SDMB Subscriptions: Protecting anonymity

Giving my credit card number to the SDMB leaves me a little uncomfortable. Firstly, I am uncertain about the quality of the security procedures exercised by their host’s IT staff.

And, quite frankly, I don’t like having every electron I’ve posted here attached to a particular RL name, at least within the bowels of the Chicago Reader’s servers.

Apparently, the Paypal route will not shield the user’s name either:

I've poked around the web a little, and there are a few payment methods that claim to be anonymous.  One that is used and recommended by [Web Cartoonist Scott McCloud](http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/trn/intro.html) is the micropayment service [Bitpass](http://www.bitpass.com/).

Bitpass allows anonymous payments (anonymous to the seller that is): prepaid cards are available in denominations of $3, $5, $10 and upward.

I have no experience with that company, however. I hope to examine their program in greater depth this weekend.

Though this is the Pit, I see no reason why constructive and polite suggestions for advancing the user’s anonymity could not be posted here.

Do gift-type “debit” cards (like those mentioned here) require you to put in the recipient’s name? I seem to remember that they can be purchased in bulk, and they can be bought at places like Wal-Mart, so I’m inclined to say “no,” but I can’t seem to find out without actually going through and buying one.

Hey Leaper, I saw your comments in ATMB; I’m glad that you spotted this thread.

Debit card fees can be nontrivial, by the way. At National City, you pay a $4.95 shipping and handling fee for a $25-$74 gift card, good for one year from purchase. (At a branch location it’s about $3 for activation.) After 6 months you pay a monthly maintenance fee of $2.50.

The Gift Card Terms and Conditions Agreement makes for amusing reading:

Ah. So there’s something called a “non-personalized Card”. Whether the Chicago Reader’s online form will permit its use is a separate matter.

All my online and Board and other related purchases, registration, DSL, etc. are done through my “business partner”, who I put in quotes not because they don’t exist but because they aren’t really in a private corporation or limited partnership with me. This person buys everything I need with their card(s) in return for certain consideration - which to date has been limited to a couple of lunches out at a Chinese buffet. Hopefully, people can find someone like that to do the purchasing for them if security is a concern. Perhaps someone here can act as a “locus” for these things, without requiring money or a 5-paragraph essay on why they are “worthy” enough.

Well, my credit card number is spread all over the Net, since I order online a lot (I think I’m single-handedly keeping Amazon in business), so if anyone wants to mail me a money order or cashier’s check, I’d be glad to sign them up. I could probably provide enough information to make someone comfortable with handing their money to me, including my eBay feedback rating.

I don’t understand. Isn’t it inevitable that your name will be tied to your credit card at some point along the line of purchase? I mean otherwise, how can it be even remotely verified that you are the holder of the card? Even with that “anonymous” system in which you buy prepaid increments, don’t you have to provide your name to that system?

Just waiting for anyone against “Homeland Security” to nail the SDMB Admins over supposed rights violations. Oh, wait, it’s safer to spew vitriol about the oppressive US gov’t than an SDMB mod? Huh, guess we have a gov’t you don’t have to fear.

I, for one, won’t worry about the board being paid online. Just as I wasn’t worried when I went through aiport security 4 times on our flight back from Las Vegas. I went so far as to thank the guys for doing a good job.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I have nothing to hide. I appreciate them keeping my wife safe on these flights.

Stopped taking the thorazine, huh?

I think the concern is that at the moment, what we say here can not (easily) be tied to our real life identities. If we have to attach a credit card number and name to our accounts, that is no longer the case. That would raise concerns for real world consequences in connection with our posting here.

Forget the angle of Ashcroft or a hacker for a moment. Credit cards already track everything we spend money on so that other companies can try and push product at us. How long till they decide it makes good business sense to track our opinions too, so they can “provide us with better service.”

Ok, but only for a moment. :smiley:

Bingo.

The point is not to make oneself safe from all conceivable attacks: that way lies madness. Rather, one should strive to eliminate one’s glaring vulnerabilities.

I find it very possible that a database of names, addresses and opinions will be used by somebody at some date. I find it possible, but much less likely, that 2 databases owned by 2 separate and unrelated companies would be raided and merged: there are simply easier ways to create profits or havoc.

Well, I skimmed the Bitpass documents this weekend, then signed up as a Bitpass, “Spender”.

The experience was fairly painless, somewhat easier than an Amazon transaction. My $20 account was funded by my credit card, though they also accept Paypal.

I also spent 25 cents on a 57 frame online comic by Scott McCloud. The transaction was conducted using an email address and password. It was fairly quick.

I hope that the SDMB considers becoming a Bitpass “Earner”.

Jesus H.

My credit card number has passed through the portals of what I’m sure are much less secure sites than PayPal. Shit, I’d email my plaintext credit card number to the SDMB mods if that’s how they wanted payment.

As for connecting anything I say here to my RL persona… that’s fine with me. My opinions IRL are the same as those on this board, and I’ll defend them online or in person. Though if I think I understand what the OP is trying to say, I really can’t imagine anyone calling me up to ask about something I posted.

In terms of security in general, I’ve really got nothing to hide, and I’m all for devices recording things about me to enhance my experience. I can’t help but feel sorry for the kinds of people that raise fits about grocery stores knowing what they buy, and all that jazz.

Not that anyone really cares, I was just offering my 2 cents. :slight_smile:

This is the issue of a discretionary sign-up to a private message board, so I’m not sure what the hell you’re talking about. Look up the emphasised words and get back to us on how they differ from coercive government action.

Along these lines…

What about those who have offered to pay for others as “gift memberships”? If any sort of tie-in was made between the membership list and the payment records, then it would be conceivable that those who got “gift” memberships could be mistaken for sock puppets, resulting in the accidental banning of members who aren’t socks.

I really don’t think the admins will let that happen.

Is there any anonymity problem for the people who are paying for someone else?
What I mean is, if person A goes into person B’s account and pays for them, wouldn’t they have to put their personal info into person B’s account?
Could person B then see some of that info?

I agree with everything in this thread so far. I don’t want anyone knowing my RL name. I’d like to put into practice all policies that will protect my anonymity… :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

Zev Steinhardt

Anyone got solutions yet?

I’m a little leery about all the options so far (though the only ones I’m considering so far are bite-the-bullet credit card and getting someone else’s help) on an anonymity level.

In the ATMB thread, there are offers for proxies from members. You mail them a $5 bill, no return address, with your username written inside. You give your proxy your (temporary) password, they sign you up, then you change the PW back.

No matter what, you will need someone’s help paying $5 to the Chicago Reader if you don’t live in Chicago. You’ll need the help of your credit card company, PayPal, or a fellow SDMB member, you can’t really do it all on your own.

The simple fact is, nobody at the ChiReader offices will likely ever see any of your credit card information. There’s no reason to think that anyone at the ChiReader will ever see, or have reason to know, your personal information. Verisign’s process is completely autonomous. If you have ever purchased anything using your credit/debit card over the internet, you’ve already been through this process. What’s being done here isn’t anything unique to the SDMB; Verisign is used, according to themselves, on over 90% of the secure Web sites in the world.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=4661789&highlight=verisign#post4661789

I just used one (in fact, I used it twice last night), and yes, I had to put in all of my information to use it. (It was a gift from my bank for getting direct deposit, which is how I happened to have it on hand.). I just used it to pay for my membership and entered all of my information.

Now, whether or not the actual bank/issuer requires the information to process it is another story. Obviously, if you use it at a store, it’s not required. But to make any online purchases, I couldn’t get past any sign-up screens without inputting my information.

Ava