Book
Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear
Michael Bazzell, IntelTechniques
The defensive mirror of the OSINT manual: 228 ordered tasks for devices, communications, aliases, addresses, payments, and homes. Investigators read it to protect themselves and to understand the seams they exploit.
Extreme Privacy is not an OSINT book. It is the guide the author gives clients who need to disappear, reorganised in the 5th edition into 30 sections and 228 chronological tasks, from Linux and macOS computers through GrapheneOS phones, VPNs, firewalls, alias names, mailing addresses, private payments, and homes. The former device-specific spin-off guides were discontinued in 2024 and folded back in.
Worth it if
- You investigate people and have not thought seriously about who could investigate you
- You want research accounts and devices that do not leak your real identity
- You are at real risk, from a stalker, a doxxing, or a hostile party, and need a plan
- You want to understand privacy techniques so you recognise them in subjects
Skip it if
- You want OSINT techniques; this is the opposite book
- You live outside the United States; the legal and postal advice is heavily US-centric and the international section is a paragraph
- You want moderate advice; several steps are extreme by design and by title
What is inside
- 01
Devices, sections 1 to 5
Linux computers, macOS, GrapheneOS phones, iOS, and mobile strategies.
- 02
Communications and accounts, sections 6 to 14
Secure messaging, browsers, passwords and two-factor, secure email and calendars, VoIP numbers, VPNs and DNS, firewalls and Wi-Fi, self-hosted data, and virtual machines.
- 03
Identity and money, sections 15 to 19
Alias names, mailing addresses, private payments, estate planning, and employment.
- 04
Places and lifestyle, sections 20 to 24
Private lodging, homes, vehicles, the privacy lifestyle, and the nomad lifestyle.
- 05
Records and endings, sections 25 to 30
Data requests, data freezes, disinformation, disaster and death preparation, and the author's own successes and failures.
What you will be able to do
- Set up devices and accounts that keep investigation work separate from your life
- Choose messaging, email, and phone services with privacy as the criterion
- Reduce your own exposure in people-search sites and public records
- Recognise the privacy measures a careful subject may have taken
How current it is
The 5th edition from August 2024 replaced expired resources and reordered everything as tasks; the author says no new edition is planned. Service recommendations age fastest. Reader criticism across editions is consistent: very US-centric, and some measures cost more than they return for ordinary readers.
- Updated
- 5th edition, August 2024
- Maintained
- Updated now and then
How to get the most from it
- 01
Do the device and account sections only, at first
Sections 1 to 14 are what an investigator needs. The rest is for people who are actually disappearing.
- 02
Pick tasks, not the whole book
Each task stands alone if done in order. Choose the ones your threat model justifies.
- 03
Read the last section first
The author's successes and failures tell you which advice he still stands behind.
Strengths
- Exact commands and steps, not generalities
- Reorganised into tasks that can be done one at a time
- Written by someone who does this for clients
Limitations
- Heavily US-centric
- Extreme by design; most readers will do a fraction
- Some readers find the tone dry or arrogant
Pair it with
- ReadBookPaidIntermediate
OSINT Techniques
The offensive counterpart by the same author.
- ReadCourseFree + paidAll levels
My OSINT Training
Has a short, cheap OPSEC course if you want the investigator subset only.
- ReadNewsletterFree + paidIntermediate
UNREDACTED Magazine
The author's magazine, where the privacy advice is updated between editions.
FAQ
Questions, answered
What happened to the Mobile Devices and VPN guides?
Discontinued in 2024 and folded into the 5th edition, whose sections cover GrapheneOS, iOS, VPNs and DNS, and firewalls. The old guides are only sold as a bundle.
Is this useful outside the United States?
The device, account, and communications sections are universal. The legal, postal, vehicle, and home sections are American and readers elsewhere consistently say so.
Learned the method? Practise it on real data
The resources above teach the craft. When you want to run real lookups across breach, people, domain, and crypto sources without opening a dozen vendor accounts, that is what SearchIn is for.
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