I realise that this question is subject to local trends (and I’m in the US), but I encourage people in other countries to submit their methods!
How do you accept packages/deliveries anonymously? Of course, there are mail redirection services, but a third party which corroborates with different parts of the chain can likely figure out your identity and what you have purchased/have incoming.
I haven’t been able to find a good solution to this yet, and I believe the new rule in the US is that the receivers identity must be reported to the government? This (or a variation of this, I don’t remember) is a recent event.
Thanks!
Depends on what you want delivered and your threat model:
There are services that will buy stuff from Amazon have it delivered to a locker and they give you the code: https://anonshop.app/
For mail one method has been to scout out a house, the have mail sent to it. Pick it up from the house. (Nobody home, before owners retrieve it, etc) - this is illegal and considered theft of mail
You can pay someone money to receive a package then they can leave it at a dead drop
You can get have someone else setup a mailbox for you, but give you the key. (Post box, or mailbox etc)
You can use a virtual address service, and they receive the mail for you and scan it so you don’t need physical delivery.
If your just going for general privacy any method is fine.
If you want to accept packages from fans but not give out your home address and PO box works
If you want to something that can get you in trouble you have to now account for whoever is going to get you into trouble and how much effort they will put into finding you, and what ‘rules’ they will follow.
Trackers In a package - Faraday cage…
Watching the mailbox to see who picks it up - don’t pick up consistently/counter surveillance
Packages that explode, or poisoned - examine, scan, open in controlled environment.
If your adversary is the mail system, do something else. They can scan all packed for patterns, check for chemicals, x-ray, density scan, etc. if your trying to hide from the network (mail system) while using them systematically your going to lose.
Thank you for the link to anonshop.
Any other services that can hold your packages against monero?
Thanks
For mail one method has been to scout out a house, the have mail sent to it. Pick it up from the house. (Nobody home, before owners retrieve it, etc) - this is illegal and considered theft of mail
An empty plot might be a better idea, I had an acquittance who installed a mailbox in an empty plot on his neighbourhood and had stuff sent there.
I’ve heard one criticism of this method which is that mail carriers generally know which houses are vacant, so if they get a suspicious package going to such an address that may actually raise an alarm.
For people ordering drugs for example people will recommend using USPS and a real person’s name/address, since the US postal service requires a warrant before inspecting a package, and the idea is you’re trying to hide in plain sight.
valid concern, but this was not in the US
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I don’t think you can book hotel rooms without identification anymore, in the US
So much for freedom. lol
There is no freedom in the US lol
I know I might not be relevant because I am not in the US (and in a big city), but I pretty much always order from online stores to the stores’ offices. Not only to not surrender my address, but also because usually they allow paying in cash upon reception (big Amazon-like aggregators are an exception but I usually avoid them), and this also does not cost extra unlike a delivery to your door.
That’s the first time I’ve heard of it! Could you give me an example?
In Europe, many merchants allow you to order online and collect (and pay for) the goods from their premises. For example: https://www.galaxus.com/en/wiki/556
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but most people can lookup most other people’s addresses in the US for free (or cheaply) on websites like whitepages.com. Even without that, if someone is very determined, they can visit the record office for the area on get public info on you, which also likely includes address.
What’s the benefit of paying such a premium for an anonymous delivery if your address is likely already available?
The only thing I can think of is if buying something sketchy, but I’m genuinely curious here.
I didn’t know that. Thanks for bringing up this point.
TBH my threat model was to keep the bigger companies from knowing where I live. I.e. if I shop from Amazon and I enter their site at home, they can make an estimate based on my profile, my browser and my IP, amongst other things. Then, it wouldn’t matter if I ordered to an Amazon locker since they know where I live anyway.
Assuming I maintained a sanitized account and only accessed it from various locations using public WiFi, what could I do to prevent Amazon from knowing the locality I’m in, especially if it’s too big to get to a locker? Likely a P.O box but even government agencies are known to sell data to brokers. AFAIK there’s no way to pay anonymously for UPS or something, which means my identity is being tracked again.
One reason you’ll have difficulty finding something that can do this with total anonymity is that it overlaps a lot with what financial scammers want to do: get the money (traceable but it will take some time for the other side to catch on) and use it in a way that isn’t traceable.
It’s public knowledge. If they want to know where you personally live, they could look it up via the ways I previously mentioned.
Heck, even if you never visit their sites, they could easily get big lists of names and addresses that may include you: all legally.
Any attempt at fighting that is likely not to be fruitful. It’s basically security by obscurity, you’re trying to complicate it via one way, but they can just go another (more obvious) way if they wanted.
It’s more like I’d like to not link those purchases to my identity
Ah. Then just buy a gift card in cash from CVS, etc. Then use it on an alternative account and delivered to one of those pickup boxes.
Still sketch though lol.
what is the end goal here?
personally I use amazon (I know, but hear me out) to send my stuff into a locker so that no signature or interaction is required at all. they even ask me if I want it in the amazon branded packaging or not if it reveals what’s inside which is nice.
What do you do for stuff that can’t be shipped to the lockers?
depends on the situation, which, i still dont know yours so i cant help much. i either dont buy it, or buy several things together knowing that they all come in the same package on the same day, on a particular date, and only show what needs to be shown
Thanks. Do you use mail redirection and locker services?
redirection no, locker yes as mentioned
Other than Amazon?
I don’t use anything else
And if you use anonshop, you can pay with Monero and not give Amazon PII
Amazon lockers and annonshop.app
If what you want is available from Walmart, you can order online (for store pickup)using a prepaid debit card, whatever name you want, and whatever email account you want. You just need the confirmation number when you go to pick up.
This is a great idea, thanks
Read the datknet bible
How about a P.O. box?
That can keep your address secure from third parties but you do need your ID to open up a PO box. So it depends on what exactly your trying to keep secure.
That can keep your address secure from third parties but you do need your ID to open up a PO box. So it depends on what exactly your trying to keep secure.
Does this look like [email protected] to you.
Bribe a homeless person with cash to open a PO box. Do it several cities over.
Don’t worry, the homeless dude totally won’t steal your drugs.
Cool, another one of those people that equates privacy with crime. just what we need
I am on the privacy front. I don’t read this as privacy. I read this as evasion. Sure, tons of privacy arguments in the past were cast the same way, but I consider this valid criticism.
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Fair.
I’m disappointed that community doesn’t exist.
That wasn’t my intention, but thanks for pointing it out. I’ll keep my phrasing in mind
