A totally useless guide of how to reclaim a bit of privacy Seven ways to drop off the grid, totally lacking in any practical advice whatsoever. It says…
There is sophisticated software that deletes all traces of your activities from your computer
… Oh good. So what is it? How easy is it to use? Is there a MicroSoft version I can buy?
And then it goes on to list dumb-foundingly idiotic advice, such as “hide your email”… Again how? I’ve printed all my emails off and put them under the bed so I think I’ll be alright.
I would have spilled my coffee laughing (but I’m cutting down to ten cups a day) when they said…
Go to a town you have never visited before, to an area with no CCTV cameras and pay a homeless person to buy a pay-as-you-go mobile phone for you.
Sheer genius! Then try making a call on the crate of Special Brew they bring back.
That homeless person you talk about is about as off the grid as you can get, why not just swap coats and start arguing with yourself?
The most lunatic part of this is how, they aren’t attempting to drop off the grid, ooh no, nothing as radical as living like my Dad who…
- Pays cash
- Doesn’t have a computer
- Doesn’t have mobile
- Grows his own vegetables
- Pays cash for coke that heats his house
- Doesn’t have a desire to jump on a bus and start negotiations with tramps about buying a mobile phone
… they instead want to be part of the grid an all the grid offers but sneaky about it and pretend they’re sticking it to man. It’s easy to stick it to the man… be a Grandad and stop mindless blogging!
Another approach to freeing yourself from the grid might be…
- Move to a separate country with no papers
- Get a funny sounding name
- Don’t use health, benefit services
- Have no credit card and very little cash (shopping centres are CCTV’ed to the hilt
- Have no place of abode
- Have no computer, phone, ipod, passport
- Have a rough life in general, getting picked on the authorities who don’t like people on the fringes, without a number to their name
Which pretty much describes the lot of an asylum seeker.
So next time, if you must, why not include more practical stuff like …
- An alternative to Google (Google Docs, Analytics, Mail etc) that really works and is free/cheap
- A way of easily tracking who’s spamming me and do something about it
- A way to lock up my files and all the dodgy python sites I visit.
- How to shop without supermarkets
- How to get paid without a bank account
- How to learn the art of letter-writing and dump your phone and computer
- How to learn the ukulele and stop buying CDs from those nasty shops
- How to knit, put on more jumpers and switch off your mains supply
None of the above will work of course, but at least you will have learned the ukulele and have some nice jummies to show for it. I’m going to rob a bank with out getting caught and move to a Brazilian Eco Village.
Its funny but I’ve also been thinking about this recently…..how do you drop of the grid when everything you are and do is fully plugged into it….Tom you make money from the grid i make money via the grid and off people who are fully plugged into the grid. The subversive person in me wants to not be dictacted to by the system and live off the gird, especially when I look at debt, environment, health and political issues that drive me insane with frustration. But like you said the only true way to do it would be to not do everything I’ve trained to do, to not be a modern kinda-fella….who loves design.
That said, I really do want to get of the power grid at my next house and get some solar and wind power….even if I do need to go to bed when the sun goes down.
Don’t get me wrong, on the whole, I’m anti-grid. I just can’t stand it when people offer advice that is in itself grid-dependant (like email and mobiles).