Being a British guy recently moved to the USA, I may be in a unique situation in being able to protect my privacy, and I was wondering if fellow cypherpunks may be able to give me some hints in being to "protect" myself... Since my SSN is barely a month old, since I don't yet have a credit card over here, since I won't (yet?) be in many of those beloved databases, what steps can I take to "hide" myself before it's too late? Too all intents and purposes, I have metamorphed from a newborn US baby into an adult, overnight. Thus I have an SSN, I pay tax (etc), but I'm not on anyone's direct mailing lists. Are there certain things I can do and say to absolve myself from being assimilated into the thousands of pointless and harmful databases out there in the USA? When and where and why do I have to give my SSN to seemingly so many? HELP! Thanks, /rickt ________________________________ Rick Tait rickt@psa.pencom.com