I don't quite buy this. In Germany you are legally required to register where you live with the government. Failing to do so can result in penalties, and your registration paperwork ("Anmeldung") is required for almost any government service and many private services as well.
In the United States, if I move, there is no registration of such addresses. States do require driver's license holders to update their licenses when they move, but this is never checked and not verified. Additionally, in the US, if I have a private contract or if I buy a land trust (whose shareholders are private) I could simply take up residence somewhere, and never even have mail sent with my own name on it.
For someone wanting not to have their residence known, Germany isn't the place.
And, how many times have you moved without telling anybody your address or filled out a change of address form? As a German that has lived in both countries, I find it amusing that Americans would complain about it. Thinking that it's really that much different. But everybody pretty much fills out a change of address form.
In the end it's known where you live. Only if you're a tinfoil hat kind of guy and want to live as a hermit in a shack in Montana.
In the United States, if I move, there is no registration of such addresses. States do require driver's license holders to update their licenses when they move, but this is never checked and not verified. Additionally, in the US, if I have a private contract or if I buy a land trust (whose shareholders are private) I could simply take up residence somewhere, and never even have mail sent with my own name on it.
For someone wanting not to have their residence known, Germany isn't the place.