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> Reality check: if your credit card details are visible to a third party - you're not anonymous. After attending a local security conference last year (Kiwico

by frio 14y ago

> Reality check: if your credit card details are visible to a third party - you're not anonymous. After attending a local security conference last year (Kiwicon), I briefly tried to see how anonymous I could make myself online. In NZ, we're lucky to have anonymous prepaid credit cards -- "Prezzy Cards" -- which our postal service sells. Turns out that several VPN services (I ended up using hidemyass.com) will accept them. Alongside an anonymous mail service for the actual account, it's pretty straightforward to head to an internet cafe, boot your laptop into something like Tails, and then create a completely anonymous VPN connection. Not that I'd personally go to that extent, but it's nice to know that you can achieve a reasonable degree of anonymity online.

joshschreuder 14y ago
I'm not sure how viable it would be in NZ, but in the strip search prank call case (as seen recently in the film Compliance), the perpetrator bought calling cards from a couple of Walmarts. They were able to trace the serial number of the card back to the stores, and comparing video from both, found the guy on film walking out of both stores. So even these prepaid credit cards might not be completely infallible. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_prank_call_scam#Investigation_and_criminal_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_prank_call_scam#In...
- frio 14y ago
  For sure -- the physical aspect is definitely something worth mitigating too (in both the case of the Prezzy Card store, and the Net Cafes having video). If I was going full paranoid, I'd probably find some way of altering my appearance too -- but that seemed like it involved overly much effort at the time :). I was just surprised that, with a little effort, it wasn't actually that hard to gain a markedly greater degree of anonyminity than you'd usually have.

by frio 14y ago

joshschreuder 14y ago

I'm not sure how viable it would be in NZ, but in the strip search prank call case (as seen recently in the film Compliance), the perpetrator bought calling cards from a couple of Walmarts. They were able to trace the serial number of the card back to the stores, and comparing video from both, found the guy on film walking out of both stores. So even these prepaid credit cards might not be completely infallible. More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_prank_call_scam#Investigation_and_criminal_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip_search_prank_call_scam#In...

frio 14y ago
For sure -- the physical aspect is definitely something worth mitigating too (in both the case of the Prezzy Card store, and the Net Cafes having video). If I was going full paranoid, I'd probably find some way of altering my appearance too -- but that seemed like it involved overly much effort at the time :). I was just surprised that, with a little effort, it wasn't actually that hard to gain a markedly greater degree of anonyminity than you'd usually have.