Disinformation
Did I do something wrong?
Should you lie? In most cases yes, but the question you should be asking is this:
Is the person/entity asking the info needs it?
If the answer to the question is yes, you shouldn’t lie. If the answer is no, you should think about the consequences of being found out.
And in almost all cases, you should be ready with a scrutiny cover (I will be discussing this in detail in an upcoming post).
Does amazon needs your real name? Probably not. Does your bank needs your real address? maybe. Does your fiancé needs to know your real number? yes. In other cases you can:
On Phone Numbers
People use SMS for banking communication, 2FA verification and to verify with online services to increase credibility. (And for P2P communication) But SMS is inherently insecure We could have lived with it, if it was just not private, but insecure. That’s just too much.
The best defense is usually wrong information not radio silence. Some would disagree on this but it’s always better if your enemy is confused instead of dead.
“Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Wrong Financial Information
The edge case of disinformation is financial information. This is a very risky domain indeed as the government can put you in prison if they found out that you have committed a fraud or a felony.
But as internet is taking over the world and Facebook is penetrating the most obscure corners (Apparently), the boundaries are getting blurred and we have to evaluate how much risk we are actually taking and what risks are we willing to take, as all rewards (and losses) are often proportional to that.
As always you should be very clear of the consequences of your actions. In most cases its okay to break ToC and ToS, not the country’s law.
Scrutiny Cover
A cover is as good as the scrutiny it can handle. Fake Address? If the verification party can visit the place, its bad cover. Alias Number? The only way to verify a number is by sending a code, hence it is a good cover. Alias Name? If they can get your government ID, the cover is not good enough.
Contingency Planning
“A contingency plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic consequences.”
- Wiki
Negligence
Pleading not guilty, because you didn’t knew. Not Legal Advice.
Plausible Deniability
If you are found out and you think you can get away with denying everything, deny away. Not Legal Advice.