Lower your profile
The essence of privacy is maintaining a low profile. A soldier in the field maintains a low profile by not standing out against the sky and thereby presenting a target – instead he wears camouflage to blend into the environment and crouches down so that he is below the horizon line. In the same way, you can side step potential problems and maintain your privacy by avoiding attracting attention to yourself.
How can you do this? What are some things that people do that make them stand out and become a target in public? Read on to find out more (including some cases where people came unstuck after not keeping a low profile).
In the same way that the British soldiers stood out at the time of the American revolution by wearing red uniforms and made themselves vulnerable targets, a person stands out by wearing, driving and doing things that are inappropriate and different to the environment. Anything that stands out is a target.
One example of drawing attention to oneself is to flaunt wealth, by driving a very flashy car. A wealthy person can blend in driving a new but comfortable ordinary sedan, but driving a bright red Ferrari with vanity plates attracts unnecessary attention. One of my associates had a very high profile car, and the police saw him doing something stupid. They were waiting for him at his home by the time he got there, even though they didn’t see his plate – he had the only car like that in the city.
A red Ferrari does not lower your profile
I’m not saying to not drive the car you want, but remember that if you already have a profile, a fancy car will make it even higher and will highlight wealth.
In Northern Ireland, the SAS drove ordinary battered looking cars with souped up engines. These cars blended in with the area where they were working.
Vanity license plates attract even more attention, and makes it easy to identify a person driving a car. When I worked as a Sheriff’s Officer, I drove a standard sedan with ordinary number plates, not government plates. Government plates would tend to keep doors closed.
If you are overseas, don’t look like a typical tourist with a camera around your neck. Don’t wear an expensive watch and jewelry, unless you are in a place like Monaco. If you are in a third world country, keep the expensive baubles to a minimum. Don’t wear shirts with your national flag on them, or clothes that are completely different to what the locals wear, or clothes that appear immodest. Are you there to experience the place, or to attract resentment as a decadent Westerner? Blend in.
Keep a low profile by keeping your physical address to yourself. Use your post office box wherever possible. Don’t post personal information about yourself online when anyone can read it. I see a lot of people giving out their personal details to everyone without knowing much about the recipients. Don’t have your Facebook profile wide open where anyone can see it.
Another part of keeping a low profile is keeping your mouth shut. That means not telling your private business to other people. The aim is to keep some things to yourself, and carefully control what is released to the public.
The famous Studio 54 was a highly profitable business for Steve Rubell. Steve Rubell made a public statement in an interview on television in December 1978 about the profitability of Studio 54 and how the IRS didn’t know how much money they were making. He used to tell everyone about how they would skim cash to avoid paying tax on it. Soon after this, the club was raided, and Steve Rubell and his partner spent time in prison on tax evasion charges.
Usually secrets are spilled, and a person chooses to have a high profile from the psychological need to be regarded well by others. Once this need is resolved, it is much easier to keep a low profile and enjoy the freedom from attention. Keep a low profile, and a lot of problems go away.
Tags: privacy
Leave a Reply