Erasing David

This documentary is about privacy. Given that we give out our information to all and sundry, can we then go "off the grid"? David Bond tries to in Erasing David.

He received a letter letting him know that some of his information went missing when some government CDs were mislaid, and he started becoming paranoid about what information about him was available. Then he eventually decided to remove himself from the information trail for 30 days. During that time, a firm of private investigators (in particular two of them in this case) would try to track him down.

Yes, it is possible to go missing if you are, say, willing to sit in the middle of the woods and avoid all contact with society, but that's not the point. Can you live a normal life and not be found?

This was a fascinating documentary. I'm sure a lot about me is out there and that I could be found rather easily, but David was shocked and horrified just what was out there about himself. And this wasn't stuff the private investigators had to go to lengths to find out, but information that was readily accessible.

This movie shows that being too paranoid might not be being paranoid enough...


[END]