There was a time in the United States of America and in other major nations when personal and financial privacy was so real that it was taken for granted. Your personal life and your business was your own -- nobody else's. In those long gone days your banker was a professional of discretion who would never discuss your financial affairs with anyone, certainly not with government agents, unless they had a legal court order. That description of privacy is no longer true in America, especially when it comes to financial privacy and banking confidentiality.
Prior to September 11th, American privacy was on the decline, but after the attacks, using the PATRIOT Act as their weapon, the U.S. government and police in secret can tap your phones, e-mails, put key loggers on your computer and secretly search your office, home, and records of every kind. Private parties, for a relatively few dollars, can buy Internet and other searches that list every fact about your own person, your family, your finances and even your personal music, video rental and other buying habits. And, it’s all perfectly legal. There’s very little you can do to stop it…but there are steps you can take to preserve your financial and personal privacy.
By setting up your financial affairs offshore, you can avoid all of this U.S. government spying and re-establish a much higher degree of personal and financial privacy. Good sense and self-preservation dictates that you reorder your wealth and assets so that a reasonable portion is located in an offshore nation where real financial privacy is guaranteed by law.
The articles below originally appeared in our monthly newsletter, The Sovereign Individual. You can learn more about privacy, tax havens and asset protection in The Sovereign Individual each month by becoming a member of The Sovereign Society. Click here for details on membership.
More About Financial Privacy and Personal Privacy
Your Financial Life Is An Open Book... Here's How to Slam It Shut
By Mark Nestmann
Congress is finally waking up to the fact that just about everything Americans want to keep private—bank account details, phone records, credit records, medical records, driving records, bankruptcies, criminal records, civil suits, and property records and much more—is available if you have the money to purchase it.
That was the lesson Congressman Whitfield and the members of his House Energy and Commerce Committee Oversight Subcommittee learned during a series of hearings in June. The hearings featured testimony from data brokers, from whom banks, car dealers, jealous lovers, and even some law enforcement officers have covertly purchased information.
They learned of a multi-million dollar industry in which, by illegally impersonating your target, you can purchase someone’s phone records for US$200, Social Security number for US$60 and the location of a cell phone for US$300.
They also learned how law enforcement—including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI—uses data broker services to evade legal protections guaranteed in 1970s-era laws prohibiting law enforcement agencies from assembling such records.
These privacy-stealing issues are so grave that data brokers that appeared on Capitol Hill in June couldn’t describe their own involvement for fear of criminal prosecution.
Read More...
Know the Law to Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves and Other Privacy Invaders
By Mark Nestmann
When I recently moved to Phoenix, Arizona—the city with the highest incidence of identity theft in the U.S.—everyone wanted my number. My social security number, that is. And they wanted to know where I lived.
Of course, being the privacy fanatic that I am, I didn’t reveal this information. But along the way, I found myself in some very interesting situations—including one where a used car salesman gave me legal advice that, if I had followed it, might have led to my arrest for money laundering.
In any event, I managed to rent an apartment, set up utility services, obtain medical and auto insurance, and purchase a vehicle—all without revealing my SSN. I also managed to do most of these things without revealing my residential address.
If you’re a new Sovereign Society member, you might be wondering, “why bother?” Here are a few reasons—and then I’ll tell you how I won a small victory in the privacy wars.
Read More...
Nosy Bureau-rats Want to Read Your Email and ‘Outsource’ Intelligence Gathering—Here’s How to Protect Yourself
by Mark Nestmann
If you’re like me, your personal computer and the Internet are indispensable tools, both personally and professionally.
Why bother with a letter when you can dash off an e-mail and send it, virtually effortlessly? Who wants to buy something at a store, in person, when you can shop online, in the comfort of your own home? And why set foot in a library when there are so many good online research services?
Unfortunately, governments—particularly the U.S. government—view the incredible convenience facilitated by these technological marvels as an opportunity to snoop into your private affairs. It’s not enough to have every aspect of your financial affairs under continuous scrutiny, courtesy of the USA PATRIOT Act and similar laws. Now, they’re pressing for “back door” access to your e-mail messages, your Internet browsing habits and the precise location of your cell phone. And they’re doing it in a very sneaky way.
Read More...