One Nation Under Surveillance - Privacy From the Watchful Eye by Boston T Party

"One Nation Under Surveillance: Privacy From The Watchful Eye" by Boston T. Party is an interesting and eye opening book full of strategies and techniques to keep you, your belongings, and your activities private. It's obvious that the author is sick and tired of Big Brother's ever increasing invasion into every aspect of our lives. You don't have to agree with him on everything, nor do you have to take all the measures outlined in this text, to gain some valuable information regarding privacy and to have your eyes opened to things you probably didn't know were going on.I'm not personally looking to drop off the grid right now, nor do I plan to implement a lot of the privacy strategies outlined in this book. However, I am still very glad I read it. It opened my eyes to things, and there are things in the book that I'll be using personally.Right at the beginning, the author discusses why a person might want more privacy, and his number one reason is oppressive government, high taxes, and war. Like I said, the author is not too fond of the government, but then who is these days? Learning about how information is collected on us, and by whom, is a good wake up call. There's some Interesting and scary stuff here. He then does a good job of describing privacy vs. paranoia, though some may think the line is not quite where the author draws it.There are chapters on a variety of topics ranging from interesting, to a bit complex, to things that were beyond my personal lifestyle goals, but interesting to read nonetheless. I found the chapter on people, and who you trust to be very interesting, and did not expect to find a segment on sociopaths when I first got the book. Chapters on I.D., Financial Privacy, and Mail provide ways and steps you can take to live more anonymously. The chapters on telecommunications and passphrases really interested me, and anyone that secures data and other information with pass words or passphrases would learn a thing or two from this section. Some very good info here.The author also writes quite a bit about computers and operating systems. He has no use for Windows, and suggests Puppy Linux as the most privacy orientated operating system, and explains why and how to set your computer up with it.As someone concerned with Big Brother and all of the information gathering done by our government, it is not surprising that this book contains a chapter on the Census and ACS. If you have concerns with either of these, and want to know a bit more about them, this chapter will fill you in. The gun chapter was pretty basic. Buy from individuals and gun shows that don't do paperwork if you don't want people to know you have them. That and keep your mouth shut. Sure, there's a little more than that, but not much, because basically that's it to keep private.There are also short chapters on living quietly, keeping your car private, traveling private, and using private entities. Regarding these chapters, the author provides a little basic information, but one must do more research. On one note, Montana is also a state that you don't have to show proof of insurance upon registration. A vehicle can also be registered in the country where an entity has it's registered agent too. That gets to the chapter on entities, such as trusts, corporations, and LLCs. The author provides some bare bones information that might or might not work for certain situations. As someone who has formed thousands of business entities for others and has studied a lot of asset protection strategies, I'd suggest you follow the advice the author provides on page 21/8 - become your own expert. You really need to learn a lot more than the author put in this eight-page chapter if you wish to use entities as part of your overall privacy and asset protection plan.The final chapter provides some of the author's thoughts on privacy's future. I should also note, that the book is not just the author's thoughts. The book contains many quotes and passages from other sources, and the author does a great job of providing those sources. It's an extremely researched book with a lot of places to go look for additional information on the topics covered.I think this is a valuable book for several reasons. First, it's eye opening and provides information that many people are unaware of. Increasing awareness of some of the ways people are losing their privacy is important. Second, for some individuals who would rather live privately off the grid, so to speak, this book offers a lot of practical strategies and resources for doing so. And lastly, for many others who don't want to completely disappear or take the extravagant position of privacy, this book provides information that can be used to the degree the person wishes to keep certain information secure from others, even if it's just using better pass words and being more aware of how information is being collected. I'm glad I read this book, and it's one I'll keep on the shelf as a resource. seuss book collection sets cat hat