The acvtivation fee was $5.95, the same fee as for the $100 gift cards so these are much more price effective. I loaded it with $200 and registered my ghost address and alternate name at GiftCardMall.com so online purchases AVS correctly with the billing name and address of my choice. Next time I'm going to get the full $500.

I wanted to let people know that the hassle of GiftCards is much less if you can get $500 at one time. You can use the same card much longer for online services such as Vumber, Vonage and remote Servers for tunneling than $100 denominations.

The hardest part about the "privacy conversion" is being patient. Trying to convert too much at once is stressful and a good way to blow your cover. Researching each step (on this website and in books) just before it is done seems to help. My wife and I just got our DL's switched to our existing PO and in an alternate address. We also got my wife's name re-hyphenated with the social security administration and the new card will be here next week. They required no additional docs since all the docs connecting her maiden name and our marriage license with my last name is all information already on file.

We plan to put the PO box in her maiden name and since the DL shows a ghost address, the physical address will not be connected with us. We can then switch all of our existing bills over to the new PO and let the old one cancel out.

... You may now advance to the head of the class, Leon. :-)

Arthur: I read the article you linked. I'm still clueless. Is there a website somewhere with a step-by-step tutorial for setting that up? Thanks!

I hardly think, in my case, it's any accident I've been called to protect myself in specific ways. It's exhausting, time-consuming and expensive but worth ALL of that if I can maintain my privacy, online and off. So, don't read this piece and WEEP, read it and CHANGE the way you interact with technology. For those of us who are HTBI smart, that's the takeaway, NOT resigning ourselves to this movement toward super-surveillance in the US.

When you apply for the passport, however, you will have to submit documents to prove that you are who you claim to be and that you are a U.S. citizen. When applying for your very first passport, this proof would normally be your birth certificate. (Other or different documents might be required if you don't have a birth certificate.) For a woman who changed her surname upon marriage, she would also submit a marriage license showing both her maiden name and her new name. It would be the same for you. In addition to the birth certificate, you would submit a (certified) copy of the certificate of change of name from the county where the name change occurred.

If you browse in the State Department's web site (see link below) theere should be links to other Stazte Department Web pages where the passport application process is explained.

If this will not be your first passport, just submit a previous passport to prove citizenship, together with the change-of-legal-name documentation.

All passport applications must include a photograph, which must meet certain requirements, that will also be explained on the State Department site.

Submitted Link #1: http://travel.state.gov/...

My question is, when I re-new my passport that expired last month...and supply the state department with the legal documents...are both of my names appearing on the passport?? Or only my new name?? I need to know before applying.

... I would assume only the new name, but I am posting this to ask if any of you readers know the answer for sure. (Also, Marco, you could ask at a post office or other place where passports applications are taken.)

Are you saying you dialed one of your own numbers with a Vumber to determine where the Vumber call would show as originating from? To see what the caller ID showed? Which "true" cell phone number was revealed? The one you were calling or the one you were calling from? Was this a potential glitch in Vumber's normal processes or was it the result of a third party tampering with the programming? I'm more than a little confused here, thanks for clarifying!

THIS business owner is going to do ALL she can to protect herself, no matter how the debate shakes out in privacy forums. For those who care just how much online spies can find out about you from your browser, check out the website below. Technology represents the biggest and most dangerous threat to protecting our privacy (which is why one of Wired magazine's blogs is called "Threat Level"!) and it should be managed accordingly, not ignored because it's more expedient since "the NSA's watching our every move, anyway."

Finally, personally, Google is one of the scariest privacy threats I've seen on a long time and I'm getting away--FAR away--from anything Google as fast as I can. I won't exchange my privacy with Google for their money.

Submitted Link #1: http://browserspy.dk/...

However, several things.

1) Do you research; search the names of the providers online and read recent forum posts about them before subscribing.
2) Learn how to pay for the services privately but legally.
3) Use anonymous proxy websites that scrub your computer's information from the browser to access and post to your site(s).
4) Don't permit unmoderated posts on your site. (Go to Poynter dot org and sign up for their media law web course.)
5) Create a terms of service that looks like something out of a legal research book to protect yourself.
6) Check out other similar sites terms and conditions for accepting subpoenas and requests from law enforcement and governments.
7) Make sure the service you're using doesn't tolerate and illegal activity (like warez, spamming, pornography, etc.) on the one hand but allows you to post the content you write on the other. You'll find a lot of those.

Also, have a virtual phone number, anonymous email address and make sure any content you upload is completely scrubbed of information from your computer like the name of the creator and the date, local URLs, etc. Protect your sites code with software that hides it. And make sure you've covered EVERY privacy related track you can before you go live. After you launch, keep checking to make sure you're covering your tracks. I hope this all helps or at least gives you a starting place.

One caveat, though. I once used a Vumber to determine where a particular caller was actually phoning from. When I called their number, I heard "You're calling from..." and my TRUE cell phone number! So, new technology is always being created to invade our privacy, usually in the interest in protecting privacy. In my case, I'm learning to find ways to use technology to achieve my privacy preservation ends. But, we should all be wary.

Finally, I think in the case of a domestic violence victim, using a VoIP phone behind a proxy server AND properly configured hardware firewall may help prevent them. Though VoIP phones are much like Vumber, a virtual phone, the user should have someone else with a properly configured (for privacy) VoIP phone call the stalker at a time when the stalker is not answering their phone and see what happens. ALWAYS be testing the technology to see if you can use it to protect your privacy.

I am involved with a liberty and privacy oriented group that's turned out to be rather popular on the various free sites and networking arenas as well as off-line. At a recent meeting, we discussed the idea of creating a website or two(news, discussion, solutions, covering local events and documenting them, etc.) Has anyone had any experience with creating an anonymous website with or without the use of nominees. We understand that a couple of years back, it was essentially made illegal to "use a pen name" when registering a domain. Is that true?

Also, since we'll most likely have a moderated discussion forum of some sort, it seems almost impossible to be completely private because if someone gets out of hand and posts something violent or illegal, the FBI will want to get that person's IP address, etc. from the website "owner."

If there is no absolute privacy when it comes to websites, is it worth it without an attorney?

2) Use a Vumber or Spoofcard for calling the court-ordered stalker ON TOP OF the Tracfone in #1.

If worse comes to worse, one could use the Tracfones listed in #1 on a one-time-only basis. That would be an expensive option, but possibly a necessary one. Like Wendy and Mr. Luna say: "How much is your privacy worth?"

The bigger issue to me, regarding court-ordered meetings with stalkers, would be the possibility of being followed physically (rather than electronically) after such a meeting. It would seem to me that guarding one's privacy in that circumstance would be much more necessary from the "rear-view mirror" rather than from the "cell towers."

I faxed a request to Intelius.com with a requested to remove my listings, per the instructions, but they have not acted upon it. It's been three weeks.