Danger and money. Those are the two reasons people choose to disappear, says professional skip-tracer Frank M. Ahearn. Think witness protection program. Or faking your death as part of a life insurance scam.

However, taking legal steps to purposefully disappear, he says, can lead to “true freedom.”

Ahearn helps find people for a living. He says he helps them vanish, too.Ã‚Â He says he helped identify Monica Lewinsky as the intern dallying with President Bill Clinton. And he says he helped locateÃ‚Â — and hide from a sure-fire media circus — theÃ‚Â hotel clerk who was on the receiving end of a Russel Crowe tantrum.

And now Ahearn has written a book about disappearing. Interestingly, Ahearn’s treatiseÃ‚Â contains some valuable tips you can use to reclaim some of the privacy you’ve relinquished, knowingly or not,Ã‚Â by using Google, Facebook, Yahoo and most other popular Internet-enabled services.

Ahearn’s book, with co-author Eileen C. Horan, is titled “How To Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, And Vanish Without A Trace.” LastWatchdog interviewed him this week:

LW: Was there a specific incident or event that compelled you to write this book?

Ahearn: I was getting a tremendous amount of emails (about this topic) and was considering shutting down my website. However, my partner Eileen suggested we write a book. I was hesitant and did not want write a how-to book. After thinking hard on it, I decided to move forward as long as I could be honest about my personal philosophy.

LW: Can you succinctly state why a book like this ought to resonate in the digital age we live in?

Ahearn: I do not think people really think about where their information ends up. There seems to be a trend to hate the identity thieves since they steal our information. However, we are being tuned to love companies who give us ten percent off and track our purchases. We are also being tuned to love social media and guided to put our information online never knowing where it will end up, or even knowing if it will ever disappear.

LW: Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that you should not go online if you have anything to hide. What do you think about that?

Ahearn: I think Schmidt needs to think before he speaks. He is a profiteer, raking in millions and providing the gateway to peoples information. We all have something to hide, be it that stupid drunk photo from the office Christmas party, the DUI, the foreclosed home; we have all made mistakes.

LW: Schmidt, too, do you suppose?

Ahearn: It would be interesting if Schmidt’s skeletons leaked. Would Goggle censor it? What he says makes no sense since most information online is put up by others. He also made some absurd statement about how people will be able to get new identities in the future because of past internet indiscretions.

LW: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims the age of privacy is over. What do you think about that?

Ahearn: It’s not over. We need to rethink what privacy actually is in the digital age. We need to be more aware of our surroundings and accept the fact that if we do something stupid in public it can be on YouTube in five minutes and viewed by the world. However, I think this will make us realize that true privacy is something one defines themselves; it should not be defined by a law or by technology.

LW: If privacy-minded citizens follow your guidance, can they effectively mitigate the privacy-eroding mechanisms used by Google, Facebook and others?

Ahearn: That’s a tough question since technology constantly changes. However, I think reading the book offers insight from the perspective of a social engineer and develops a new sense of awareness in the reader. That awareness will deliver tools that one could use in many situations, be it digital or personal.

LW: Will privacy-minded individuals still be able to use the beneficial aspects of the Internet?

Ahearn: Yes, they can use those aspects of the Internet. But they should really begin to question if various forms of social media are truly that important.

By Byron Acohido

September 2nd, 2010 | Guest Blog Post | Privacy | Top Stories