Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!paperboy!think.com!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!lavaca.uh.edu!karazm.math.uh.edu!jet
From: jet@karazm.math.uh.edu ("J. Eric Townsend")
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Multiple identities
Message-ID: <1991Jan31.030411.1370@lavaca.uh.edu>
Date: 31 Jan 91 03:04:11 GMT
References: <1991Jan30.040343.8882@pa.dec.com>
Sender: nntppost@lavaca.uh.edu (NNTP Posting Service)
Organization: University of Houston -- Department of Mathematics
Lines: 33

In article <1991Jan30.040343.8882@pa.dec.com> mayo@wrl.dec.com (Bob Mayo) writes:
>Mechanics:  How hard is it to set this up?  My separate identity, Joe

The fact that the "establishment" requires a SSN for virtually everything
makes it more difficult these days.  I dunno what happens if you come
up with a SSN that won't be used for some time.

Go to your local post office and get a PO Box.  Better yet, get a box
at one of those "postal drop" places.  Start using name "x", but pay
for things with money orders.  You'd be amazed at the things you 
can get from people in any ol' name.

This *used* to be popular, dunno how good it still is:  find a courthouse
that burned (happens once or twice a year these days, was more common in the
40s - 60s).  Write then for a copy of your birth certificate (varies from
state to state on what you need to do this), using the postal drop address.
If you've got a certificate, you're on your way.

Check out various Lampoonics books, but take them with a grain of salt.

>Legality:  Are there any laws that make establishing a separate identity
>illegal?

Godwin will know this better than I for nat'l stuff, but Louisiana
allowed you to call yourself just about anything as long as you weren't
attempting to defraud anybody else, or break any laws (like evading
your taxes).

--
J. Eric Townsend - jet@uh.edu - bitnet: jet@UHOU - vox: (713) 749-2120
"It is the cunning of form to veil itself continually in the evidence
of content.  It is the cunning of the code to veil itself and to produce
itself in the obviousness of value." -- Baudrillard