Lootman wrote:Infrasonic wrote:Unless you are going to go completely off grid and live in a field then your full name, D.O.B, address, emails, phone numbers etc. are going to be on Govt. (and company) databases some of which will be accessible from the internet and open to being hacked.
The following does not relate to spam/scam calls particularly, but rather to the concept of maintaining privacy.
I have had a focus on privacy for decades now, following an issue that arose before the internet was commonly used. I take the following steps to secure my privacy which have proven to be successful so far, including not being troubled by such calls.
1) I use a mailbox for all my correspondence and deliveries. The address looks like a normal street address rather than a POB. So anyone i do business with, e.g. banks, do not know where I live, only where my post is received.
2) I have almost never been on the electoral roll - exception was one year since 1987, just before we moved house.
3) All my household bills are in my wife's name, so even my local authority does not know I live in their jurisdiction
4) My email addresses (other than one which is just for close friends and families) are all in a name that looks like a real name but is not mine.
5) I have no social media accounts other than here, where I am careful not to give away too much personal information.
So it is possible to go "off the grid" whilst not literally being off the grid and living in the woods. It just takes commitment and for some it may be too late.
So presumably then no passport or drivers license, no national insurance number, no HMRC registration, NHS number? Or are all those in false names too?
I agree with some of your points - I've used P.O boxes and other methods of abstraction - but you aren't going to get away from your real world ID being on loads of server databases without committing fraud.
And if it exists on databases it can be hacked. Either with a bit of effort if misconfigured with plain text data or a lot of effort that might well fail if the database is properly configured/secured and fully encrypted at all points of potential access.