered, but you know what I'm getting at.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
But what if a comet hits the bank? ...
I believe that's called an "Extinction Level Event". I wouldn't worry about IDs after that...
You worry too much. Seek professional help. And by "professional help" I don't mean "computer expert".
While it's not the best idea to keep all your eggs in one basket, Lastpass (a firefox, chrome, opera addon, plus a standalone app) is an OK way to store this kind of data.
It is all encrypted/decrypted locally .and then uploaded to the DREADED cloud! ...the lastpass folks never have access to your data.. so theres nothing to 'steal'..
While primarily a place to keep your passwords it does have a handy feature for what they call Secure Notes, with premade forms to filling out all of your personal private info, allowing pictures/scans to be added.
and... while that might be creepy for uploading to Facebook..... with lastpass they cannot decrypt the data, because they dont have your password and cant change it if you 'forgot' it..... because it was all encrypted before even being sent to them...including your password..
then you export a copy of the encrypted database, upload it all over the place in various email accounts, put it in safe deposit boxes on DVDs and flash drives..all stored with a copy of the standalone app that will show you the data, so even if the internet explodes too, youll be good to go!
Is this a treatment for a new cheesey TV pilot?
The police will then be able to ID you at all times via fingerprint, DNA & facial recognition.
Facebook and the NSA know what you look like, and Google can identify you by your browsing habits.
This is especially important if your homeowner's insurance covers the contents (which it ought to.) Take digital pictures of anything major of value you will need replaced. Appliances, television, computers, furniture, rare musical instruments, etc. Then store them online someplace. That way, when you go to file an insurance claim, you have evidence to back up the dollar value of the things you will need to fully rebuild. Otherwise they're just gonna cut you a check for a couple thousand in addition to the tax value of your house.
Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
Planning for such an event is like planning for winning the lottery: it is almost certain will win the lottery, and it's almost certain it won't be you.
Likewise, such catastrophic events happen to someone sometimes, but you don't have to worry about it happening to you. Really. Stop worrying so much.
If you live in a tornado-targeted area, you should prepare for a tornado to hit your house.
If you live in a flood area, prepare for a flood.
It's all about statistics and the Bernoulli equation: examine the chance of something happening and the effect it could have on your life, and prepare for the events that pose a significant danger.
If he explores all forms and substances Straight homeward to their symbol-essences; He shall not die.
An inexpensive fire-proof and waterproof safe will survive a gas explosion just fine.
But you are overestimating the importance of identity documents. A few sworn statements will have you up and running again in no time.
-----
"...and I've hidden a spare mobile phone and house key in a box in a nearby field."
Is this for real or is this just for laughs... Are you really expecting such a massive catastrophe that none of your neighbours would have a phone... not even a passer-by... not even a fireman attending to the catastrophe!? Given the scenario you have just described... what would you use the hidden key for... "the smoldering (sic) lock" lying in a pile of ash?
I obsess over old family photographs that are yet to be digitised, certificates, awards, children's memorabilia, etc.... basically stuff that no amount of money or insurance could ever replace. Things like passports, identity documents, some data backups with bank and insurance details, etc. are in a fire proof safe... but I still do not have a solution for those bulky irreplaceable items.
I keep copies of everything in a Swiss vault, then I embedded a tiny device under my skin that projects the account number.
That way no matter what happens I should be sorted
The Land Registry is now the official record of who owns your house, not the deeds - so your parents can safely pay off the last £100. They'll probably then find that the bank has destroyed their deeds - they seem to have destroyed ours, which considering they were a historical record older than the USA is a damn shame.
We keep a spare key and a few other bits at our son's house - and he does the same with us. As we're 50 miles apart we reckon that's safe enough for anything reasonable. An incident big enough to destroy both would probably leave us not worrying too much about the insurance etc.
What a n00b... I have "hidden" a spare house in a nearby field. Complete with spare IDs, passports, bank accounts, phones AND keys!
This is in a thread devoted to a nut who's prepared for his house to blow up, and is wondering what more he can do. And from an anonymous poster, no less. Perhaps he knows what's in Area 51...!
I think many people fail to keep a backup away from the original data. What good is a backup that burns up in a fire next to your computer?
Or have a tornado scatter your stuff in many directions. Keep a local backup for convenience and either use cloud or keep a copy in another safe location.
Cloud is obviously a simpler means of doing this. You also can buy some pretty large portable storage solutions which may be enough for personal data.
In the end I think people make the mistake of keeping a backup too close to the original data. A firebox is a good solution for personal documents and forms, and a scan of these stored in a safe place is a good ideal.
when is this great moment coming?
The scenario in which you describe is at a level of improbability equal to the chances of every system monitoring you also forgetting who you are.
In other words, calm down, because they'll open a Dairy Queen in Hades before that ever happens.
With a flood/fire rating. If you rent, get a small fire box and put any important documents in there. When my father's apartment complex suffered a fire he was the only one who still had his documents intact, for the most part. If you own your own home there is no reason to not have a safe in a secure location.
Still surprised at how few people do this now a days.
Keep the photocopies in a sealed envelope so you know if someone has tampered with them ( if you're paranoid). If you're really paranoid, scan them and encrypt the files, store the files on three types of media (flash, optical, paper print out of the bytes) in your safe deposit box. If you're less paranoid, keep the originals at the bank. Presumably, you only need them when you have advanced notice and very rarely. The bank will have better fire/explosion mitigation.
Your bank lets people into safe deposit boxes without showing any ID?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I'm more concerned that he thinks ownership of a house is proven with a key.
Have you tried getting a safe deposit box these days? Not sure about the US, but in the UK its near to impossible - banks are dumping the business as fast as they can.
You have forgotten to back up your DNA. What if you lose your arm physical data? Best put some spit and nail clippings in that box in the field.
Unfortunately, your DNA backup cannot store your memories. So you should upload your entire mind-state to the cloud, just in case of brain hardware failure. A spreadsheet on Office 365 would be the most convenient way of doing this.
The ID is really easy, like I posted somewhere else you need about two other people with IDs to swear that you are the person that you claim to be and you get your ID reissued. The other bit of the puzzle is the key. Each safe deposit box I know works with the two key system. You need two keys to open the box, one the bank has, the other you have. The result is that even with your ID, but no key you are out of luck.
Even though the deposit box does not help you with your ID, it helps mitigate the risk for other documents. Especially if they are things like contracts where people owe you money. (The other way around is no big deal, they will gladly hand you a new copy of the contract.)
Safe deposit box or storage facility, copy of your passport, birth certificate and other data.
I keep a small water tight aluminium box with my passport, other records, several thousand in cash, some 1/10 ounce gold coins, a pocket pistol and a joint secure and ready to go.
You just never know.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
I have first hand experience of this. I had an apartment near to the office I occasionally worked from, :(
but my home/family was 160 miles away so I moved to working from home 100%.
My landlord (I think - cannot prove it) decided to torch my apartment (probably for the insurance)
before I could move all my stuff.
So I have my wallet, and expired UK passport (I'm a US resident alien)
but no birth certificate, degree certs, etc... I was keeping the family birth/death certs
there too - all the way back to the 18 century.
One thing I had saved was I had taken a bunch of photographs to the office and scanned them.
Most of them I still have.
Good luck.
Some banks, like my own (TD Canada Trust), offer one for free if you keep a minimum balance in an account. That is where all our original documents go.
Trolling is a art,
Get a handheld 3D scanner to make backups of all your physical items and upload them to the cloud. If your house ever burns down, you can just download all your family heirlooms and print them out again.
Any safe worth its money cannot be harmed by a simple gas explosion in the surrounding house, tornado, car crashing though the walls, etc. and if you have one or two hours of fire protection, that also covers the vast majority of house fires.
What i have actually know of was the chicken or the egg problem. To get access to their bank account (after a robbery) people needed ID. But to get a new (emergency) ID, the town hall needed money to pay for that. Normally you would know someone to lent the money from, but this person did not have a very good reputation with paying people back.
I myself keep a (medium quality) copy of my drivers license in my car. If i ever get pulled over and forgot my paper i might get of with a warning if i can show the copy.
The value of friends and family is important in such cases.
Thank god real isn't the internet.
Ah - but I keep my ID in a second safe deposit box!
Tape stored offsite. Too expensive? Then something not as good so long as you have multiple copies and format shift every couple of years (with tape you need to format shift around the decade mark or sooner). Hard drives are not designed to last a long time unpowered so you may need to spin them up every year or two - polished surfaces diffuse together over time. The lubricant in drive bearings also has a limited life in comparison to tape (where it doesn't need to deal with high speeds at all). Optical has had problems so multiple copies and not expecting a long life are the way to use that.
Or a real fire safe. I have one, 16 hour DATA rated which is higher than needed for paper. it's also waterproof, but I dont know if that waterproofing is still intact after 16 hours in a fire, so all the documents are in sealed TyVEK envelopes just in case.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
If that happens, it's an opportunity to start life as a international Spy....
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
DR in this case, is "Disaster Recovery".
Look up the various tomes and processes for businesses and do the same things for yourself (minus the stupid certifications and $200K transferred to some consultant's hands) or find something specifically tailored for that
This blog web site was written by a guy that had to move his family during hurricane Katrina, and it has all sorts of processes and things to do to recover in that situation. It's old now, but you can add a modern twist. (I'd recommend an encrypted hard drive at a friend or relative's place as a backup.)
Here is the link: http://www.theplacewithnoname....
Warning: Disaster Recovery is a lot of dumb, boring, bullshit work that you have to keep coming back to re-do, that's why people don't do it. Not because it's not useful.
But what if a comet hits the bank? ...
I believe that's called an "Extinction Level Event". I wouldn't worry about IDs after that...
Tunguska wasn't an extinction level event. Of course if it had happened above your local bank, you would probably be vaporised as well, and not worried about your ID
Is the Air Force selling any more of their missile silos?
There's this marvelous service called a safe deposit box that banks offer...
Or your parents/kids/trusted friend's house, for alternatives that don't cost a monthly fee. Plenty of offsite options.
I honestly don't quite understand the problem from TFS - You can get duplicate social security cards and birth certificates trivially; I have about a dozen photo IDs from over the years, some on the older side but barring a facially-disfiguring disaster, I still look sufficiently like "me".
Keep a duplicate SS and BC, your passport (when not in use) or an old license/work/student ID, and (if you can afford it) a few hundred in cash at Mom's house. Done. You have a "backup" of everything you need to live the two weeks it takes to get all the regular contents of your wallet reissued.
and 800km away from your passport?
that potential bad experience is all on you man...
I've been through europe,
spent 2 month chunks staying with family there
I was never more than a 5 minute walk from my passport....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Your thumbprint and face should be enough to get your Drivers License or state-issued photo-ID replaced.
If you've opened a non-online bank account in the USA in the last few years, your thumbprint is probably on file.
It won't be fast but within a few days you should be able to start reconstructing your life.
Also, if you are in a state where the cops can pull up your drivers license photo in their car, AND if you still look like your photograph, you should be able to prove yourself to their satisfaction on-the-spot. Especially if the car you are driving when you arrive at your smoldering former house is registered to you.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Photographs or copies of the front and back of all critical documents and of at least one "monthly statement" of every company you do business with can be kept off-site.
Be careful doing this with your phone though: If you do, dump the photos off of your phone then fill up your phone's memory with something else. Otherwise, if your phone gets stolen someone who has the desire and know-how can "undelete" the phone's memory and, well, that won't be fun.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Franklin Covey used to recommend that you never leave home without it. Plus those quotes of the day are just precious...I will no longer recommend the FC version of the planner though, after they reneged on a "money back if not satisfied" promise. They proved to me that their company is without honor.
The USA is only 4X older than me...perspective
There's this marvelous service called a safe deposit box that banks offer...
In the UK at least, banks very rarely offer safety deposit boxes any more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busi...
If by backup you mean make copies of everything someone needs to copy your identity? sure. Or do what I did and stop caring. When I lost everything I walked into the bank and I said GIVE ME MINE, I answered a few critical questions about my account history and information and I was issued a new card. I walked into the Provincial Service Center and whined a bit and by the end of the day they were mailing me my new drivers license. Your level of paranoia will kill you by the time your 50. Take a breath a slow the $#$% down. /none/ of your papers are worth stressing over.
This will prove you are you more quickly than anything else. If you already got these taken by your state or the feds, you are all set.
-Anon
"But there must be more to do!"
Yes, seek assistance from a mental health professional before your obsessive/paranoid behavior tips over into full blown illness.
Seriously, hiding something in a field against a one-in-a-billion combination of events - and then posting an Ask Slashdot to see if there's anything more you can do? There's prudent caution, and then there's.... well, you. You've departed the hump in the bell curve of behavior and you're rapidly blowing past the tail of the curve. This doesn't strike me as healthy.
A phone buried in a field? Really? What situation would you be in where you don't have a phone, can't get to or borrow a phone, but you DO have a shovel?
Business continuity planning and disaster recovery is an entire career path. You can take some tips from those folks to try and learn how to prepare. How ever, you should first look at one of the cardinal rules of life: PREPARE FOR WHAT IS LIKELY TO HAPPEN
For reestablishing your identity, create a folder of secondary information: ;-) )
1-2 electrics bill ( I'd say gas, but don't want to jinx you
1-2 credit card bills ( one for each credit card minimum )
your last tax return
your last 2 pay stubs
legal copy of your birth certificate
property tax letter
2-3 medical bills
put all that in a safe deposit box, or store at a trusted location.
Assuming your house burns down:
Get your mail forwarded/held at the post office.
Call the credit card companies and ask them to reissue your credit cards.
Go get all of your documents and go to the BMV. Get a new drivers' license.
Once you have that, you can get a new Social security card, then passport, etc.
You might want to include some other important info in your identity pack, but this is the basic stuff you need.
I know it has been pointed out that the question asker is being overly paranoid, but I just can't help but point something out, beyond that. He is the kind of person that carries ICE numbers on him that aren't in his cell phone or in his wallet. He is the kind of person who clearly wants to plan for every possible scenario. Yet he argues that he might be forgetful and leave his wallet at home, or his phone at the office? Attention to details, man. I haven't done something like that since I was a teenager.
You keep an official copy of your birth certificate in your safety deposit box,..
A birth certificate is not a proof of identity. It is just a proof that someone with that name is born on that date. It doesn't tell that the person holding it is that person. And it is quite easy to get a duplicate birth certificate. In France you can ask for it by mail.
The only way to prove your identity is to bring to the police office two identified (with a document) persons to testimony that you are who you pretend. Of course false testimony is punished by law. This will allow you to get a new id document.
I had that problem once when I lost my wallet. To get a new drivers license, I needed proof of identity through something with a signature. Needless to say, I didn't have it. So we settled we ended up settling on a gas receipt that was signed. ... Nothing more official than that.
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
It's very easy in the U.S. As a matter of fact, as a preferred customer, my bank gives me one for free. And they keep your fingerprint on file, so you can always verify yourself that way.
Digital vs physical data? What is this odd beast called physical data? Get a Fuji iX500 scanner and you can scan 10 years worth of paperwork in an afternoon. I store it in Devonthink, but if you store it in Evernote its automatically backed up to the cloud. Put all your numbers, passport numbers and critical stuff in 1Password and sync with the cloud. Done!
*troll mode*
He's a libertarian and a capitalist. There are no such things as friends, only adversaries and customers. The government is presumed to be utterly ineffectual, such that all the data they have on him is inaccessible for his use. His business contacts know him only though electronic communications because he never sees them in person. Why would he? They're just adversaries or customers, neither of which he has any use for personally. The only personal contact he has is for sex, and that's with prostitutes (a fair night's wage for a fair night's work). He's probably already killed his close family and buried them in the land on the back of his Freedom Ranch.
For the rest of us with personal contacts - the teller we see at the bank on a regular basis, the guys we hang out with, family close and far - will easily get us though losing everything. They know who we are, and can vouch for us. The DMV will issue a duplicate license, our Social Security number still exists, and we can order a duplicate birth certificate from our birth state. Even our credit card companies will send us brand new cards in the mail (overnight for no extra cost if you're a good customer) with nothing more than a phone call.
As with anything, you lose your paper documents, old photos, heirlooms - but your identity is really not at risk.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It's pretty simple. A good safe should survive most events that would destroy a home, especially if it's protected (e.g. in a concrete floor). I keep all of my important papers in a Liberty Franklin 25 in my basement. (i.e. http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=23724396)
My bank doesn't require an ID. Just the key, box number, and a signature they compare with what they have on file.
All my experience with a friendly bank calling you up to help you, turns out poorly...
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Isn't that the whole point of a numbered account? Simply provide a name or number and a password for full access.
Mine does. It has a finger print reader that gets you into the lockbox area without needing an escort.
Scan it, encrypt it, cloud it.
They do if you have the key, have signed the signature card .... and can prove your residence has been destroyed/ signifigantly damaged. Oh it helps if at least one member of the staff recongnizes you. That why I still use tellers at my home branch. Other branches I almost always go to the ATM
When I got my drivers license I didn't have any photo ID. In Ontario there is a vouching system so you use your doctor, dentist, pastor, or other licensed person of notability to confirm your identity. They have to have known you for a period greater than 5 years which is pretty easy with those individuals. I think they risk their professional licensing so the fraud is very low. Hopefully you don't have a party at your house with all the professionals you know and you leave to get more beer when it explodes. Then I have no idea what you would do.
My bank allows more than one person to open my safety deposit box, if I tell them who I want to be on the access list. It's a good idea to have people you trust be able to open your safety deposit box.
Honestly, I think this entire post makes me feel a bit sad for the poster. I drink beer with my personal bankers, and the tellers at the bank know my name. If I had no ID for a little while, I'd still be able to do ALL of my banking - online and in person. About all I'd lose would be ATM access if I lost my ATM card, and the bank would probably give me a new one without an ID after I told them my crazy story. I keep my passport at my house, and my driver's license on me usually. Which reminds me, I keep my *expired* passport at my house...
If no one knows who this poster is without his ID, I think that is the problem. The problem isn't that he (doubtful it's a she) needs an offsite backup plan. It's probably that they should be making human connections with people that could be close with them in their life, or at least that their priorities are skewed towards making offsite backup plans. My neighbors could identify me, my business associates could, all my family could, my ex-girlfriends could. If someone horrible happened and I needed help for a few weeks, all of them would help me out (even some of the ex-girlfriends!) Having a social support network is (should be?) way more important than having an offsite backup scheme. However, this is slashdot...
If your physical data is in the form of "fish", don't destroy it prematurely!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Well, this depends on just how big the catastrophe is.
You mention a "feared case". Let's look at my similar fears, and what happened when something even worse became true.
I grew up with a back yard which was a park. I had imagined a scenario involving a spark occurring in the woods. Then, surrounded with trees, that would ignite the whole neighborhood, causing the nearby tall trees to erupt in flame, and a tree branch would fall onto the house where I lived, and...
okay, so that was the concern. Let's look at a scenario to see what actually happened.
On June 10, 1999, 277,000 gallons of jet fuel were dumped into a creek, where the fuel then flowed down the creek before igniting. This wasn't just a spark. The nearby living timber was threatened by a whole lot more flame than just a spark.
Plenty of disaster photos: https://www.google.com/search?q=olympic+pipeline+explosion&tbm=isch
This led to three fatalities (an 18 year old and 2 children). Summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Pipeline_explosion#Damage
One house was completely destroyed. There is a water treatment plant right by the pipeline. (Keep in mind, the diesel fuel was being dumped into the nearby body of water. Probably not a situation that is beneficial to the water treatment plant.) The contents of that building became unsalvageable (but the building was salvageable). Some other buildings had windows broken.
Yes, there was an evacuation of the area. However, this didn't affect my ability to go home that night when I got off work. By the way, the house where I lived was the second-closest house to the pipeline rupture. (It ran between my house and my next door neighbor.) Our house was just fine, and by the time I got off work that evening, I had no issues heading home that night.
I lost a neighbor who I knew (and another whom I didn't), and so I won't downplay the tragedy. Lives were changed that day, and not for the better. I will say, though, that the property damage was much less than what I imagined for years.
I'm sure there have been other tragic events and some results may have been even worse (with property damage and injuries/deaths). However, setting aside Hollywood's ability to portray Armageddon, I figured I'd point out what actually did happen in a real-life scenario that I have some familiarity with.
Prior to the explosion, as the disaster spread down a creek, the scenario behind the Olympic Pipeline explosion seems as bad as what a dedicated fiction writer could dream up. However, the Olympic Pipeline disaster was non-fiction, and the resulting reality included less physical destruction of property than the portrayal suggested in the comment that I am replying to. Although there were some broken windows with buildings located down the creek, this wasn't "All the houses in the neighborhood". And it certainly wasn't houses being "shifted off of their foundations".
In that case I would keep anything important in my house and just run the risk of it burnining down.
Of course, in the US, all you need to know is someone's bank account number and you can completely empty their account with bad checks. You don't even need to know their name, you can just put any name on it that you DO have a fake ID for and you are good to go.
I would not, under any circumstance, trust a bank to protect your privacy or identity.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Never carry a balance on credit cards. Paid off my car after 3 months of payments. Etc, just like the grandparent. My credit score is so high that dealer didn't believe it when looking at a new car. Credit scores are complicated. They are supposed to represent how likely you are to repay a dept and many factors go into it. Too much debt will lower it even if you make every payment. Paying only the minimum can lower it. Making a payment on time raises it. Being in a stable job raises it.
People can and do have great credit if they are responsible with money and not being in debt is being responsible.
Mmm. Something you have, somethings you know, and something you are.
You could schedule an appointment with a psychologist to discuss your paranoia...
no offense, but who leaves their wallet at home? don't you need a driver's license or photo ID when traveling, driving or going shopping? what if police/security guard stops you. especially after the events of 9-11-2001, i keep photo ID with me. I put passport and birth certificate in safe deposit box. I keep copy of phone numbers at my office and safe deposit box and online in dropbox. Who keeps contacts in only one place? I have two phones. I keep contacts on SIM card and a copy of contacts on each phone. If I loose one phone, I just buy another SIM card and put it in the other phone. I may be able to keep the phone number too. Now if I lost my satellite phone, that is a different story.
At first I was going to remark, "What, do you expect your house to flood after it burns down?"
Then I thought about what they put fires out with.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Considering I live in the same city as my bank, a Tunguska hitting my bank would cause me to go extinct.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
...your papers would not be destroyed, you would have had your id in your wallet on your person. Locks don't smolder, and your key would still fit the lock in the door that got blown out of it's frame.
" But there must be more to do!"
Take your meds and calm down?
I'd forget about the box-in-the-field thing. Get the safe deposit box everyone else recommends. Print your important contacts and whatever vital information you might need and keep a copy somewhere off-site. Maybe sealed in an envelope at work, maybe with a nearby relative, friend or trusted neighbor. This could come in handy for many much less serious problems, like you get injured or sick at work or collapse while mowing the lawn. That happens a lot more than exploding houses.
But really, forget the box plan. You're not gonna find it when you need it. Earlier this Spring, the neighbors hired a surveyor to mark their property line before installing a fence. The property line monuments were clearly marked on maps. He had a metal detector to find the iron bar embedded in it, and a shovel to dig for it. I knew exactly where they were, and I was home to help him find them. Even with all that, and knowing the 4 square feet to look in took him hours. Landscapes change quickly from season to season. Last thing you want to be doing after your house-leveling explosion is be digging around in the snow, ice, fallen leaves and frozen ground with your bare hands.
Remember, your exploding house will certainly attract your local emergency services. In the US, states now digitize and save your DL picture, so the cops will be able to ID you with their SCMODS, or whatever they call what they use now. Your local Red Cross or equivalent will make sure you're not sleeping on a bed of twigs trapping squirrels for food with a snare made of your shoelaces. (Note to self, no more loafers.) You'll get your identity papers replaced. You'll get in contact with friends, relatives, your boss and your bank.
I am not a crackpot.
I'll share with you my backup solution in case it helps. In my household, all systems run Linux of some sort, most predominantly Ubuntu. All of the systems utilize the built in backup utility known as Deja Dup. The systems back up on a weekly basis to a server I have in my basement running Ubuntu Server. The server runs a pair of 3TB WD Red hard drives in a software RAID mirror.
We all know RAID is not a backup, which brings me to my next point. I have "etherwake" installed on my server. I also have a secondary tower with a large single hard drive inside, also running Ubuntu Server. The BIOS in this secondary backup server supports wake on LAN, so I have that set up accordingly. At 1 AM every morning I have a bash script that runs. Essentially what it does is this:
wakeonlan 11:22:33:44:55:66 (MAC address of secondary server) /media/storage/whatever user@192.168.X.X:/media/storage/server-backup/
sleep 5m (just in case it boots up to a disk check and needs extra time)
rsync -a
sleep 1m (no real reason here, just wanted to give the system a bit to calm down to idle, even though there's likely no actual need for this)
ssh user@192.168.X.X sudo shutdown -h now
I edited /etc/sudoers on the secondary server so I can run the shutdown command with sudo, but without the need for a password. As a result, my primary server remotely turns on the backup server, remotely backs up the data, and remotely shuts it down when complete. It's been an absolutely flawless solution.
But ahh yes, two servers in a basement are meaningless if your house gets blown to bits. Very true. That's why I have an external hard drive, along with a similar rsync script on my server. What I do is I plug in my external hard drive right to my server, then I SSH in from another computer (my desktop, laptop, whatever) and initiate the script. It rsync's all of the important data as notated in the script to my external hard drive. Then I take that external hard drive with me to work and store it in my desk.
In the end, my data is in three locations. Two onsite, one offsite. This way if my RAID blows up, I'm covered. If my backup server explodes, no problem. If my house explodes, I'm still good. There's no real way to fully automate offsite backups unless the stars in your universe align perfectly. You either need a second location that you have ownership and/or control of to rsync/synchronize the data, or you need to accept the charges associated with 'cloud' disk space with a third party service. For a long time I have considered mirroring the data between my server and my parents server in their basement, as my parents live less than a mile away. Due to bandwidth restrictions and the magnitude of data involved with pushing/pulling data, this didn't interest me. I far preferred just having a phsyical hard drive that runs over USB speeds that I can physically take to work and store in my desk. Of course, this requires that I stay on task with this and I frequently bring the drive home to sync up newer data, but so far it's something that has worked well for me.
If anybody reading this thinks I'm a little crazy with backups (all of my non-tech friends seem to think so) consider this. Your music can be destroyed, and you'll be able to get it back. That's just a simple fact. Your DVD collection you ripped, sure in some way shape or form you can get it back. That data is re-obtainable. Pictures of my daughter when she was born... those cannot be regenerated out of thin air. Pictures of family members who are no longer with us anymore... those cannot be regenerated out of thin air. Given the amount of work I have to do, which is next to nothing given that my backup solution is 100% automated, with the exception of investing 4 seconds of my life every few days to make sure I grab the external hard drive to take to work/back home, then another 5 minutes of my life to re-sync newer data, it's an extremely small price to pay in comparison to the consequences of failure.
For all physical docs I take digital photos of those. Once everything is digital I follow certain procedures that include encryption and redundancy and I assign a "Digital Asset Executor" to be in charge in case I myself become incapacitated. You can read about that process here http://www.hx4.com/2012/03/07/...
$ whatis msft msft: nothing appropriate
I have a PDF scan of all important IDs/health cards/etc on a drive in my safe deposit box. It's also where I store my long term email/document archives.
I keep a mirror at home, which is what I update most frequently and any time I go to the bank, I just swap the external home drive with the one in the safe deposit box, go home and rsync the current data to it.
My safe deposit box key lives in a floor safe in my home which should survive even a gas leak explosion/tornado/etc.
-- Dave
up 12 days, 22:30, 2 users, load averages: 993.20, 994.21, 994.56
*makes note to limit user processes...
How many guesses do you get at the number? I'm not doing much this weekend.
I've had a safety deposit box for years that I keep sensitive paperwork in, master copies only. On location in my home I recently bought a fire safe with copies in it, see http://www.sentrysafe.com/
"It's here, but no one wants it." - The Sugar Speaker
I lost my writin hand in the gas explosion you insensitive clod!
But, your checks have your bank account number printed on them. You give it away every time you write a check.
Get to know some people. Maybe your neighbors. In my case, half the people in town seem to know me or my wife. I actually know the Mayor, city council, several police officers, to president of one of the banks, the owners of several shops, a lot of the staff at my kid's school. That's not to brag. It's just that we're known. If I lose my ID, I can easily find dozens of people who can positively ID me. Some would actually even help us out while we're dealing with getting a normal life put back together. It wasn't always that way. Our kids forced us out of anonymity, but it's actually not a bad thing.
This happens more than you would think. In most communities the Red Cross will assist in getting you shelter and a small amount of cash. You don't have to be pulled out by a fireman to get this service. Then it's the process of going to your RMV and bank, etc.
you could keep PDFs of your info on Dropbox or some other cloud service and access it from your banks computer
Cheap/offline method: Buy a portable USB drive. Periodically back up your data to it and store it offsite somewhere (e.g at your work, with a friend or family etc...).
Cloud method: Use something like Backblaze or buy a bunch of Dropbox or Amazon S3 storage and sync it.
Assuming that you remember your friends/family and physically look the same and/or you remember your passwords then neither of the above methods require
significant hassles in proving your identity.
I've never been asked for ID to access my safe deposit box. I sign a card requesting entry, they compare my signature with the card they have on file from me, and I need a physical key to open the box, and that's considered good enough. Of course if I lose the key then there's a problem and ID is probably needed in that situation, plus I have to sign more forms and pay a chunk of cash ($75 when I got the box 20 years ago, probably a lot more now) to drill the lock.