To Iris #5609 I wouldn’t do anything that would qualify as lying on your DMV application. You probably have to sign it “under penalty of perjury,” which makes it a felony if you lie.

To Seth #5612 Given my experience with using an out-of-state license, I would be careful about using an expired license, too. Sometimes it’s not clear what the penalty is. Not long after moving to California, I called the DMV to find out what the penalty was for not getting a California license within 10 days of moving there. The answer? They told me there was no penalty. In retrospect, I think they meant that the DMV does not impose a late charge penalty if you go over the 10 days. Of course, that was not what I’d meant! Also, I do think that car insurance companies check your driving record every six months before they issue a policy renewal. If they didn’t, how would they know to raise your rates when you get a ticket? So, they would know and object if your license was expired. Plus, if you had an accident and were driving with an expired license, even if you were not at fault, I think you could get in a heap of trouble that would be very counter-productive to protecting your privacy.

A Little Good News: Lots of states, California for one, now allow you to give a physical residence and a mailing address. If you give a mailing address, they print that address on the license and just keep the residence on file. I don’t actually mind the DMV having my home address that much. What bothers me about Real ID is the DMV requiring you to give your home address to other entities to establish residency. I don’t see how that proves residency, anyway. You can have your mail sent anywhere.

... I have been stopped twice in the past five years (although not in California). No tickets were given. My car has plates for the state where I was stopped, but my DL is from a faraway state. The registration is in an LLC name with a Canary Islands address. Both times I was asked if I worked for the LLC. I said no, I own it. (Perhaps driving a Lexus LS is helpful in this case.)

I was wondering if there is a way to get the Insurance card to display the LLC name and LLC-ghost-address instead of my real name and personal-ghost-address.

Will I be fine just getting insurance in my real name and personal-ghost-address? Seems like the Insurance card can give away the privacy benefits of an LLC Registration because of the connecting VIN. What do most folk do here?

... Some readers will object to this but what most of us do is to title the vehicle in an LLC (with a ghost address) but to use our own name with the insurance company. The main thing is not to have our name show up when a licence plate is run by a cop, a PI, or a three-letter agency.

I too am looking strongly at converting a shipping container into a trailer, but it would be built for regular travel and relocation if needed. I am still considering how to finish this outside and inside walls and insulate the unit so it looks like a regular RV, is durable, and can handle any season.

The key is to look like a regular RV so it blends in and is accepted at any RV park when the need arises to stay ay one. The other option Is to build the RV from scratch. I need to get some data on material prices and see which option is cheaper and easier in the long run. Either way I want to be part of the "mobile" population in a few years if possible.

Building custom gives me the choice to make it a comfortable home on wheels while still building it with the custom features and durability I want.

The other thing you want to look at is a tow vehicle. A regular pickup (3500) won't handle a rig this heavy. You would need an MDT or HDT (Semi) truck to pull it safely. I'm looking at buying an HDT, stripping off all the unneeded fairings and stack exhaust, singling out the rear axle, and building a custom bed so it blends in more and isn't as obtrusive as a full blown semi truck. My major thing is seeing how I can register it as a truck (private, non-commercial use) and avoid having to get a CDL.

There are many bills involved, but one you'll love is the one that requires OK to degrade all possessed copies of driver's photo below usable biometric facial recognition capabilities; even on all backups that are kept anywhere!

Watch for a series of articles sourced from the AP (associated press) on "Living in a Surveillance Society" which could hit the mass media as early as today. Our coalition was aggressively interviewed by AP reporters in forming this series; a multi-month process. I offer the site for information relevant to you, not as any self promotion.

As always, thanks JJ for your superb efforts in privacy and for tips that protected us on our journey.

Submitted Link #1: http://stoprealidcoalition.com/...

Why is the PO asking this? Does it matter which I choose (will it affect anything like how they verify address etc)? Is it better to choose one over the other?

... If you say "business," the USPS will reveal the listed street address to anyone who asks.

... If you say "personal," the USPS claims they will not reveal the listed street address to just anyone who asks.

... Your choice should now be easy to make, Brian!

I've also successfully used the company name instead of my real name as the "name on card" and have had no AVS problems.

I also have a chase card which I set the address to a PO box (after the account had already been set up). When I buy things online, I use the PO box as the billing address and there are no problems with the credit card going through.

However I stopped using these cards anyway in the last couple months because they are connected to me and its none of anyone's business what I buy online. Now I only use Gift cards paid for with cash, registered-online, to make online purchases.

For shipping information (regardless of the credit card used), I have successfully used my first initial as the "first name" followed by my middle and last initials as the "last name". This way, if I am ever questioned by the courier, I can prove with ID that those are my initials, yet they can be anything, although they are designed to look like a company name. I've never been questioned yet by a courier when receiving packages anonymously.

There's a company doing this as a business to provide disaster housing and cheap housing in rural areas.

A standard shipping container can be shipped anywhere in the world, and can be transported by truck from any port in the world. Set it on a foundation and hook it up to utilities and you have an instant house.

I bought two, a 20 footer that I set on a 24 foot gooseneck trailer for moving, that's been storage, a garage and now a woodshed, and a 52 foot aluminum model (hard to find now) that I use to store stuff (like my Hummer and firearms) at my "summer home" ghost address deep in the mountains of Colorado. Each cost $3000, but that was more than 10 years ago. However, it's cheaper for the Chinese to build new containers than to ship empty ones back to China, so there's lots of them available. My steel one is Russian.

I have a welder friend and we've talked about simply putting an axle pack under the 52 footer and attaching a gooseneck hitch on the front, using the built-in attachment points so it's removable, and turning it into a trailer. Set up with a jacking system, the whole thing can be towed to a location, jacked up, the axle pack rolled out from underneath and the gooseneck removed, then lowered onto blocks. The axle pack and gooseneck can be disassembled and stored inside for transport by commercial truck or ship.

Instant house, anywhere in the world.

Thanks for the great work you do, Mr. Luna! Howard

... Always good to hear from someone from one of my favorite small cities. Hope they still serve a good noon lunch at the Nugget!

In some cases, people who require high-level privacy may want to consider the option of simply not renewing a DL at all. I've been stopped once in the last 10 years because I'm careful to obey the law. The only reason I got stopped is because I illegally passed a vehicle on a double yellow line (he was going 10 mph in a 35 mph zone) when I was trying to get home in the midst of a kidney stone attack. I was in intense pain and needed to get home to my medication, and I did the deed in front of a Sheriff's deputy. I'm not usually that stupid.

But the penalty for driving with an expired license is zero points and a minimal fine, which can be mailed in. So long as the cop sees the insurance card, which is the real killer (a misdemeanor for driving without valid insurance) and will require a court appearance, the license thing is minor.

So, I'm considering getting my next 10 year renewal using my old address (which I still own because the sale fell through) and never renewing my license again. I've already stopped voting, and will not register in my new community nor vote in my old one, just to avoid legal problems.

The real killer for me is my CCW permit, which expires in December. I may be able to renew it at my old address (I can make a plausible argument that I still "live" there since I have the intent to return there (perforce) if I can't sell it, because eventually I'll have to move out of my new rental when I can't pay the rent any longer. But after the next 5 year renewal, I may have to operate under the same principle I operated under for some years after I quit law enforcement and before CCW permits were available: I asked my self when the last time I was stopped and frisked by a cop was. I couldn't identify that this had EVER happened, so I just carried illegally, but very carefully. It's nice to be legal in 34 states now, but the key to carrying concealed is to keep it CONCEALED. If you have to use it, well, "It's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six," so the saying goes.

Anyway, just a thought for those who value privacy more than obedience to petty government intrusions.

You might want to review posts #2721, #2731, #5316, and #5320. Also, explore the Web site of the European Privacy Seal folks (see link below). Ixquick is, so far, the only search engine (to have applied for and met their stringent technical and legal review.)

Submitted Link #1: http://www.european-privacy-seal.eu

I did some research and I think I've finally found a good compromise to the own/rent paradigm. I think HTBI-minded folks would be interested, especially those who like to travel a lot.

How about building your own tiny house and putting it on wheels? Around the world there is growing trend called the Small House Movement, where people buy/build their own little homes with just a year or two's worth of rent and set them on lockable trailers. You can choose live in a mobile home park, a vacant lot, the forest, a beach, wherever you can drive the trailer to. Some of these homes look nice and I think this is perfect for someone who is single or doesn't have many kids.

... Sorry, George, but I think an older motor home is infinitely more practical.

It is now law that, to renew a DL in my state, one has to now show PROOF of their residential address by submitting two out of about 20 possible documents such as deed, mortgage, utility work order, residential lease agreement, etc. PO Boxes are not accepted anymore, and my guess is that the license bureau will check a database of CMRAs to ensure that the address provided really is one that is a residence, thus, also precluding the option of using a business address such as some of the options mentioned in HTBI.

Other than moving or the cost prohibitive option of renting another place, how can one now avoid having their physical residence address on their DL (and the accompanying databases)? Has anyone had any success in renewing their FL DL with a CMRA address? I’ve re-read the ghost address chapter in HTBI, but am afraid none of those options will work, given the documents required by the bureau to verify residence. I’d really like to hear from some readers who have successfully kept their home address off their renewed DL.

... I still maintain that moving is the sole legal solution, unless you are willing to get a DL in another state.