The privacy vs. technology debate rages on. So many people say they want “total privacy,” but so few people are actually willing to put in the effort it takes to achieve it. They expect total privacy while still embracing modernity. I took the challenge and forced my wife and kids to come along, too, managing to lawfully remove all associations between my identity and my actual physical address, save for two obscure databases—still, that was enough to stifle a whole slew of invited hackers and law enforcement officers from winning a table stakes game: learning the physical address where we put our heads on our pillows every night for the past few years, despite the fact that we still used technology, social media, and paid electric bills.
The “game” is over now and we’ve called it quits. We could continue, but it’s incredibly difficult and taxing. Turns out, living life with total privacy between physical and digital requires tons of planning, discipline, money, time, and sacrifice, but it was a fun exercise and learning experience.
Come to this talk to live the private life vicariously through me. Learn how we did it, how we nearly blew it (several times), and just how amazingly difficult it really is, especially if you have friends, extended family, or … kids! Become jaded on the future of privacy or leave motivated to uproot your loved ones to try it out for yourselves.
Tim MalcomVetter (@malcomvetter) has over fifteen years building and breaking systems: red teaming the world’s largest commercial organization, consulting with Fortune 500s, hacking everything from mobile apps to fuel pumps to proprietary “legacy” services on TCP sockets, leading e-commerce dev teams, and deploying enterprise security solutions. Tim has several degrees, held a doctoral research fellowship, and several certifications. Tim has presented on offensive security topics in several venues, including Black Hat, DerbyCon, ShowMeCon, ArchC0N, several BSides, several developer conferences, and more. Tim also volunteers time for university infosec programs, including CCDC. @malcomvetter