# Postage stamp conspiracy theory **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007 "2019-12-17T22:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/21 "2019-12-18T13:58:16Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Even the serial numbers on the cash might have been recorded by the ATM that dispensed them. You could take your ATM-dispensed cash and use each of the large bills for small cash purchases at an array of stores, resulting in a pocketful of truly anonymous small bills you could then use to make a nefarious purchase. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/22 "2019-12-18T15:12:14Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I think this is the first conspiracy theory I have started. > > I purchased some stamps from the self service machine which prints the stamps as you order them. They have one of those coded information fields with patterns of black and white dots. Is it possible this field contains a transaction ID that ties that particular stamp to your debit card information and can easily be linked to the surveillance cameras? THEY would then be able to find out who purchased that stamp if need be. > > Dennis Why are you labeling this idea a “conspiracy theory?” ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/23 "2019-12-18T15:45:04Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I just have to note how people seem to get their dander up if they suspect the government is somehow keeping tabs on them, but could not care less that a business might do the same thing and also profit off doing so. I find the latter infinitely more reprehensible. I’ll say this for a business, their goal is to sell me something, presumably something I find desirable. Any surveillance they do of me is in the hopes that they can discover a way to present me with a desirable something to spend my money on before someone else does. Government surveillance of me isn’t going to result in me getting something I find desirable. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/24 "2019-12-18T16:55:37Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Why are you labeling this idea a “conspiracy theory?” Well, it’s a bit of a pun. I am not exactly the conspiracy type. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/25 "2019-12-18T17:06:22Z")
I don’t think “pun” means what you think it means… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/26 "2019-12-18T17:11:00Z")
People still send letters? Or is there some other reason to buy a stamp? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/27 "2019-12-18T18:01:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > People still send letters? Or is there some other reason to buy a stamp? [Only 56 billion of them.](https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/first-class-mail-since-1926.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/28 "2019-12-18T18:44:17Z")
**mixdenny** , you’re Post Office Conspiracy only scratches the surface!!! (But you all knew that already, right?) > [@bob\_2](#): > > Get used to it… We live in a surveillance society and it will get more so in the coming years. Cameras on street corners, HMA’s recording all cars in their areas, cameras in shops and offices. As we all use cards more and more, so we leave a trail of data about what we buy and where. No shit, Sherlock! Geoffrey A. Fowler, Technology Columnist at Washington Post, and some others, have been writing a series of columns under the general heading “The Secret Life of Your Data”, the most recent being published just today (Dec. 17, 2019): [What does your car know about you? We hacked a Chevy to find out.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/12/17/what-does-your-car-know-about-you-we-hacked-chevy-find-out/) > [@](#): > > Behind the wheel, it’s nothing but you, the open road — and your car quietly recording your every move. > > On a recent drive, a 2017 Chevrolet collected my precise location. It stored my phone’s ID and the people I called. It judged my acceleration and braking style, beaming back reports to its maker General Motors over an always-on Internet connection. At the bottom of the above article (or somewhere on the page) are links to a whole bunch of other articles in the series, with titles such as: [ul][li] Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time[/li][li] It’s the middle of the night. Do you know who your iPhone is talking to?[/li][li] The spy in your wallet: Credit cards have a privacy problem[/li][li] Goodbye, Chrome: Google’s Web browser has become spy software[/li][li] I found your data. It’s for sale.[/li][li] You watch TV. Your TV watches back.[/li][li] Think you’re anonymous online? A third of popular websites are ‘fingerprinting’ you.[/ul][/li] An earlier article on the same topic (about your car spying on you): [Big Brother on wheels: Why your car company may know more about you than your spouse.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/01/15/big-brother-on-wheels-why-your-car-company-may-know-more-about-you-than-your-spouse/) by Peter Holley, from January 15, 2018. > [@](#): > > Dunn may consider his everyday driving habits mundane, but auto and privacy experts suspect that big automakers like Honda see them as anything but. By monitoring his everyday movements, an automaker can vacuum up a massive amount of personal information about someone like Dunn, everything from how fast he drives and how hard he brakes to how much fuel his car uses and the entertainment he prefers. The company can determine where he shops, the weather on his street, how often he wears his seat belt, what he was doing moments before a wreck — even where he likes to eat and how much he weighs. The one about your iPhone is especially interesting: [It’s the middle of the night. Do you know who your iPhone is talking to?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/28/its-middle-night-do-you-know-who-your-iphone-is-talking/), from May 28, 2019. > [@](#): > > Apple says, “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone.” Our privacy experiment showed 5,400 hidden app trackers guzzled our data — in a single week. > > It’s 3 a.m. Do you know what your iPhone is doing? > > Mine has been alarmingly busy. Even though the screen is off and I’m snoring, apps are beaming out lots of information about me to companies I’ve never heard of. Your iPhone probably is doing the same — and Apple could be doing more to stop it. > On a recent Monday night, a dozen marketing companies, research firms and other personal data guzzlers got reports from my iPhone. At 11:43 p.m., a company called Amplitude learned my phone number, email and exact location. At 3:58 a.m., another called Appboy got a digital fingerprint of my phone. At 6:25 a.m., a tracker called Demdex received a way to identify my phone and sent back a list of other trackers to pair up with. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/29 "2019-12-18T19:42:48Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’ll say this for a business, their goal is to sell me something, presumably something I find desirable. Any surveillance they do of me is in the hopes that they can discover a way to present me with a desirable something to spend my money on before someone else does. > > Government surveillance of me isn’t going to result in me getting something I find desirable. or they’re going to sell info about you to someone else in which case you get zilch; at its best gov surveillance is likely linked to crime prevention/solving ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/30 "2019-12-18T19:54:50Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > or they’re going to sell info about you to someone else in which case you get zilch; at its best gov surveillance is likely linked to crime prevention/solving The business that buys the info needs to profit from it, there’s not a lot of profit in providing zilch. And the Gov’t at its worst takes the idea of crime prevention and turns it on its head to screw over a lot of people who are just minding their own business. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/31 "2019-12-18T22:26:12Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > You could take your ATM-dispensed cash and use each of the large bills for small cash purchases at an array of stores, resulting in a pocketful of truly anonymous small bills you could then use to make a nefarious purchase. That’s what I meant by cycles/levels. For the truly paranoid, even these sort of things won’t be enough. What a surprise! ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/32 "2019-12-19T13:36:02Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > …The business that buys the info needs to profit from it, there’s not a lot of profit in providing zilch. > > … I should be the only one to profit from “my info”. I’m sick of middlemen cramming their way into life. ---
**Author:** ![Kimera757](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimera757/32/3765_2.png) [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/33 "2019-12-19T19:56:19Z")
Most of these are problems only if you’re complacent. I can’t speak to the car one, as I don’t drive. [quote=“Senegoid, post:28, topic:845007”] At the bottom of the above article (or somewhere on the page) are links to a whole bunch of other articles in the series, with titles such as: [list][li] Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time[/li][/quote] So don’t use it. I have to wonder how many (meaning how few) people use Alexa. I do see the occasional post where you have a couple where one uses it and the other wishes they would get rid of it. (Make that a relationship requirement. No, you don’t need to date someone who uses Alexa.) [quote] [li] It’s the middle of the night. Do you know who your iPhone is talking to?[/li][/quote] Android in my case but… no one. I turned the wi-fi off. It could be set to airplane mode (a big deal if you have data). Literally the only reason to leave the phone on at night is if you use it as an alarm clock. I have an actual physical alarm clock, because having only one alarm clock-equivalent is, IMO, foolish. I can use my computer’s free alarm clock as well if I need another backup. [quote] [li] The spy in your wallet: Credit cards have a privacy problem[/li][/quote] Credit cards will track where you shop, but not individual purchases, unless you use a loyalty program. [quote] [li] Goodbye, Chrome: Google’s Web browser has become spy software[/li][/quote] This is a PitA. I use Firefox, but mainly because it’s menu doesn’t suck. I would use TOR, except my library **absolutely hates that website.** Untangling the integrated spyware takes work, and often any extensions you might want to download want access to your data too. [quote] [li] I found your data. It’s for sale.[/li][/quote] I visit the “have you been pwned” website every once in a while. A few of my passwords were uncovered, but only from times before I started using a password manager. I have free credit checking sites that I can check (they give monthly emailed reminders to do so). [quote] [li] You watch TV. Your TV watches back.[/li][/quote] I don’t watch TV. There is one where I live, but it’s my mom’s TV. That TV does not have a video camera, nor does it have “ears”. If I watched TV, I wouldn’t care if my provider knew what type of TV I watched. “He liked Game of Thrones and not reality TV.” Him and millions of other customers. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/34 "2019-12-20T18:12:05Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > I don’t watch TV. There is one where I live, but it’s my mom’s TV. That TV does not have a video camera, nor does it have “ears”. Doesn’t need a camera, it uses back capacitance on the screen pixels to generate a crude picture of what is in front of the set. Hah! At least that is the cockamamie theory I posted once at work when we all got new computers. I had a whole scenario about how it worked and combining the image with keystroke monitoring was enough to tell who was using the computer. Really got a few people upset before it became obvious it was a joke. It was April first ferchissakes! I got talked to by the IT crimes rep. Again. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/35 "2020-01-07T09:02:22Z")
A recent [hoax anthrax threat](https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-man-arrested-mailing-hoax-anthrax-threat) was solved using the information from one of these stamps. From the attached complaint: > [@](#): > > Based on my review of United States Postal Service (“USPS”) retail records for the Stamp, I know that the Stamp was purchased on or about November 25, 2019, at approximtately 2:02 p.m., at a self-service kiosk in the United States Post Office Times Square Station in Manhattan (the “Post Office”). I also know that the Stamp was purchased using a J.P. Morgan Chase (“Chase”) credit card ending with the numbers 9104 (the “Credit Card”). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/36 "2020-01-07T14:49:18Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Most of these are problems only if you’re complacent. Billions of people are being hacked and spied upon. But it’s not a problem at all because a few thousand of the people are smart enough to protect themselves. Does that pretty well sum up your point? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/37 "2020-01-07T15:43:46Z")
Getting back to the original question about the stamp carrying information that ties its purchase back to you, that it contains a serial number is neither here nor there. It’s possible the serial number is just for inventory purposes and is irrelevant for the purpose of ‘tracking’ the buyer. But, as DPRK notes above, with [steganography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography#Digital_messages) there are others ways of encoding things, other ways of tracking. A tag or an identifier could be coded into the color scheme of the stamp for example. No human eye would notice it. ---
**Author:** ![vonespy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vonespy/32/6204_2.png) [@vonespy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vonespy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/38 "2020-01-07T19:26:59Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > But, as DPRK notes above, with [steganography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography#Digital_messages) there are others ways of encoding things, other ways of tracking. A tag or an identifier could be coded into the color scheme of the stamp for example. No human eye would notice it. …[which is already being done](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_Identification_Code) in certain printers. I know my Xerox printer does this. I run out of yellow ink sticks sooner than the other two colors. And I’ve looked at prints from the printer under UV light and indeed, it’s printing tiny yellow dots all over the page. I guess I’ll have to use a manual typewriter for my manifesto after all. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/39 "2020-01-07T22:41:33Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Billions of people are being hacked and spied upon. But it’s not a problem at all because a few thousand of the people are smart enough to protect themselves. Does that pretty well sum up your point? **Kimera757** seems to suggest that the solution, for him, is living largely “off the grid”, perhaps in an ice cave in Siberia. How does he even post messages on the Internet? Maybe he sends IP packets by carrier pigeon. (See [RFC 1149](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149) and Wiki article [IP over Avian Carriers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers)). Unfortunately, the CPIC (Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol) does not scale up well to billions of users, and throughput is limited. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/40 "2020-01-07T23:58:40Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > **Kimera757** Unfortunately, the CPIC (Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol) does not scale up well to billions of users, and throughput is limited. I dunno, the throughput from one pigeon can be damn near limitless. Dennis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007.md?page=3)