(From 'Q' Newsletter, Q6.7)
This is the first in a series of articles we will be running in The Q that look at specific tactics to increase your privacy.
If you have any personal tips or tactics that you would like to share with other Q-readers, please feel free to send them in! As ever, we will publish anonymously and send a free gift to anyone whose letter we print.
A friend of mine told me an interesting story recently. Someone had come to him asking if he could solve a puzzle. Almost every time he travelled abroad he was being stopped by customs. Not only this, he was usually taken aside and strip-searched as well. He flew to Malaya - and was strip-searched. He flew to Australia - and was strip-searched. He flew to the USA - with the same treatment. But on other flights he passed through without hindrance.
Now this is not someone involved in anything even remotely dubious. He is a computer consultant. And he needs to travel a lot each year.
"So, what passport do you travel on?", enquired my friend.
"My own, UK passport", came the answer from the computer consultant.
"And this is a properly-issued document?"
"Of course it is. I'm a British citizen."
My friend found this a little strange. Why should anyone in a completely legitimate job, travelling with a completely legitimate passport, be stopped again and again and strip-searched at customs.
"You don't do drugs do you?" (He's always direct this friend of mine.)
"No!"
"And you've never been involved in ANY kind of business that could be related to drugs, or anything else they might appear suspicious?"
The poor man shook his head.
"I'm sorry," said my friend, "But I need to know all the facts here. Do you have your passport with you?"
"Yes," said the gentleman, reaching into his jacket and producing his British Passport.
My friend then looked at the document carefully. He knows the tell-tale signs of forged documents. But there was nothing that he could see that would distinguish this from any perfectly legitimate, officially-issued passport (which is not surprising, because that's just exactly what it was).
"Well," said my friend, "It beats me. We'll try one more thing, but if this doesn't work, I'm afraid I can't help you."
So, he went to a cabinet and brought out an ultra-violet lamp. I don't know if you have seen one of these. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They are just like normal lamps, except that they shine an ultra-violet glow instead of ordinary electric light.
Taking the passport, my friend held it under the ultra-violet lamp. Nothing on the first page, nor the next, nor the next. Nothing to be seen on the whole passport in fact - until he got to the final page where the photograph and details of his companion were. And here, quite plain for all to see was the reason why his companion had been stopped so often.
In very neat block capitals were the words:
SUSPECTED NARCOTICS DEALER, APPREHEND AT CUSTOMS.
The words had been written in an ultra-violet pen and were therefore invisible in ordinary daylight or under ordinary electric lights.
"Here's the answer!" said my friend. "I'm afraid you'll have to apply for a new passport. Still, it could have been a lot worse."
"Oh, how?" asked his companion.
"They might have detained you in Australia..."
I tell this story for two reasons. The first is to remind you that you should always put your passport in a safe place. Always. No exceptions. Especially if you only have one passport. In fact - regardless of how many you have. Lock 'em up day and night. And get them out only when you have to.
I'll be talking in later issues about the need to install safes in your home. You should have at least two of these put in different places. One should be inside the house, the other one preferably elsewhere. But if you don't have a safe already installed, you can still take sensible measures to ensure that a document as valuable as a passport is not left lying around for any Tom, Dick or Harry to get his hands on.
The victim in the story above could not believe that this had happened to him. He didn't think anyone bore enough of a grudge against him. He kept his passport in his desk at home, and could not think of a time when anyone had been in the house who would have found it and then written on it like this. He was baffled.
But it would not have happened if he had taken a few precautionary steps beforehand.
I am a big believer in prevention rather than cure, and there are plenty of things you can do to increase your privacy.
Step 1: Using the Smoke-Screen to your advantage.
One of these is always to secure valuable possessions or papers. Having done that, you can apply the smoke-screen theory. If you are going to leave information lying around the house make sure it is information that will throw a snooper off the real trail. If you are going to put papers out with the trash without shredding them first, make sure they are papers that give away exactly what you want them to. It's a well-known fact that lawyers and private detectives will trawl through any amount of garbage looking for that one piece of evidence that can nail you.
So, make sure you let them have information that will send them down a blind alley. If you have offshore accounts in the Caribbean, put some brochures of European banks or fund-managers out with your milk cartons. If you are going to Switzerland next month on a business trip that you would rather keep secret, put some timetables of flights to another country - and preferably another continent - in with your rubbish. You might want to put them in an envelope marked Private and Confidential that you fill with anchovy paste first!
This is the smokescreen theory. Take every chance to actively throw the bloodhounds off the scent. It will not always work. It depends on who you are and what you have done to be under the spotlight. But it is worth doing if you want to try to stay that crucial step ahead of Big Brother and his underlings. Sometimes it will buy you those precious minutes or days that you need.
The other reason for telling you this story is to highlight the use of Ultra-violet lamps and pens.
Step 2: Using an Ultra Violet Lamp and Pen.
There's a little trick that you can play on the boys who might be opening and then re-sealing your mail. Most people who check to see if their mail has been tampered with look only at the top, where the flap is sealed down. This is a good idea, but you should know that for the most part the people who open mail are a little cleverer than that. They don't go for the obvious. Instead, they open letters at the side, take out the contents, read, photocopy, file what they want - and then reseal the side flap before sending it on to you, knowing you'll be less likely to look there.
It's a neat way of doing things. And that suits them well. They like things to be neat. So don't let them have it their way. Do all you can to confuse or delay them.
Be as irritating to them as possible. And don't forget, you are totally within your rights. No one, officially or otherwise should be tampering with your mail.
If you think your mail is being tampered with - by anyone at all - then get yourself an ultra-violet pen, and a lamp to go with it. In fact, what I would suggest is that you get one for yourself, and one for anyone to whom you will be sending private material.
Before sending the letter, make sure the recipient has his lamp already. Then you get your ultra violet pen and run it over all the seals. Make sure you cover the top and both sides. When the mail arrives at the other end, the receiver uses his lamp to inspect each edge carefully. If someone has opened the letter and then re-sealed it, even if they've done a really good job, a small white line will appear in the middle of the ultra-violet. A tell-tale sign that all is not as it seems. If there is no white line then all is well. At least they haven't opened this particular letter.
"But if I do this, and it gets spotted, won't it look as though I'm trying to do something illegal?" I can understand anyone thinking this. But the fact is that this is a legal method of finding out if your privacy IS being invaded. All the agents in the world don't have Ultra-violet lamps that they shine onto envelopes but some do. And they would be opening your mail anyway - because, for whatever reason, they have singled you out along with thousands of others for special treatment. If they spot the UV line, they'll have to make the choice - To break the seal or not.
If you would like more practical advice on Security and Privacy, our Q File, QFD - Security Strategies and Privacy Tactics, is available for the special offer price of £25/US43 and can be sent to you in hard copy, on disk or via email.
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