# 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:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**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 8, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/41 "2020-01-08T00:52:32Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I dunno, the throughput from one pigeon can be damn near limitless. > > Dennis Read the RFC! That’s just the audit trail, mentioned therein. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2020, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007/42 "2020-01-08T01:00:17Z")
I was actually involved in purchasing those machines, and the software that runs them. I can promise you that there was nothing nefarious going on. We could barely get the basic functionality out of those guys; they certainly weren’t achieving any SHIELD-level information gathering. There was nothing at all in the Statement of Work to suggest a communication between the credit/debit card system and the printer. Those credit/debit systems are highly regulated and the communications connections are completely separate from everything else going on inside the box. They do nothing else except to process your payment. [The standards are open and can be found here.](https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/document_library) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/postage-stamp-conspiracy-theory/845007.md?page=2)