The Difference between Disappearing for Awhile and Becoming Invisible

[Jack7]

Vanish

An old buddy of mine set me up to read this. I found the article fascinating from many points of view. As an investigator, as a writer and researcher, as someone who in the past occasionally had to assume cover identities, and also from the point of view of personal and individual security.

I thought the article was very interesting, and in more than a few spots, useful. I agree entirely though with those in the comments section who said that the subject never did enough to change his normal habits and never really tried to "vanish." Instead he just tried to evade pursuit for awhile before being tagged. He didn't even run silent really. He was setting himself up to get pinged about every day.

There's a big, big difference between attempting to vanish, and attempting to evade. For one thing, to evade all you have to do is kill time and avoid being easy to predict. But to really disappear you have to actually sacrifice your prior life. Not just become unpredictable, but become another person.


I also found this interesting as a contest and competition.
Again these aren't really attempts to disappear. Just evade.
But I still like these kinds of competitions.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Nifty read! I had picked up on this back when it happened, and it's nice to revisit it.

From the article:

For many, Ratliff’s flight evoked their own fleeting thoughts of starting over.

This is the sentiment that held my interest, the game as an
exercise in vanishing, if only because it's a notion that's passed through my head more than a few times in recent years. And having traveled a bit in dodgy places and worked highly secure jobs, the personal security aspect naturally piques my interest. Like you, though, I think he wasn't terribly serious about it-- but as it was a contest, I suppose that's to be expected.

One thing that strikes me is the crowd-sourcing aspect. I don't know how similar that sort of thing is to standard information-sharing between, for example, law enforcement agencies, but it certainly drove home the fact that maintaining an onlife life (or any electronic life at all) in this day and age just seems completely impossible if everyone and his dog is looking for you. In fact, that's one of the appealing things about the exercise: how completely can one withdraw from the internet and the rest of the wired world? Is there any place left where one can even lie low and be reasonably assured that no one would pick up on the effort to track you? Also interesting; could you utilize a counter-effort to your advantage? (The article briefly mentions a facebook page that sprung up based on this idea, but apparently it was a fizzle.)

I think you have it right that to truly vanish is to abandon the prior life completely, and take on a new one. I'd take it a step further and say that the new one would have to be a colorless and highly anonymous one-- which is actually quite attractive to a colorless and highly anonymous guy like me. This suggests to me that one understated aspect in the article is sacrifice: not just of the past (family, friends, contacts, references, etc), but also of comfort and convenience. It seems that if one can get by at a near subsistence level without emotional support, then vanishing becomes vastly easier. But there's the rub, right?

There's so much more to this to think about! But if nothing else, I certainly believe it would be an interesting exercise to try "for real". However, without someone to do the seeking, there's no real incentive to do the hiding. And since I've never robbed a bank or annoyed the KGB, I suppose it'll have to remain a thought experiment for now.

 

[Jack7]

One thing that strikes me is the crowd-sourcing aspect. I don't know how similar that sort of thing is to standard information-sharing between, for example, law enforcement agencies, but it certainly drove home the fact that maintaining an onlife life (or any electronic life at all) in this day and age just seems completely impossible if everyone and his dog is looking for you. In fact, that's one of the appealing things about the exercise: how completely can one withdraw from the internet and the rest of the wired world? Is there any place left where one can even lie low and be reasonably assured that no one would pick up on the effort to track you? Also interesting; could you utilize a counter-effort to your advantage? (The article briefly mentions a facebook page that sprung up based on this idea, but apparently it was a fizzle.)

I have to admit that this was the one aspect of the article I found most interesting.

Since 9/11 I have had a huge personal interest in how the individual and the private citizen can become both a security asset to his own community, state, and nation, and how the individual can develop their own Intelligence and Information Network(s). Not long after 9/11 I started developing, with the assistance of some buddies of mine in the military and in law enforcement a system I call PIIN. Private Intelligence and Information Networks. (I'm still adding things onto, and/or modifying the original paper and concept.) The concept is simple. Just build and maintain your own private intelligence and information network to use to help you with whatever it is you're engaged in; business, art, science, for military and/or law enforcement applications, whatever. In my personal opinion, any citizen or individual who wants to possess one should do so, and the internet is obviously a very good resource, and an important component of such networks. (A lot of people are doing this already they just haven't formalized or organized the concept or put their networks to specific uses. In other words, even without realizing it they have been building up such networks over time, but they haven't been exploiting them to help themselves and others in the way they could if they better utilized the networks and resources they already possess.) PIINs are especially useful when you want to gather information and Intel from parts of the world you can't normally reach or monitor for yourself. As when you cluster such networks, so that they interact and inter-relate on a regular basis, then you have a powerful tool that can be used for many advantages and benefits.

Now I have to admit that generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of much of the internet. But as far as an information and intelligence gathering (and sharing) system it is unparalleled (though like with all Intel and information sources, you have to properly vet your sources for reliability and real usefulness), and not very often properly exploited as to its full potential.

When I read the bits about how the individuals and teams were tracking the subject, I was quite impressed with the innovation, originality, and ingeniousness of some of the manhunting approaches. Especially as regards the electronic tracking and detective work.

Anyhow, like with the Renaissance Gild I encourage any individual who desires to do so to form up their own Private Information and Intelligence Networks. Then use them to whatever benefit they can put them, both for themselves, and to help others. Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned the federal government (and in many cases state and local governments and organizations) has never really properly understood the potential of modern technology and how it can be cleverly and beneficially exploited by individuals (rather than just by corporate groups and agencies).

I think this article just demonstrates yet again how ingenious the individual can be and how overlooked their potential can be when it is employed creatively.

So yes, the effectiveness of the Investigative Teams and the Crowd-Sourcing in this article just proved to me yet again that the innovation of individuals put to a task and able to employ interlinked technology is extremely under-utilized. I encourage PIINs and Private Networks whenever anyone will listen. They can be extremely effective and often times far more efficient and flexible than professional and more tightly organized networks.

I'd take it a step further and say that the new one would have to be a colorless and highly anonymous one-- which is actually quite attractive to a colorless and highly anonymous guy like me. This suggests to me that one understated aspect in the article is sacrifice: not just of the past (family, friends, contacts, references, etc), but also of comfort and convenience. It seems that if one can get by at a near subsistence level without emotional support, then vanishing becomes vastly easier. But there's the rub, right?

It depends on exactly why you're trying to vanish, and from whom, and exactly who might have to or would want to dedicate the resources necessary to actually find you. After all, if you're alive, and not completely isolated, then chances are you can be found eventually. Trouble is though, what kind of resources would be necessary to really track you? As you implied it's a lot easier to escape being tracked on the electronic grid than it is to escape all human observation, in most cases. Then again it takes a lot of legwork, motivation, money, dedicated resources, and time to do actual physical tracking.

But given that one caveat, I agree absolutely with what you said.

If you really want to vanish then colorless is the way to go. So is shapeless and formless. As much as you can make yourself those things anyways. The art of human invisibility is, after all, not really being invisible, that is almost impossible. Rather it is the art of being so bland and inconspicuous, so much a part of the background, that few people if any will bother to ever try and notice the difference between you and the background environment.

The best and most important thing I ever learned about working undercover is this: the best camouflage is not when you're hiding from sight, it's when you're right in the middle of the crowd and yet no-one can see you. Because you look like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, and what and who you're supposed to be. And when you look like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, and who and what you're supposed to be, even when people see you, they don't understand what they're really looking at. And that's a good way to look when you're not really who you are.

Also interesting; could you utilize a counter-effort to your advantage?

That's an interesting subject to me too. Cause I had to learn those kinds of things the hard way, through trial and error.

I think this kind of thing, in general, should be taught far more often when undergoing security training. The best kinda security to me is not making a stupid or dangerous mistake because you don't know how the other guy is working, or how to counter that. Better some effort at avoidance, than an assurance of apprehension.


By the way, I appreciate the experience points and compliments that some of you sent me on the article. Thanks, and don't think I'm not appreciative. But it wasn't my article and if not for an old Intel buddy, I probably would have never seen it. But he and I both dig stuff like this, and so he got me to read it. But I can't take credit for the find.

I did though think that some of you here might also have an interest. Glad you liked it.

Hope some of you found it useful.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I rather like your PIIN concept. It's a very basic idea, maybe even a fundamental building block (or the definition?) of society-- but the notion of semi-formalizing it is somehow powerful. I suppose that's the allure of organization.

Unfortunately, as far as I'm concerned the federal government (and in many cases state and local governments and organizations) has never really properly understood the potential of modern technology and how it can be cleverly and beneficially exploited by individuals (rather than just by corporate groups and agencies).

You've likely seen it before, but I'll go ahead and note that DARPA is actually quite interested in this sort of thing. This was a crowdsourcing experiment/competition late last year to locate 10 red weather balloons at undisclosed locations all over the country. Basically, the day of the experiment was publicly released, and no other information.


Finally, for what it's worth, I'm very, very tempted to put this...

[T]he best camouflage is not when you're hiding from sight, it's when you're right in the middle of the crowd and yet no-one can see you. Because you look like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, and what and who you're supposed to be. And when you look like you're exactly where you're supposed to be, and who and what you're supposed to be, even when people see you, they don't understand what they're really looking at. And that's a good way to look when you're not really who you are.

...on a t-shirt and wear it to a baseball game.



Cheers, and g'nite.

 

[Janx]

that was a cool story.

It sounds like he got nailed by the following attributes:
having a special diet or prescription that is distinctively trackable
twittering and facebooking with his real world fake ID
Taking chances with public appearances that were more "optional"

Additionally, he blew through a ton of cash for some of these things, like going to see a soccer game. For all the mis-direction he tried to do, I wonder if it could have been done cheaper (and thus for longer). His last risk was so he could get more cash from the contest, after all.


I'm curious about this PIIN thing. Can you share a version of the paper explaining it? Formalizingg and utilizing the networks we have in place is intriguing. Barring illegal activity (of which is its own tangled mess of your network connections can bring you down), what all can be achieved with it?

Can I track down the guy who hit-n-run me?
Can I get a good deal on a Miter Saw?


Those are just 'small' minded uses. What less obvious but useful things can I do with it. It's not so much a matter of me exercising my creativity (I have a headache), as I'm curious to what Jack7 would use it for (a guy like Jack7, not specifically Jackl7 and his personal use)? What do you think is possible to achieve with a PIIN?

 

[Bullgrit]

It sounds like he got nailed by the following attributes:
having a special diet or prescription that is distinctively trackable
twittering and facebooking with his real world fake ID
Taking chances with public appearances that were more "optional"

Yeah, he did several unnecessary things that were risky. I think he could have easily dissappeared completely from his old life had he not played peek-a-boo. Plus, the whole thing of his boss parceling out information about him.

Bullgrit

 

[Jack7]

You've likely seen it before, but I'll go ahead and note that DARPA is actually quite interested in this sort of thing. This was a crowdsourcing experiment/competition late last year to locate 10 red weather balloons at undisclosed locations all over the country. Basically, the day of the experiment was publicly released, and no other information.

I intend to assist with a DARPA project soon. I consider DARPA to be generally well ahead of the government, and sometimes well ahead of the military as well. Some of their projects are kinda kooky, and are less impressive than others. But a lot that is valuable stems from DARPA projects, and related sub-contracted University R&D projects.

I'm curious about this PIIN thing. Can you share a version of the paper explaining it? Formalizingg and utilizing the networks we have in place is intriguing. Barring illegal activity (of which is its own tangled mess of your network connections can bring you down), what all can be achieved with it?

Can I track down the guy who hit-n-run me?
Can I get a good deal on a Miter Saw?

Those are just 'small' minded uses. What less obvious but useful things can I do with it. It's not so much a matter of me exercising my creativity (I have a headache), as I'm curious to what Jack7 would use it for (a guy like Jack7, not specifically Jackl7 and his personal use)? What do you think is possible to achieve with a PIIN?

No Janx, I cannot post extracts from the paper itself, as I intend to publish it in a book of essays, and maybe as a supplement to the Book of Intelligence Designs. I will share part of the original intro I wrote on it. It is a sort of skeletal synopsis of intent and usage. By the way, maybe you can't track down the guy who hit and run you, but if you make the right contacts, someone can. A PIIN by the way is also a "favors network." Make friends with your contacts, and be as willing to help them with their needs, as you would like them to be in servicing your needs.

You can use your own personal PIIN to do or achieve anything you wish. What you choose to do is up to you. I have used my PIIN to gather Intel, to assist with investigations, as a business networking system, to secure editors, to submit papers and projects (and bid upon them), as a brokering network (I used to be a business broker), to contact people, to track down people, for academic and technical research, to contact professors, to keep in touch with old friends, to secure agents, to establish a network of missionaries I help escape from dangerous situations (on occasion), to assist with scientific research and to assist with experiments, to make political contacts, to help fund non-profit projects, to train, and to help generate seed money, to obtain little known or obscure information, etc. What you decide to do with yours is up to you really, depending upon how you structure it, the quality of your contacts, and what you want it to achieve. I would call no use of the PIIN small minded per se, if it assists you in being successful in whatever endeavor you are pursuing. Some goals may be smaller or larger than others, but the PIIN can theoretically assist with any objective. Practice establishing, maintaining, and using your networks will make you a better and more successful networked. And a good network will secure things for you that you will find impossible to secure entirely upon your own.

I used to keep different PIINs for different functions. Now I just keep one PIIN, broken into categories, and with contact information, area of expertise, and special notes. This is how I structure my current PIIN, the categories it is broken into, etc. It's based on my same basic categories for the Renaissance Gild as lately I have been redoing and collating my file and papers to make every subject and document "compatible" and of a similar format to every other subject and document. That way I can make my files and documents universal, easy to search, and cross reference for related materials and ideas. Slowly I'm converting all of my documents, ideas, papers, files, etc. into a more information friendly format, that is easier to access, track, search, and utilize. Below is the basic structure of my current PIIN, followed by the original paper intro. I hope that answered your questions. I've been on vacation, so I wrote fast and I'm going to bed now. See ya later. Good luck to ya.

THE PIIN

PRIVATE (or PERSONAL) INTELLIGENCE AND INVESTIGATIVE NETWORK​

ACADEMIC/SCHOLARLY

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

ARTISTIC

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

AVOCATIONS

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

BANKING/ECONOMICS/FINANCE

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

BUSINESS/INDUSTRY/SMALL BUSINESS

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

GENERAL

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

GOVERNMENT/PUBLIC SERVICE

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

LAW ENFORCEMENT/INTELLIGENCE

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

LEGAL

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

MILITARY/INTELLIGENCE

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

PERSONAL BUSINESS AGENT (PBA) or PERSONAL BUSINESS FACILITATOR (PBF)

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

RELIGIOUS

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note

SCIENTIFIC

Name Contact (Method, Address, Type) Special Note




Introduction:

In the modern world the individual man and woman will often find themselves in need of a wide range of intelligence, information, and expertise for various purposes necessary to the accomplishment of whatever objectives they desire to pursue, obtain, and fulfill. To this end the establishment and development of a PIIN, or Personal Intelligence and Investigative Network may often prove crucial or even vital to the successful achievement of whatever those desired objectives might be. Because of this fact it is my intention herein to briefly outline the constituent elements of and some of the potential uses of the Personal Intelligence and Investigative Network.

First of all, let me summarize the nature of the PIIN. The Personal Intelligence and Investigative Network, like all networks is almost entirely dependent upon a series of established contact points. This is both the strength of the PIIN and the inherent weakness thereof. Therefore it is imperative that high-quality and functionally useful, as well as accurate and practical contact points be created, assessed and reassessed, and maintained over time. This is true whether the contact point is physical, biological, communicative, informational, electronic, or computational. Every asset is a tool and the quality and functionality of those tools are the essential elements in the creation, maintenance, and performance of your PIIN. The Value of any Network is circumscribed by the acute and chronic qualities of those components which within themselves compose the actual circumference and separate elements of that real network. If the components of the network are of inferior grade, if the contacts are defectively impositional or of little practical use, or if the contact points are weak or insecure then the entire network is suspect and prone to failure at any and every point of transmission. The PIIN therefore should avoid both obvious and subtle deficits at all times by being practically and pragmatically useful, flexible, adaptable, in a state of constant positive growth and change, accessible, composed of superior components and contact points, secure, and most of all accurate and reliable.

Each and every network is therefore dependent upon the depth and breadth of the human contacts established interior to and exterior to that particular network and subject to the limitations of accuracy and the quality and quantity of valuable information that network can generate. The first real action needed to establish any PIIN and to make it fully functional is the recruitment, development, and maintenance of quality contacts. Contacts are always of the most absolute importance in the establishment of any PIIN. In addition the nature and quality of those contacts should be viewed as central and formative to the capabilities of every other contact point in the configuration and to the network as a whole. After an initial establishment of contacts those contacts should be immediately vetted and/or tested for accuracy and quality. This process of discrimination should be both an immediate tactical and testable undertaking and a long-term strategic process of recurring verification and reverification. Do not expect any particular source to be always accurate, but do not allow any particular source to function in an important role unless it has proven itself capable of both consistent reliability and trustworthiness.

After establishing a few reliable and trustworthy contact points the network must grow in order to gain new sources of information and intelligence as well as to develop and generate new capabilities. Therefore always view already established contacts and contact points as generators of new contacts, informants, intelligence and perhaps even secondary and tertiary networks, or sub-networks. Consider as well every potentially useful new contact or acquaintance as a possible future contact point in your greater network. Contact points should also be capable of redundancy and potential verification of information and intelligence gathered from other points along the nexus and for information gathered from sources outside the network. This is to say that contact points are more than simple sources of information; they will also function as multi-capable nodes along the operational structure of the entire network. I will expound upon the importance of and discuss the details regarding contact points later in this paper. For now it is important to remember that contacts and sources provide information and possibly intelligence, but contact points can potentially serve many varied functions, such as; information, intelligence, analysis, communications, coding, encryption, decoding/decryption, collation, research, as reliable and secure relay points, as information nodes, computational capabilities, disinformation and misinformation, and even serve as a sort of network disguise and misdirectional cover or front.

Constantly look for, search out and develop new contacts, contact points, information and intelligence sources, and informants in order to successfully grow your network. Your network’s ultimate effectiveness will depend upon both the quality and quantity of your contacts, contact points, and your contact’s network. In the initial stages of building and developing your network concentrate on the quality of your contacts and contact points, but in the larger and long term concentrate upon both the quality and quantity of those contacts and contact points which comprise the elements of your network. Always develop and maintain quality to the greatest degree possible within all elements of your network, but also always grow and encourage quantity in the most consistent manner possible throughout all aspects of your network. This will assure that your network has both great depth and breadth and that it is capable of the widest and most valuable range of flexible and functional capacities possible.

It does not matter what the major focus of your network is, what it is most well designed to do, what it in actuality best does, or what the functional intent(s) or objective(s) may be, this introductory advice applies equally well to any possible network you might desire to establish in any field of activity or enterprise. The PIIN is a potentially invaluable tool for both the amateur and professional alike, and no matter the function or objective, the real capabilities of any established PIIN will be determined by the inventiveness, innovation, flexibility, enterprise, imagination and quality of the component parts of the network. And those component parts are composed and arranged by the originator of the network, that individual who is responsible for first establishing the nature and parameters of the own individual PIIN. The originator therefore will establish the genesis of the network and how well it grows and develops in the initial stages, but as the network grows it will develop capabilities never originally imagined by the originator and will eventually become functional in an almost independent sense, as long as quality contacts and sources are developed and as long as those contacts and sources continue to grow and establish new capabilities and contacts of their own. A PIIN begins therefore as an idea and individual construct but over time develops into an almost biological organization of vast capacity. Drawing upon the collective skills and capabilities of the PIIN for whatever is desired or needed makes the PIIN a worthwhile and profitable venture for all individuals associated with that network and because of the potential for continued and even exponential growth the PIIN is an extremely advantageous system of achieving complex objectives rapidly and of multiplying capabilities well beyond the individual level.

End Introduction.

P.S.: Some of the above didn't format properly, but I hope it was still readable.

P.P.S.: By the way, I'm starting to integrate some of my internet accounts into the same basic format structure as my PIIN, so that things like Facebook will become part of my PIIN. It multiplies PIIN capabilities even further in that way.

P.P.P.S.: I've also built in-game PIINs. And encourage all of my players to do so as well. If you've got a good DM this can give you good, imaginative practice on how you might build up a useful PIIN in real life. Innovation and imagination are useful in building up good PIINs. Now I really gotta go to bed. See ya.