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1. Buy a prepaid credit card at a store with cash. 2. Use the credit card to buy hosting with whomever you wish to use. 3. Enjoy your anonymity. I realize it

1. Buy a prepaid credit card at a store with cash. 2. Use the credit card to buy hosting with whomever you wish to use. 3. Enjoy your anonymity. I realize it may be possible for law enforcement to find you through tracking down the location the card was purchased at but in reality no one else can find who you are. Even then you could go out of your way to purchase the card outside your home area at a grocery store since they often have minimal / poor camera coverage. Edit - Responses to some of the comments: In the USA SSNs are only required for customized reloadable cards with your name on them which is obviously not the type you'd want. As for AVS / name verification, most prepaid cards now have websites which allow you to set a name and address for use online. Others will pass AVS checks with any address. The packaging will often say if they can be used for online purchases.

d23 14y ago
What about cameras at the place you bought the card?
travisp 14y ago
Because of the Patriot Act, don't prepaid credit cards now require Social Security numbers and other identifiable information to activate (I would imagine including your name, which you would provide with the credit card when you buy hosting)? Sure, you could lie, but you would probably be breaking the law (which the method advocated in the article doesn't do).
- jerdfelt 14y ago
  Only reloadable prepaid cards require SSN. Non-reloadable (Gift) prepaid cards don't require an SSN. Some even allow you to set an address for AVS purposes.
- rmc 14y ago
  So don't do it in the USA
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
nxn 14y ago
Most online services, in my experience at least, will reject credit cards that are not associated with a name.
- coderaptor 14y ago
  Most payment gateways provide no name-based authorization - a fake name will work just fine.
  - hashmymustache 14y ago
    Kind of like electronic signatures at stores. You can draw a cat face at one place and a penis in another. Never really understood the point of them.
    - gertef 14y ago
      Same with paper signatures. A signature isn't supposed to rigidly identify you, it is supposed to provide evidence that you signed the document / agreed to the contract. It's a subtle distinction. Having signatures match is just one straightforward kind of evidence that you agreed to the contract.
      - hashmymustache 14y ago
        Yea, but they reduce to saying that someone was present and agreed to the contract. I've ordered things online, don't receive them, and the courier tells me it was delivered and signed for. I don't know who agreed. Nobody is going to investigate the curves on the signature. I am curious though which biometrics will eventually replace the signature, especially with so many transactions online where I can spend thousands of dollars without signing anything.
      - doki_pen 14y ago
        Then why the farce of matching your signature with the signature on the back of the credit card? Or if you don't sign the credit card, asking for an ID? It always makes me laugh when the high school student making minimum wage checks my signature. Do they all need to be certified signature experts before getting a job as a cashier?
kalleboo 14y ago
2.5. watch as the prepaid credit card gets declined
- raylu 14y ago
  But you still get to do step 3!
necrodome 14y ago
You can read about someone who is a bit obsesses (in a pragmatic way) about that here: http://snarfed.org/privacy_through_prepaid_credit_cards http://snarfed.org/privacy_through_prepaid_credit_cards
- driverdan 14y ago
  Simon Malls was one of the first companies to offer prepaid credit cards at a retail location. They started selling them 10 or 11 years ago. I used to re-encode them with stolen magnetic stripe data back when I was into credit card fraud.
hexonexxon 14y ago
Instead you can buy virtual visa with bitcoins, and then you aren't on camera buying a prepaid card. Even better use bitcoins for hosting payment directly and avoid credit cards completely. You can also find any Russian host you wish, then plug in Bitcoins to a Russian exchange such at btc-e and then withdraw straight to their WMZ account to fund your hosting
- mrb 14y ago
  No need to find a russian host. WordPress accepts Bitcoin! http://en.support.wordpress.com/bitcoin/ http://en.support.wordpress.com/bitcoin/
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
sneak 14y ago
> I realize it may be possible for law enforcement to find you through tracking down the location the card was purchased at but in reality no one else can find who you are. Well then it's not fucking well anonymous, is it? For saying things that won't piss off the cops, we can just sign up on Tumblr from our residential ISP IP. The whole point of having anonymity is for safely exercising the right to unpopular speech. If the cops can track you down, then it's not anonymous. Imagine if Wikileaks had been fully pseudonymous, and then tried what you suggest. They'd be just as fucked as they are now (for being non-anonymous).
skrebbel 14y ago
> Edit - Responses to some of the comments: HN has a button for that, you know.

d23 14y ago

What about cameras at the place you bought the card?

travisp 14y ago

Because of the Patriot Act, don't prepaid credit cards now require Social Security numbers and other identifiable information to activate (I would imagine including your name, which you would provide with the credit card when you buy hosting)? Sure, you could lie, but you would probably be breaking the law (which the method advocated in the article doesn't do).

jerdfelt 14y ago
Only reloadable prepaid cards require SSN. Non-reloadable (Gift) prepaid cards don't require an SSN. Some even allow you to set an address for AVS purposes.
rmc 14y ago
So don't do it in the USA
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

nxn 14y ago

Most online services, in my experience at least, will reject credit cards that are not associated with a name.

coderaptor 14y ago
Most payment gateways provide no name-based authorization - a fake name will work just fine.
- hashmymustache 14y ago
  Kind of like electronic signatures at stores. You can draw a cat face at one place and a penis in another. Never really understood the point of them.
  - gertef 14y ago
    Same with paper signatures. A signature isn't supposed to rigidly identify you, it is supposed to provide evidence that you signed the document / agreed to the contract. It's a subtle distinction. Having signatures match is just one straightforward kind of evidence that you agreed to the contract.
    - hashmymustache 14y ago
      Yea, but they reduce to saying that someone was present and agreed to the contract. I've ordered things online, don't receive them, and the courier tells me it was delivered and signed for. I don't know who agreed. Nobody is going to investigate the curves on the signature. I am curious though which biometrics will eventually replace the signature, especially with so many transactions online where I can spend thousands of dollars without signing anything.
    - doki_pen 14y ago
      Then why the farce of matching your signature with the signature on the back of the credit card? Or if you don't sign the credit card, asking for an ID? It always makes me laugh when the high school student making minimum wage checks my signature. Do they all need to be certified signature experts before getting a job as a cashier?

kalleboo 14y ago

2.5. watch as the prepaid credit card gets declined

raylu 14y ago
But you still get to do step 3!

necrodome 14y ago

You can read about someone who is a bit obsesses (in a pragmatic way) about that here: http://snarfed.org/privacy_through_prepaid_credit_cards http://snarfed.org/privacy_through_prepaid_credit_cards

driverdan 14y ago
Simon Malls was one of the first companies to offer prepaid credit cards at a retail location. They started selling them 10 or 11 years ago. I used to re-encode them with stolen magnetic stripe data back when I was into credit card fraud.

hexonexxon 14y ago

Instead you can buy virtual visa with bitcoins, and then you aren't on camera buying a prepaid card. Even better use bitcoins for hosting payment directly and avoid credit cards completely. You can also find any Russian host you wish, then plug in Bitcoins to a Russian exchange such at btc-e and then withdraw straight to their WMZ account to fund your hosting

mrb 14y ago
No need to find a russian host. WordPress accepts Bitcoin! http://en.support.wordpress.com/bitcoin/ http://en.support.wordpress.com/bitcoin/

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

sneak 14y ago

> I realize it may be possible for law enforcement to find you through tracking down the location the card was purchased at but in reality no one else can find who you are. Well then it's not fucking well anonymous, is it? For saying things that won't piss off the cops, we can just sign up on Tumblr from our residential ISP IP. The whole point of having anonymity is for safely exercising the right to unpopular speech. If the cops can track you down, then it's not anonymous. Imagine if Wikileaks had been fully pseudonymous, and then tried what you suggest. They'd be just as fucked as they are now (for being non-anonymous).

skrebbel 14y ago

> Edit - Responses to some of the comments: HN has a button for that, you know.