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Online Retailers Cruising Tor To Hunt For Fraudsters
Daniel_Stuckey writes "This week, the verification company Service Objects announced a new tool to help websites detect 'suspicious' visitors using Tor and other anonymous proxies. Its updated DOTS IP Address Validation product identifies 'suspicious' discrepancies between the user's home location and the location of the IP address the order's coming from. It joins a handful of other tools on the market promising Tor-detection for retailers. It's a logical strategy: If you're trying to buy something with a stolen credit card, you're obviously going to want to block your real identity and location while doing it. But it also raises the question of whether targeting anonymity services to hunt out fraudsters could have chilling effects for harmless Tor users trying to protect their privacy online—particularly this year in light of the NSA-spying scandal."
"But it also raises the question of whether targeting anonymity services to hunt out fraudsters could have chilling effects for harmless Tor users trying to protect their privacy online"
Umm.. the user is ordering something using their name, credit card, and address. They are not going to use Tor to protect their anonymity.
If you use your card online, you're telling the retailer who you are and where you generally are, and having them do their homework is nothing but a good thing. Making people go through more verification steps if red flags are thrown is nothing but a good thing. If you use Tor and then buy something with a personal credit card or debit card, you're doing it wrong.
If you want to stay anonymous, load a pre-paid debit card and jump through the anti fraud hoops. Nobody said staying off the grid was going to be easy.