If you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation of needing to disappear, let me share a recent experience in on-line research–
I am not a professional investigator, but in the course of my work I often need to find obscure documents and people who aren’t interested in being found. This person I’ve been trying to track down recently was pretty crafty. Evidently he simply acknowledged that he couldn’t completely erase his online presence, so he took a true piece of his PII (from far in his past so it didn’t really matter anymore) and created a LinkedIn account with all false information and contacts. So now I think I know what he does for a living, but I can’t find this company he supposedly works for but it’s got Dixon County, Alabama (not real) in the title. I then waste a bunch of time researching the place. Nothing. So I broaden out. His name and “Dixon”. Wait a minute. Here’s a Dixon County, but it’s in Texas, and there’s his name! Can’t be a coincidence. I waste a ton of time searching in Texas. I broaden my search again and find all sorts of information on ZoomInfo about a guy with the exact same name and job title in a place called Dixon, NH. I got him now! I waste a ton of time searching New Hampshire. Nothing. This continued to 3 more layers, each connected by a tiny piece of PII that he knew anyone who was serious would bite like a bass on a lure. A year and a half later I finally tracked him down today for real.
I thought for the more extreme threat models, (abuse victims, informants, journalists, whistle-blowers) this might be some interesting information on how to buy yourself some time when you need it.
Please include other ideas on how to increase your privacy by disseminating disinformation below.