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Ask Slashdot: What Are Anonymous Ways To Pay For Goods and Services?
Long-time Slashdot reader mspohr submitted a report a couple of days ago from Richard Stallman via The Guardian, which argues that we should be able to pay for news anonymously. "Online newspapers and magazines have come to depend, for their income, on a system of advertising and surveillance, which is both annoying and unjust... What they ought to do instead is give us a truly anonymous way to pay." In response to that report, an anonymous Slashdot reader writes: There was a recent article posted here on Slashdot about Richard Stallman and his attempt to make paying for online content anonymous. The corollary to that question is: What are the remaining ways to pay for stuff -- in the "real" world and online -- that are truly anonymous? Even cash can be tracked, but what about other methods? Have we completely given up on anonymous payments? No more anonymous/numbered bank accounts, no more pre-paid/virtual bank cards in Europe (just happened recently), for that matter no more prepaid phone numbers (you have to register the number in Europe)? What is left after we had let the politicos run rampant with forced registrations of all payment services?
The only way.
Barter sexual favors
especially with ammunition. .22LR is gold.
Here are a few ideas as to how you pay for something anonymously:
1. Cash (never truely anonymous unless you get someone else to buy it for you or wear a mask, disguise or something!)
2. Visa Gift Cards (may require a shipping address in which case you might want to get a disposable post box or use a friend's house)
3. Bitcoin
However, an interesting point tied to the transaction is how do you receive goods anonymously?
In person: Get someone to receive it for you, wear a mask or disguise
Via shipping/delivery: get a disposable address (e.g. mailboxes etc..., ship to a friend's house, hotel/motel you are staying at).
I guess the reason that there aren't so many options is mostly not a lot of people care if someone knows what they bought and in some cases you actually want them to know (e.g. for a warranty).
I just fax them cash. I keep it along with the fax confirmation sheet as a evidence that I paid.
You know, that paper money you referred to as cash isn't hard currency; it's fiat currency.
Let's hope the faith we have in the government continue unabated.
---
Government was a lot like a religion, but lately it felt a lot closer to a cult.
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
so there's that
1) Buy a prepaid visa with cash
2) Use a library PC to create an Amazon account
3) Ship the merchandise to an Amazon Locker.
There's this magical thing called "cash back" that's been around for ages. And I can personally guarantee that walmart cashier isn't writing down the serial # on that twenty before they hand it to you.
You might be interested to know that there's a funny name for you too: "Victim."
Oddly, statistics show the opposite: the more guns you have, the more likely you are to die by being shot.
Most of that, of course, is suicide-- having guns around turns a brief bad moment into a permanent problem for somebody else-- but even subtracting that, gun owners are more likely to be victims than non gun owners.
(the non-gun owners are likely to back away from a confrontation. The gun owners are somewhat more likely to walk into one.
But "Whitetrash gun nuts" and "victims" are overlapping categories.
False. Canadian data show that suicide rates are *not* affected by easy access to firearm, which remains constant post gun control laws.
Monero (http://getmonero.org) is the most private existing cryptocurrency. It is similar to Bitcoin but based on an entirely distinct codebase (CryptoNote). It uses ring-signatures to obscure who is sending the payment, stealth addresses to obscure the recipient, and "Ring Confidential Transactions" to obscure the amount being paid. Soon it will use i2p to hide the IP address of the sender.
Monero is mostly traded on Poloniex.com but can also be acquired for Bitcoin on http://shapeshift.io or using the decentralized p2p exchange https://BitSquare.io
You can support your local newspaper by actually buying one.
You never expect irony, do you?
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@iyfwrestling
Wouldn't the statistical number of people who were shot which selected from among only those who were shot be 100%?
A statistical measure of the percentage of people who were shot who own guns isn't necessarily flawed on it's face. I'll grant that taken on it's own, it's not very meaningful. However, if the percentage of gun ownership among shooting victims is higher than the percentage of gun ownership in the general population, you just might have a correlation.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
Because there's no way the bills are scanned and stacked before being dispensed.
The biggest problem with mass anonymous payment is that it will facilitate criminal transactions. The people most to watch would be the people receiving those payments ie electronically stealing that money and then anonymously paying themselves. Want true anonymous services, do it for free, do it voluntarily and no money need change hands.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
The bad part about lack of anonymity in our transactions is that Big Data actually gets us some reasonable legal use cases for privacy like why should my credit card company and everyone they share data with know what kind of porn I buy or what books I read or whether I go out to lunch often and who knows what kind of automated algorithms farther down the chain might do with that info like deny me employment surreptitiously.
I think unfortunately the cat is out of the bag in terms of protecting that kind of data from widespread sharing and mining. The only thing that we can really do now is legislate transparency in how its used (like credit reports) and prohibit discriminatory practices based on it.
Unfortunately financial privacy's primary use case is tax evasion, criminal purchases, and money laundering. I think it is better that we reform laws against consensual crimes like recreational drug use and respect freedom of speech/belief/press as a basic human right and not just count on bad laws being difficult to enforce.
You might be interested to know that there's a funny name for you too: "Victim."
Oddly, statistics show the opposite: the more guns you have, the more likely you are to die by being shot. Most of that, of course, is suicide-- having guns around turns a brief bad moment into a permanent problem for somebody else-- but even subtracting that, gun owners are more likely to be victims than non gun owners. (the non-gun owners are likely to back away from a confrontation. The gun owners are somewhat more likely to walk into one. But "Whitetrash gun nuts" and "victims" are overlapping categories.
An Australian study after the big gun ban showed that even having a gun in the house was associated with a higher incidence of suicide, even if the gun wasn't the method used. Something about the psychology of gun owners or the environment in which they're living?
Canada is a relatively healthy society, compared to the US. Plus, they have universal health care, which means universal MENTAL HEALTH CARE.
You are welcome on my lawn.
But those ways aren't used nearly as often. and they're not nearly as lethal. Some of the most common means of attempting suicides have a success rate of around 5-10%. Very nearly 70% of all successful suicides are with a firearm. Not the number of attempts mind you, but the number of successes. All those other "relatively easy" ways to commit suicide are very often unsuccessful, and that means those people have a chance to get help. Firearm suicides are successful just about 90% of the time, which means a gun owner having a very bad day might be dead when if they didn't have ready access to a gun, they'd still be alive. And if they're still alive, they are very unlikely to die of suicide later.
High-gun ownership states have suicide rates just about double that of low-gun ownership states.
Oh yeah, people who attempt suicide and are unsuccessful are unlikely (less than 10%) to die by suicide later. But since only about 10% of gun-related suicide attempts survive, it's too late for them. Now put all that together for yourself.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/m...
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/m...
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/m...
You are welcome on my lawn.
Wow, that sounds almost unbelievable. I would have thought that the result would have been just the opposite. Oh wait, it was. As multiple studies have shown.
Cash in a brown paper envelope. If it's good enough for our politicians then it's good enough for me.
I make all my questionable purchases using bull sperm. It's like liquid gold.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazi...
The summary asks if there is a truly anonymous way to pay for news. I say, turn it around. Is there a truly anonymous way of getting your news for FREE?
It has to be said (though granted, I do not know yet if it has actually already been said)...
Cash, grass, or ass.
This space unintentionally left blank.
However health care in Canada isn't as advanced as it is in the US. Also there is far more red tape to try to get treated.
I am not saying that the US is perfect however there are pluses and minuses to both systems.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The first is obvious. It is cash. It is used almost everywhere. It is pretty well accepted and the usage is legal. Even Homer knows that money can be exchanged for goods and services.
Sex is the second one. It is accepted on many places, but not always and it will be highly dependable on request and demand. If it is legal will depend on where you are. Some can get higher grades, promotions, housing or even drinks,.
Theft is the third one. This only in one way and it is illegal if you want it to be anonymous. It can become legal if you have traces, like being a large company or a bank.
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
statistics show the opposite: the more guns you have, the more likely you are to die by being shot.
That's not what they show.
Most of that, of course, is suicide-- having guns around turns a brief bad moment into a permanent problem for somebody else-- but even subtracting that, gun owners are more likely to be victims than non gun owners.
I bought a handgun not because I wanted to go shoot people, but because I was worried about being harmed by a specific person who was a relative. Calling the cops would have been useless, and only exacerbated the situation. People who are more likely to be attacked are more likely to choose to own guns. If I'm risking a stabbing, it doesn't matter if I risk losing control of my gun and getting shot. It would hardly leave me worse off than being shot. It takes fifteen minutes to even get to my house and it's on a winding road so going faster in an ambulance is not an option. If I wind up on the financial hook for a life flight, I might as well just commit suicide because I'll be in debt for eternity.
Guns prevent crime every day, but just doing so is illegal ("brandishing") so the law discourages an accurate accounting.
I don't care if guns make suicide "easier". Sorry, but I really don't. So a few more people kill themselves. Whoopee. Taking the guns out might reduce the suicide rate slightly, and in exchange we get to be surrounded by more people who don't really want to be here. If we want to reduce suicide rates substantially, we're going to have to make some serious changes to our society. I'm all in favor of that, but removing the guns won't produce the change you're looking for. It will produce a whole lot of them which you aren't, though.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Cash? Ever heard of it? You can exchange goods and services for it, and i cant be easily tracked digitally unless they scan each bill.
I believe the OP means "over the internet". Obviously, if you walk into a store with cash, you're relatively anonymous, (discounting security cameras, of course). The OP seems to live in the UK or EU where anonymous, pre-paid debit cards have been discontinued.
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
So what happens when I go to the shop and pay with my note which is then given to someone else as change?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
America has the best and most advanced health care in the world, but only if you are rich. Average Americans may as well live in a third world country for the quality of care received. So yes, Canada has a less advanced health care system that consistently gives better results than the American system (on average).
I specifically attached a "just out of curiosity" to that bit. It's a side tangent I choose not to fully explore in the interests of brevity, but it was relevant to the larger (but still secondary) point I was making about the suicide argument being a pathetic and doomed-to-fail appeal to a nanny state mentality.
The government clearly has a role in preventing people from harming each other (and in that area, you have a reasonable although not bulletproof argument that gun availability is causing significant suffering in America.) The government's role in preventing people from harming themselves is much less obvious. I think it sets a worrying precedent and is doomed to failure anyway because, as I said, there are plenty of other highly effective methods of suicide (or other kinds of self-harm) that the government cannot realistically combat.
Laundering? Like going into the 7/11, buying a pack of gum with your $20 and getting change from the bored clerk?
Truly a sophisticated operation.
statistics show the opposite: the more guns you have, the more likely you are to die by being shot.
That's not what they show.
Uh, that's exactly what the parent poster's links show. Care to back your assertion up with something besides, say, assertion? Let me quote the abstract from the first link:
"The analyses found positive associations between gun availability and gun suicide rates and no evidence of displacement to other methods."
Frankly, I'm not going to bother reading the second link if you can't be bothered to actually refute the clear language of something cited against you.
There is no state in the US where intentional suicides by drug overdose outnumber suicide by firearm.
You're bullshitting.
You are welcome on my lawn.
So if other methods aren't as lethal as a firearm, wouldn't you want to maintain access to firearms to a) provide a means for suicidal people from maiming themselves severely and permanently, b) allow them to ease their suffering in as humane a fashion as possible?
If people are going to try to kill themselves for real, they're just going to do it. Reducing the margin of error and making it easier seems like the more civilized way to do this, don't you think?
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
Let me ask that another way: If you had a depressed loved one who was suicidal, would you give them a firearm? Remember, only a tiny fraction of suicides are terminally or chronically ill
You are welcome on my lawn.
Problem: Appearance of no non-cash payment methods being available
Solution: Zcash (Bitcoin-like alternative with Zero-Knowledge Proofs; Immune to whitelisting/greylisting/fascistlisting)
Snowden: Anonymous ‘Zcash’ Could Solve Bitcoin Surveillance Risks
I made a contribution to an organization I like and added a note that I didn't want them to call or release my name. It was with a check and didn't include a phone number. They looked up my phone number and started calling me for donation. What I found particularly irksome is that they proceeded to sell or exchange my name and phone number to dozens of other organizations and I was getting calls every day from people begging me for money. Because of this I don't give money to many charities except when I can give cash in person. (Such as at my grocery store where you can buy bags of food to donate to the local food bank, but usually only around Thanksgiving or Christmas.)
I've been thinking about going to the Post Office and buying a money order and mailing it to the public TV station but haven't gotten around to it. When I make a modest donation to a non-profit or a charity I want the money to go to the cause, not to paying for more fundraising.
Anonymous (if you do it right) and saves you money at the same time. There's the moral dilemma, of course, but if you're paying for something anonymously you must be a terrorist anyway, so...
I mean, come on, guys - smarter than average? WTF?!?!
Believe it or not, people aren't born knowing everything. Sometimes smart people need to ask someone who knows something to share that knowledge.
/. ? Did you not learn calculus in school (presuming that you did) by listening to a smart person share his/her knowledge?
For example, what if TFA were about calculus? Then you said something like "come on, guys, don't you know calculus??? You're supposed to be smart!! WTF?!?!" Are you as smart as Leibnitz and Newton that you came up with calculus before you even started posting on
Waht the FRICK does this have to do with "what are anonymous ways to pay for goods and services"?!
And WHY the frick was it moderated "Informative?"
Guns and methods of suicide have NOTHING to do with anonymous ways to pay for good and services! What has happened to slashdot moderation lately?
"Fish" (David B. Trout)
You have to follow the thread to understand. Do you require every conversation you have to only be on one topic? And when have Slashdot comments EVER been about sticking slavishly to the topic in the story?
Quit your bitching. If you want to do something about it, you should call the Slashdot Moderation Support 800-number and give them hell. Be sure to give them my UID number as a reference. They've always been very helpful over there, although there's sometimes a bit of a language barrier since the call center is in Bhutan.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Well if it really is that big of a deal...
Rest stops, gas stations, and bars sometimes have those little dispensers for condoms in the restrooms (so no fear of being on camera). Just drop in a few quarters. I don't know why that's so embarrassing anyway. If you're buying them, it means you're the one getting laid, not the cashier.
Say that to the few hundreds patient of former Coquitlam mental hospital, which are now on the streets ...
Canada. That being said, this is a false argument, because you are going to re-use gun-control data from other countries to justify your own policy decision... which by your own logic does not apply.
the problem is that if you end up shooting someone in a defensive situation, that shooting is gonna full parent's statistics against gun...
Almost any tire seller has nitrogen to fill your tires with. Breathing pure nitrogen is a surefire painless way to die.
BAN NITROGEN NOW!
(yes, my eyes are rolling)
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
I don't want to ban guns. I've been a gun owner for over 35 years. They should just be harder to get. Like nitrogen.
Why don't you see if it's easier to get pure nitrogen or a handgun?
You are welcome on my lawn.