Let's start here.

If you are going to have anonymity, privacy and any real future off the grid, money is where it is at. Cash.

However, bunch of stuff you can't deal in cash for. Especially online purchases. Services like Western Union exist, but you are providing details on two humans in that transaction, and that is logged, and who knows where it will end up.

Today coins are the rage cause of perceived anonymous nature.

Bitcoin is not a privacy coin.

Some coins are trying to be private. But it is still premature in adoption to be dealing much in coins. Consider it a notch down from casino money (yeah I know where Bitcoin is and started).

What we all want is BEARER ACCOUNTS concept. They were passport savings books that anyone with said book could transact on the account. No questions asked. Banking cartel and gubermints outlawed them. Use to be very common, now youngsters have never heard of such a thing.

The modern day bearer account replacement of sorts are prepaid cards. These can be store cards or they can be Visa, Mastercard, AMEX, etc.

Local big retails stores usually stock these by checkout. Some are fixed amounts, others allow you to fund it within range.

Vanilla is one bank brand in the middle and they sell Visa and Mastercard versions.

It's simple, you buy with cash, you get activated card.

That card you use with your new or safe identity online when buying. Limit fund cards to deal with one site or purchase. Not one card and spending all over and developing a profile on who you are.

These cards are good for online purchases of any service that remotely claims to be privacy centric. They should clear purchasing system just like a normal card. Only catch is auto billed future subscriptions can't be done to them. So you have to manually pay your future invoices (not hard - schedule them on your calendar app as reminder).

Comments

div1337 wrote on February 20, 2021 at 5:58 AM

I think it's futile to aim for 100% anonymity. We should not make it easy to track us for sure but we must also be prepared to fight in the open.

spc50 OP wrote on February 20, 2021 at 6:00 AM

Nothing is bulletproof.

OPSEC and general sanity is a process of refinement. Have to practice the craft or you just become another tool in their box.

div1337 wrote on February 20, 2021 at 6:36 AM

I think another good thing to be in a habit of doing is support local small businesses. You are significantly more likely to be tracked by McDonald than your local takeaway shop.

spc50 OP wrote on February 20, 2021 at 6:40 AM

Amen! Support small biz always. Most workers are employed by small businesses.

However, with all the tax complexity and tech infiltration, those smart registers are hell on earth.

Avoid signing up for rewards / frequent buyer stuff unless you provide them with manufactured data. A good straw man just for that is recommended. Or a few... Give the person their own VOIP number, own freebie privacy email address, etc.

Rambler wrote on February 20, 2021 at 3:39 PM

Good read, for sure.

Do you have any trouble using these cards anywhere? Do you use them for normal online bill pay, online ordering from stores (or ebay/amazon, etc)?

What happens if you, say... Put $200 on a card to pay some bills and you have a $1.28 balance left over or something on the card. Anyway to transfer that to another card or do you just lose it if you can't find a small purchase to apply that balance towards? (So in a way, an added fee to the original card purchase?)