[tor-talk] Exit/VPN payment and separation options

[Martin Hubbard]

On 2011-12-30, grarpamp wrote:

 [On 2011-12-28,John Case wrote:]
 > Alternatively, a pre-paid visa from somewhere like Simon malls, etc., works > >> Non in-country transactions may be denied along with other prepaid curiosities such as Netflix >> denials. Read the fine print. Be prepared to spend down any card buying groceries instead. I'm >> sure people would love to hear success stories.  I've had some success with Simon gift cards. However, any serious use (such as Amazon, Google checkout and VoIP accounts) requires confirmation by telephone. They call you, and you either enter a code from the webpage on the phone, or vice versa. That requires getting an anonymous cellphone, which must be activated by telephone. Pay phones are hard to find these days in the USA. Small towns seem to be the best bet. It's also good to have a voicemail-to-email account, given that you probably won't be answering that cellphone very much. You never use it from your home area, of course.

 You also need a snailmail address, and it must be valid. I've had good luck with recently-failed businesses, such as restaurants. It's not hard to find comments on food review websites. Also, some payment processors decline transactions made through VPNs, so you may need to visit a relatively distant city, and use a free WiFi hotspot. I typically use the same metro area for VPN exit IP, snailmail address, cellphone number and free WiFi hotspot. Be sure to spoof your WiFi MAC address (macchanger on Linux) before connecting. You can use your anonymous cellphone while you're there. I typically use anonymous TCP VPN through Tor through semianonymous UDP VPN.

 By the way, this identity is one that didn't work out very well, with many failed experiments that may have attracted attention. A little more won't hurt.