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My best advice is to avoid companies that target their employees with such draconian measures. Any of the Fortune 500 companies are going to provide an oppressive atmosphere to work in, utilizing everything from psychological profiles to video cameras to keep their employeed productive. Forget about chain retailers as well--most of them are so afraid that you’re going to rip them off that they'll dog your every step, and many of them have begun searching their employees whenever they leave the building for a break or to go home. Can full-body strip searches as a term of employment be far behind?
I've found that most small businesses are too busy trying to make a buck to mess around with their employees, and they actually create more jobs than the corporate giants. You have to be a little more skilled to get the gig, but small offices usually pay better and offer some benefits. Locally-owned retail outlets, restaurants and technical companies are notoriously low-paying, but there is a fair degree of autonomy and more tolerance of alternative lifestyles and differences of political opinion.
If you absolutely must work for a big corporation, don't do anything on the job that you don't want big brother to know about. Keep off the phone except for necessary business, encrypt personal Email and remember to smile for the cameras.
SHOPPING
Thanks to a Congress frightened by the media's foray into Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental records, that Saturday night flick from Blockbuster is the safest transaction you'll ever be part of. The 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act literally requires a court order for your records to be opened so that someone can see that you rented Buffy the Vampire Slayer last weekend. Outside of your video preferences, the rest of your consumer choices are fair game.
Pay cash. This simple action will eliminate most of the information gathering performed by computerized retailers. Credit card transactions are collected, collated, analyzed and later sold to everybody and their brother. Did you buy a mountain bike with your Discover card? Expect mail offering you everything from helmets to clothing. Paid for your groceries with your Visa? A database somewhere notes that you bought pizza rolls and generic beer. As this sort of open-ended marketing is perfected, almost every purchase we make will be captured digitally by somebody.
Remain anonymous. Read magazines at the library or buy them outright rather than subscribing. Ignore those "Four Books For A Buck" offers made by various clubs, along with any other mail order purchases. Refuse to use the self-scanners that a lot of grocery stores are introducing - they just want your name, address and purchases on file. Utilize the friendly postal money order if you require a receipt - they're cheap, they're as good as cash and they're very anonymous. I see Mexican immigrants buying them to send home to their families. Paid in cash, they hide their identifies and immigration status from prying eyes.
PERSONAL STUFF
The powers that be have a vested interest in keeping us all on a short leash. It keeps us off--balance, it ensures greater profits for them and they always know where to find us. Sever the consumerist chain that binds you with the giant bolt cutters of privacy.
BANKING
If you're paying cash for everything, then there's no need to have a checking account. Banks make copies of every check that you write, cash or deposit, stored on microfilm and available to any sort of government type who has developed a prurient interest in your actions. A look at your checking account records provides snoopers with the 411 on your buying habits, financial status and cash flow, where you live and a host of other private information.
As I said above, if you absolutely have to send a payment to somebody, buy a money order. I've done without a checking account for ten years now, spending far less on money order fees each month than on checking account charges. Plus, there is no temptation to write bad checks in advance of a payday. A savings account can be opened to keep small amounts of emergency cash in, or to cash out-of-town checks through. Otherwise, cash local checks at the bank they're drawn on for relative financial privacy.
Likewise, forget about mutual funds and IRAs. You're better off investing your money in sustainable assets. Buy some property, build a house, learn to garden. Buy tools, a gun, kitchenware, books and such and become as self-reliant as possible. In an unpredictable economy, nothing beats being able to grow your own food and make your own beer. Gold is a fool's paradise - if the hammer does indeed fall, you won't be able to trade that soft metal for anything of value. Seeds, food, ammunition, tools and even personal skills will be the stuff of commerce in the uncertain future.
If you've got large sums of money that you need to shelter, consider an offshore trust. There are plenty of countries that will hide your income from Uncle Sam for a small fee. Just be careful of who you're dealing with and do a lot of research.
SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
Only your employer, bank and the government have the right to demand your SSN. Tell everybody else to "sod off." Most of the time, anybody using it as an identification number will issue you an alternate I.D. In states where your SSN is printed on your driver's license, avoid getting into situations where you have to flash the plastic, thus denying anybody a look at this valuable number.
CREDIT
Again, pay cash. Credit card companies are absolute sharks where it conies to collecting personal inforn~ation, and the way that they get it is for us to volunteer it to them. Throw away the invitations that come in the mail for an "approved card," hang up on the telemarketers making offers on the phone. Companies like Equifax and the former TRW have made hundreds of millions of dollars off of selling our privacy, and it is said that credit reporting agencies hold files on better than I GO million Americans. Opt out of
this system today!
INSURANCE
Insurance companies are another information siphon. Your medical records, personal habits, DMV records and more come under endless scrutiny. If your state requires auto insurance, buy the minimum and offer as little information on the application as possible. Otherwise, just stash a few dollars away for emergencies and prepare for your loved one's futures by living simply and teaching them self-sufficiency.
TRANSPORTATION
If you can get by with a bicycle, then do so. It's better for your health and, in most locations, you still don't have to license it as you do a car motorcycle. It's better for the environment and costs far less to maintain over the lifetime of the vehicle. In the big city, walk or use the bus or subway. All are extremely anonymous modes of transport. If you need a car, buy a cheap ride and pay cash. You'll avoid credit hassles with the bank or finance company, as well as a $400 a month payment. When the car craps out, as they inevitably do, buy another with the money saved on monthly payments and expensive insurance.
Most of these tips for regaining your privacy are well-known to folks on the right. Militia members, tax protesters and survivalists regularly observe such conservative practices and avoid volunteering information on themselves whenever possible. Those of us sitting comfortably on the left could learn a lot from them. Just performing these few actions will increase your sense of personal security and make it much easier to focus on the important job at hand: helping build a world where privacy is not a concern but rather a given.
