Think about your home, or mobile telephone number. You give these to so many people. You want  your family, close friends, people you want to reach you in an emergency (just for example). But, how many have your private number and you prefer they don’t? Or, you want to exercise greater control over when, and where people can call you. The situation is easy to see; you want your important people to reach you always, and those “less important” to reach when you want, or not at all. Does your traditional telephone company allow you to block certain calls, send all unwanted calls to voicemail, and without sending the wanted calls to voicemail? The answer is usually, NO!

This is where virtual  numbers are great for personal security. Simply, the subscriber gives those “less important” people their virtual telephone number. The “important” people are given the owners private number. Your virtual number is an extra telephone number, and rings on your home, mobile or business telephone. This allows subscribers greater control over the delivery of their calls.

Control features usually include do not disturb (DND), call blocking of specific numbers, time control, and a host of other features not even possible with more traditional  providers. Further, is the ability to change your virtual telephone number each month. This is great for businesses that have changing contracts. You want phone calls to stop from expired contracts, and receive calls from new contracts. This is simple with virtual telephone, and less so with traditional services. If you had to change your traditionalnumber frequently, think of all those important people who you would need to inform.  Your important people always have your private number, and you now can exercise control over those “less important.”

Virtual telephone becomes a very powerful feature if you have a small business. Being able to exercise control of just the business calls, and not personal calls is useful, and often good business practice. He geographic feature of virtual numbers allows the small business to have a telephone number in a location far from where you are located. And avoids long distance costs.

CallnFax.com provides virtual telephone numbers in over 50 countries. With an all flat rate service, and no per minute charges, you have control over calls and costs. Contact us for great service! We Love to talk! Sales@callnfax.com

CallnFax.com is a global virtual telephone provider, serving over 50 countries, and hundreds of cities. Our service is flat rate, with no per minute charges

The recent media attention to the use of RFID chips in humans has brought forth many concerns that we all have regarding the ever increasing loss of our privacy. Unfortunately, the invasion into our private lives isn’t going to stop with the implantation of microchips. Each new development in technology brings us closer to becoming a society where every breath we take will be tracked and recorded.

While doing research for a different article, I read a very interesting report by Jay Stanley and Barry Steinhardt that details how advanced surveillance is becoming. What the report contains is very frightening, but it is an eye opener to how we are letting our right to privacy be ripped away. Eventually American society will be very loaded with tracking technology, and having any kind of contact outside of our homes that won’t be tracked, watched and recorded will be impossible.

The American surveillance monster has grown rapidly, albeit quietly over the last decade. Until the terrorist attacks of September 11, people in the United States could go about daily life without concern of constantly being watched. The terrorist attacks gave the government an excuse to pry into the private lives of each and every American.

It is difficult to imagine being downtown window shopping, and a week later, receive a solicitation in the mail with a thank you card for “visiting” the store. Unknown to the window shopper, the store has a surveillance system that identifies lookers by picking up signals from the chip in the person’s driver’s license. The system records name, address, time, date and length of time the window was looked into.

Bits and pieces of surveillance and tracking of our lives don’t mean much, but put together to form the big picture, it is very disconcerting. For example, currently in use to track us and our daily activities are hi-tech computer systems, sensors, cameras, wireless communications, GPS systems and RFID chips. If we add the genetic and biometric elements that are used to invade our privacy, we are also tracked and under surveillance by DNA, iris scans, finger scans, facial recognition, and a new method – brain wave fingerprinting.

Other ways that Americans are being tracked is through the use of data mining. We create data trails every time we participate in or buy something. Most people don’t give much thought to things like product registration forms, sweepstakes entries, customer loyalty programs, questionnaires, surveys, and store discount cards, but all of these things record our purchases or participation, dates, times, quantity, and other information that draws a portrait of our daily lives and habits. Internet usage is tracked and recorded, including information searches, research, shopping, and email. Every mouse click is tracked and compiled into a profile.

Perhaps the most disturbing is where all of this tracking and surveillance of Americans will ultimately lead. The Pentagon’s “Total Information Awareness” project is a chilling reminder of how precious our privacy is, and we aren’t doing much as a society to protect it. The intention of this project was to collect as much data as possible on individuals to create an ultra-large all-information database in which patterns and associations would be tracked in order to detect potential terrorist activity. In this grand database would be transaction data, medical and financial records, travel and communication records, and any other data and records that could be tracked and added. In September 2003, Congress halted the project and eliminated funding; however, similar data-mining projects are still taking place, and more legislatures to allow them are being proposed. Innocent people that have absolutely no thoughts of any kind of terrorist activity will be tangled up in the privacy net, and there won’t be any way to escape.

In light of the government’s desire to control us in every way possible, The Fourth Amendment in The Bill of Rights forms the basis that a person has the right privacy and the right to be left alone. Sadly this no longer applies to our society. Unless we take control of our diminishing rights, freedom as we know it will be a dim memory.

© Copyright 2007 Patti McMann. All rights reserved.

Patti McMann is a freelance writer. She writes on a variety of topics for print and electronic publications. She has a diverse background in many subjects, and majored in business marketing, and information technology. Her eBooks and writer’s services are listed at http://www.pattimcmann.com

In recent years we have seen a dramatic decline in personal privacy in the Land of the Free. Vast amounts of data including financial transactions and phone calls are being recorded on each citizen and since virtually all of our financial activities are tied to our Social Security Number this information is neatly compiled and easily available to the government, private investigators and even through the Internet.

As our privacy erodes, so does our ability to protect our assets. When our assets are easily visible they can readily become the target of an unfriendly third-party with an aggressive attorney.

But there is still a way to enjoy financial privacy and that is through the use of a private corporation that cannot be tied to your Social Security Number.

Corporations, in the eyes of the law are considered an artificial “person,” completely separate from the people who own and operate it but it is only in the State of Nevada that you can control your corporation and keep your identity a total secret.

What makes Nevada special? In a nutshell, there are two key components unique to Nevada that allow you to have a tremendous amount of privacy:

• You can appoint a single trusted person other than yourself to act as the officers and directors of the corporation. This person is known as a “Nominee” and will be the person of record with the state, not you.
• Stockholders of a Nevada corporation are not a matter of public record so ownership of the Nevada corporations is not known to anyone but you.

These powerful components allow you to dictate the activities of the corporation, such as holding assets, yet no third-party can link you to the corporation or your assets! In other words, if someone tries to locate your assets using your name and Social Security Number, he will not be able to link you to the corporation and so your assets within the corporation are safe from predatory attorneys.

Carlos Lee, MBA, is the senior consultant for Asset Protection Consulting Group.

Visit Asset Protection Consulting Group to learn more about how to bulletproof your assets against future lawsuits.

Most people do not realize the significance of their rights and privileges under the United States Constitution, as well as under the Constitution of the State in which they reside or happen to be in at the time of being stopped by police. State Constitutions often provide greater personal protection than the Federal Constitution, but are required by law to provide, at minimum, the rights guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

Most importantly, we are all obligated to stop and comply with police requests for identification, or risk arrest for resisting arrest or interfering with a police officer’s duty. However, beyond that, the Constitution protects our right to remain silent and not be compelled to provide evidence against ourselves, our right to request an attorney before police questioning, and our right to be free from warrantless searches by law enforcement officers.

Many people think that by being cooperative with police beyond providing identification is the right thing to do. However, in my 25 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney, this has always proven to be the worst thing you can do because the police will always use any evidence obtained through your cooperation against you and will always file a case against you through the local, county or state prosecutors’ office.

Police are required to give a person “Miranda warnings” before interrogating them in a custodial situation. This means that police must advise an arrestee that: 1) you have the right to an attorney; 2) if you cannot afford an attorney, an attorney can be appointed to represent you; and 3) anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. A big issue in this situation is determining at what point an individual is considered to be in custody for legal purposes of necessitating that the police “Mirandize” you.

Technically, any time you are stopped by police and not free to leave, you are considered in police custody. You should always assert your constitutional rights and privileges when stopped by the police and request an attorney. If you do not do this, and you voluntarily provide information to the police (and sometimes just knowledge of criminal activity is deemed criminal), your attorney will have a very difficult time defending you against charges that otherwise might not have been proven, but for your own incriminating statement against yourself. Although it is sometimes possible to suppress a statement on grounds of undue coercion and police misconduct (often related to time in custody, deprivation of food, medication, health issues and toilet privileges), this is much harder to prove in court that a constitutional violation of Miranda rights–which means either failing to warn when you were clearly a criminal suspect and it was clear from the circumstances that they were arresting you and taking you into custody.

Additionally, permitting the police to search your car, home or personal belongings without a search warrant is deemed a consensual search, which results in legalizing any contraband or evidence found by the police to be used to prove that you committed a crime. If you do not consent to a search, even if the police threaten that they will just go get a warrant and wait with you until a warrant is issued, or even if the police state that you did consent when you did not, your attorney may be able to suppress the evidence by a pre-trial motion based on the grounds that the search was unconstitutional, the warrant was not properly issued, and any resulting evidence or witness statements should also be suppressed because of the initial constitutional violation (the latter ground is called the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine).

If you are arrested and taken into custody, whether you assert or waive your Constitutional rights and privileges, after booking you, the police are required to permit you to make a telephone call. You can call a family member who can contact an attorney and bail bondsman for you. Make sure you advise them what police agency arrested you, and what police station you are in so they will be able to locate you to help you get out of jail by posting any required bail or bond. If bail is an issue, all jails are required to post instructions and phone numbers to determine if you are eligible for what is called “OR” release, which means to be released on your own recognizance, without the requirement of posting bail, and on your own promise to appear.

Being aware of these most basic Constitutional rights and privileges, which are guaranteed to every United States citizen, and knowing that you have the freedom in this country to exercise them when you are stopped by the police, is extremely important to your ability to defend yourself against any criminal charges that may be brought against you. While you may not legally be able to resist being stopped or arrested and taken into custody by the police in the first place, if you refuse to answer police questions beyond identification issues, if you request an attorney and if you refuse to permit the police to conduct a warrantless search of your property, you will make it much easier for your attorney to represent you in the event criminal charges are brought against you.

Sara Caplan is a criminal defense attorney, with extensive courtroom experience. She maintains excellent relationships with many judges, prosecutors and private attorneys in state and federal courts. For nearly 25 years, she has successfully litigated the defense of cases ranging from traffic infractions and misdemeanors to felonies involving murder, robbery, assault, domestic violence, drugs and sexual misconduct, conspiracy, fraud and taxation. She has represented many high profile and celebrity clients in music, film and sports, discretely and successfully. She also handles professional administrative hearings for licensed professionals. Ms. Caplan also handles immigration cases for temporary and permanent residency (visas, family and labor related cases)and has won many political asylum and Torture Convention cases in Immigration Court.

Contact Us:

Law Office of Sara L. Caplan

Phone: 310-550-5877

Fax: 310-550-5878

Website: [http://www.saracaplanlaw.com]

Email: saracaplan@adelphia.net

Constitutional rights are in place to help protect you from different things. If there is improper police conduct or you have been wrongly charged you have rights.

Most of the constitutional rights have to be observed at the state level also. There are a few though that the states do not have to observe when prosecuting you. The particular ones that are being referred to are the Right to Bear Arms, Right to Indictment by Grand Jury and Excessive Bail.

If you are charged with a crime you will need to know which rights will help to protect you and how. Article 1, Section 10 protects you from the ex post facto laws. This means if you are charged with a crime and the laws have changed you can only be prosecuted for the laws that are in effect at the time. The state cannot pass a new law just for prosecution of a person.

The Fourth Amendment protects you from illegal search and seizure conducted by the police. There are some exceptions to this, such as a warrant being issued.

The Fifth Amendment makes it so you can only be tried for the same offense. It also gives you the right to remain silent until your attorney is present. It also protects you from testifying against yourself in the court of law. The Miranda Rights also came from the Fifth Amendment.

The Sixth Amendment gives you the right to have an attorney, subpoena any witnesses to trial, for any witness to be cross-examined by the opposing attorney, to have a trial by jury, to be told what your charges are and any possible punishment that might arise if you are convicted of the charges. You also get the right to a speedy trial which could keep you from sitting in jail for years while your case is prepared for the courts.

The Eighth Amendment protects you from an excessive bail if you are being federal prosecuted. It also prohibits excessive fines, unusual and cruel punishment in all punishments.

The Fourteenth Amendment says everyone has the same rights and cannot be deprived of them as an individual or as a class of people. The states get due process when doing state prosecutions.

As long as the law is carried out properly and your rights are not taken from you, then you will be convicted of any crimes you commit. You will start the complete process from the moment you are arrested and read your rights. Any crime you commit is punishable whether it is at a state level or a federal level. Any crime you are charged with will be on your criminal records for many years to come.