DAVID BOND lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear – a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and the loss of it.
Once the bastion of freedom and civil liberties, the UK is now one of the most advanced surveillance societies in the world – ranked third after Russia and China. The average UK adult is now registered on over 700 databases and is caught daily on one of the 4 million CCTV cameras located on nearly every street corner in the country. Increasingly monitored, citizens are being turned into suspects. But if you’ve got nothing to hide, surely there’s nothing to fear?
When David receives a letter informing him that his daughter Ivy is among 25 million residents whose details have been lost by the government’s Child Benefit Office, he begins a journey that will see him hounded across Europe.
David soon discovers some alarming truths about what the government and private companies already know about ordinary citizens. He meets people who have been caught in the crossfire of the database state and have had their lives shattered.
As his concern grows, he makes a life-changing decision. He will leave his pregnant wife and child behind and put himself under surveillance for thirty days. The UK’s top Private Investigators are hired to discover everything they can about him and his family – and track David down as he attempts to vanish. Is it still possible to live a private, anonymous life in the UK? Or do the state and private companies already know too much about ordinary people?
Forced to contemplate the meaning of privacy – and the loss of it, David’s disturbing journey leaves him with no doubt that although he has nothing to hide, he certainly has something to fear…
He made it too easy for them. Appearing in a video posted on a blog, and later visiting a homepage they send him, from a netcafe!
Comment by ding dong — January 23, 2010 @ 8:50 pm
Also showing up in the hospital with his wife for an appointment is just making it way too easy.
Comment by ding dong — January 23, 2010 @ 9:18 pm
Yes but they didn’t catch me from the video blog or from visiting the website they set up to trap me! They caught me via a leaky government system and some old-fashioned blagging. Watch the film and see… David
Comment by David Bond — March 10, 2010 @ 2:46 pm
David, were you limited to travel within the UK, or could you have gone abroad?
The best way to disappear is to use the surveillance state to your favor. Because we are all limited by time, our ability to process information, and PI’s tend to also be limited by their budgets. Thus they can be overwhelmed if you create lots of false leads that eat up their budget, time and information processing capability.
Those who are good at chess use a similar strategy. In every game there is always an opponent and there is always a victim, the more control the victim thinks he has, the less control he actually has. The clever opponent feeds pieces to their victim, and at the same time making the victim believe he took those pieces, inside an environment he can control. The bigger the environment, the easier the control. So the opponent simply distracts their victim by getting them consumed with their own consumption. The formula is completely consistent.
Comment by Johan — March 13, 2010 @ 9:46 am
Hello David,
I agree with Johan above, as I am currently applying this strategy. As to it’s success, This has yet to be determined.
I want to ask you more about the case you mentioned in the documentary, specifically the people falsely accussed of child porn, where a bunch of credit cards were stolen by an Eastern European gangster net, and were used by a child porn site. Then these people were put under “Indirect Investigation and retaliation” by U.K. police ultamitely leading to 32 suicides, then authorities figured out their credit cards were stolen.
I think you can call this a form of psychological murder sanctioned by the state, don’t you think?
What was the name of this case?, when did it happen?, who were the authorities and victims involved in the investigation?
I really need this information as it is to do with an economic espionage issue I am dealing with here in Canada, and I believe these same tactics have been used aginst me, as the executives in the firm were former high ranking Canadian RCMP officers, and had a lot of connections in the Federal Canadian Mounted Police network. Remeber, cops in Canada call kill a guy on T.V. with a taser gun for picking up a paper-stapler, and can get away with it legally.
Loved your Documentary, do you plan on starting another project anytime soon?
Need any ideas?
Thanks David
John
Comment by John — March 17, 2010 @ 6:44 am
Thanks for your really interesting comments John. Here’s a link to more information about the operation ore case. Glad you liked ERASING DAVID – will keep you posted about new projects. David
Comment by David Bond — March 18, 2010 @ 11:54 am
Hi,
I saw the film last night at the York City Screen Picture House cinema. It was fantastic.
I was just wondering about the Michael Nyman soundtrack, I recognised part of the score from ‘The Libertine.” were the other excerpts composed especially for the film? Will the soundtrack be made available in some format? Will the film itself also be made available in some format? (Sorry that that’s slightly off topic.)
Thanks.
Comment by M — April 30, 2010 @ 12:19 pm
Saw the film and thought that it does raise things which maybe people are not aware of regardless of class or gender or race.
This film’s aim was not one of that nature. As we are now growing up in a world that is more online and where giving data does seem second nature i think this film will make people think twice before agreeing to this.
I found it to be inspiring and thought provoking raising many questions as to how much we do have to sacrifice to live a ‘normal’ life.
I would like to thank all involved in making this film.
Comment by Brodie Paget — April 30, 2010 @ 3:43 pm
Thank you for a very informative film. The issues of personal data capture by both the government and private businesses was particularly relevant to bring to the attention of the general public, especially considering how this information can be misused in certain circumstances as evidenced by the Operation Ore case.
As a professional investigator, the only criticism I would make is that the techniques used by the PI’s didn’t appear to make any use of the aforementioned databases other than accessing birth certificates. Similarly use of technology such as IP traces proved fruitless.
Tracking your “electronic footprint” on the internet relied on you providing information on blogs and social networking sites which could equally well have been used for disinformation as suggested by Johan.
The successful approach adopted by the PI’s involved stealing bin bags and blagging information from people over the telephone; a traditional approach but also an illegal one in both instances. Such breaches of the Data Protection Act, particularly by PI’s, are actively pursued by the Information Commissioner’s Office and result in fines or even imprisonment for the perpetrator.
As Johan suggests again, PI’s typically have a limited budget and furthermore they have no legal means of accessing information held in private or government databases beyond that open to any other member of the public.
As shown in your documentary it is possible for a PI to trace someone using both legal and illegal means, but there are severe limitations. I think the main focus of your documentary was really the disturbing amount of information held on all of us without our knowledge and I look forward to seeing any follow ups you might make on this topic.
Comment by Professional Investigator — May 5, 2010 @ 10:10 pm
Dear David,
Great film. Well done.
I am claiming against a major UK insurance company for a personal injury matter from 2002. The insurance company instructed a team of operatives from Surrey and I was interested to see your film and gain some insight. Black bins, climbing over the fence and recording the car index numbers, and eventually they set up a surveillance vehicle within the grounds of my childrens school car park and playground and put my wife and 2 children (13 and 5 years at the time) under video surveillance. I had the High Court order the release of the video. This of course is the tip of the iceberg, and as it is still “live”, I cannot say more. However, please let me know when the film is released on DVD for UK market. You should do a story on insurance companies! Many Thanks,
Simon
Comment by Simon — May 12, 2010 @ 4:16 pm
Without the video blog, leaving the booking confirmations in the bin, visiting relatives.. they wouldnt have found him. If you were genuinely on the run you wouldnt stay so close to home and you certainly wouldnt put things in the bin that quite obviously would help someone find you. Also, the email from the PI’s would obviously stand out as a way of tracking him. Made it far too easy, and slightly disappointing.
Comment by Daniel — May 13, 2010 @ 7:51 pm
@Johan, John:
The problem with this strategy is that you are effectively going head-to-head with your pursuer, trying to beat him at his own game. And there’s a serious problem for you: he does this for a living. He’s probably already done three this month, and seen more tricks tried than you ever dream of.
Comment by Roger — May 14, 2010 @ 1:17 pm
to be honest, this is one of the most amazeing, intresting and outstanding documentaries i have ever seen, i was shocked at the reasults. you see it all thi time in films (the bourn trilogy) but i had no idaea that it happens in the real world. i have also done some research on david bond, he really has cleared datd where possible, no wikipedia. the only thing i found were news comments about him. i am inspired david, thankyou .
Comment by peter — May 17, 2010 @ 11:50 pm
Habra forma de que pueda leer toda esta informacion en español? Sería mas que interesante porque mi ingles no es muy bueno y realmente me gustaria saber todo lo que pueda sobre erasing david.
Comment by gabriel bollani — July 12, 2010 @ 2:23 pm