HowtoDisappearalmostCompletely
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Engadget Daily: the deal with DARPA, get paid to watch Netflix, and more!
Today, we dive into the world of DARPA, interview two people who cut ties with technology, take a look at the Mercedes Future Truck 2025 and imagine getting paid to watch Netflix. Read on for Engadget's news highlights from the last 24 hours.
How to Disappear (almost) Completely: living off the grid
Your day begins at dawn. After all, you are lying in a sleeping bag under the open sky grateful that you haven't: a) been stabbed by a grifter, b) been trampled by a herd of animals or c) contracted hypothermia and frozen to death. Then it's off for a morning routine that involves foraging for food from the land or dumpster diving for edible scraps. If things are pretty tight, and oftentimes they are, then you might even have to rely on your fallback for food-gathering: the five-finger discount. Sound like fun? Maybe not, but that's what life is like for some people after they've willfully crossed over into the digital darkness. Welcome to what it's like living life off the grid.
How to Disappear (almost) Completely: a practical guide
Maybe you've seen Into the Wild, or (gasp) have actually read it. It's the true story of an ordinary person who, one day, decided to abandon society, pack some rice and a rifle into a bag and head off into the wilderness never to return. It's the sort of drastic move you rarely hear about in our modern life. But in next week's final installment of How to Disappear, we'll meet some people who've literally done just that: gone "off the grid." For now, though, let's take a (tongue-in-cheek) look at how you can take some first steps toward undoing the digital ties that bind, and get a little closer to the exit door.
How to Disappear (almost) Completely: the illusion of privacy
Can anyone ever really leave the internet? And if you had the choice, is that something that you'd want to do? After all, abandoning the connected world might help you reclaim some privacy, but even if you smashed your PC, burned your tablet and tossed your smartphone, you might still not be able to escape constant surveillance. In our three-part series How To Disappear, we're going to look at why you'd think about going offline, what you can do to tidy up your digital footprint and what happens to those who have made the leap into the darkness.
