Watchman's Torch Issue #28
Operational Privacy for the Traveling Man
Dear privacy seekers,
My recent travels across Latin America and Central Europe required significant aerial logistics rivaling the US army, plane tickets, plural, many of them, acquired under pressure of the checkout page. And there, between the dubious travel insurances and baggage fees, a recruitment poster appeared. Seductive. Clean.
Buy Now Pay Later. Fifteen days to settle or flexible installments, they said. And — God help me — two dollars off each flight. Two dollars. I am a responsible man. I pay my debts. Ask anyone. So I took the deal without examining the fine print.
First purchases: flawless. I saved a dozen dollars total. I felt like the Lion King. The Lion King. Tickets arrived in my inbox, invoices followed few days later (more on that), I paid in full and moved on. Then came the expensive one. $1,399. A serious sum for a serious travel. Serious enough that I thought: why not use their “convenient” installment system, the one they’ve been advertising like it cures tuberculosis? I paid $1,000 immediately. The minimum was $139.99. I was miles above the minimum. I was practically generous. I waited for them to acknowledge this.
They said nothing.
Weeks passed. I was travelling. Checked my inbox daily — nothing. No invoice. No communication. Radio silence. I even attempted to access their dashboard system using the provided instructions, and I could not log in. But I was not alarmed. They would send the invoice by email. They had always sent the invoice by email. This was established routine.
Then, one month and a half later, I visited my postal box.
I want you to understand: I rarely open the postal box. Physical mail in this century is like receiving a telegram and due to my privacy practices I can rarely access the actual physical box.
A Pre-Collection Notice. I was late in my payment. The first of my life. Large. Red. The kind of document that arrives formally dressed, bureaucratically correct, and absolutely unsettling in its implications.
My heart performed the exact maneuver of a lion being seized by a crocodile at an African watering hole.