Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.
As Scotty remarked in Star Trek, the more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to clog up the pipes.
I like my privacy. I also like my anonymity. This isnt just because I don't want junk mail. Given todays political clime, you can get a 'friendly visit' from all sorts of badge-wearing goons just for having a last name that sounds funny or for reading the 'wrong books'. So, for me privacy is important…not because Im doing anything wrong, but because nowadays not doing anything wrong is no guarantee that 'the powers that be' will leave me the hell alone.
So….
The internet is useful. It allows me to communicate ideas and messages to and from LMI. It also gives me access to huge amonts of knowledge. So far, accessing the internet anonymously is fairly easy…I can use a library computer, go to Kinkos and use theirs, or even slip into a WiFi hotspot somehwere with a laptop. no muss, no fuss. I can even walk into some mom and pop ISP and plunk down $200 for a year of access and not have to show ID. Getting websites and ordering things online, thats a different story. See, credit cards are the preferred medium on the internet. Makes sense, trouble is that it isnt nearly as easy to scam your way into a credit card as it used to be. Hypothetical – lets say you want to register www.leavemealoneplease.com . Youre going to use this website to spout off about how displeased you are with the .gov and maybe even communicate with like minded individuals through it. So far so good. Now, because you dont want to get painted with the 'possible terrorist' brush and maybe be 'temporarily detained' without a trial you want to get this domain name anonymously. No prob, you can lie on those little questionaires from the online register/hosting sites (like Yahoo! for example). Trouble is, how do you pay for it? Yahoo! doesnt take cash. You certainly dont want to use your credit card, which has your name and other data attached to it. Hmmmm.
Once you have that means of communicating taken care of, how do you stay in touch by phone with your new friends (and safely in touch with old enemies)? You would never use the phone in your house. Payphones are okay if you dont use the same one too often but it makes getting calls tough. Voice mail services are okay, but what about just getting a cell phone? When ive had them in the past, they never ask for ID but they sure want a credit card to make sure they get paid.
Technology to the rescue.
Im in Albertsons today and they have a little rip-off coin counting kiosk. This kiosk, for a whopping 9%, will convert your mason jar full of change into 'real money'. Ok, if youre too lazy to count out and roll coins I suppose its worth it. But here's where it gets interesting. It also sells prepaid Mastercards. Dwell on this. You use it like a credit card, right? Accepted wherever Mastercard is accepted, right? Simply dump $110 in quarters into this thing and have it give you a $100 prepaid Mastercard.
Thus the scenario to get perfectly anonymous website and email:
Go to local mom and pop ISP. Hi, Im moving here in a month or so and need to arrange to have a local dialup account. I dont have a local address yet but heres the startup cost and a years service up front. You now have local ISP and an email account. Maybe even some storage space. Log into Yahoo! or similar service and get an email account. Go to their domain registry service. Register your domain, pay for it and its monthly fees using your prepaid card. Recharge the card at the kiosk every so often to keep up on payments on webservices. Yahoo! sends the confirmation message to your new email account at the mom-n-pop ISP. You reply and confirm and now have your Yahoo! email. The need for the mom-n-pop ISP is pretty much gone. Yahoo! sends the confirmation of your new domain to your Yahoo! email. So, now you have email that you can access from anywhere and a domain that has absolutely no way to be connected to you. I suppose the powers that be could go to mom-n-pop ISP and what would they say? A pysical description? Like they remember every face they see. And since you access from Kinko's or the library or the computer lab or any of a dozen other places that don't really ask for ID they'd have to sit a guy there all day waiting for you to show up and get fingered. Use WiFi hot spots and you'd be pretty much uncatchable.
But you still wanna call your buddies rather than email, right? No problem. Prepaid phone cards were the old way. Prepaid cellphones are the new. Theyre all over the place and with your completely-untraceable-to-you prepaid cashcard you can pay for the service online, using your totally anonymous email and internet access, or at any of the handy kiosks in WalMart. Just make sure no cameras get a good look at your face and you'd be home free.
I think this would work. I know the part with the mom-n-pop ISP would work. I did it last year and simply paid the startup and the first months fee and did what I needed and let it lapse.
Interesting possibilities.
