Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: wheardego on May 14, 2013, 12:37 am

Title: Traking your packages
Post by: wheardego on May 14, 2013, 12:37 am
Thought this would be a nice piece of info...
I recently read that when a package is tracked while using tor, it will be flagged.
Heads up kiddies!
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Imperialised on May 14, 2013, 12:42 am
Never thought of that happening

Im not sure how much substance the information has, but it is certainly an interesting piece of info to think about
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: wheardego on May 14, 2013, 12:46 am
yeah, I read this on a vendors page. Definitely something to think about.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: wheardego on May 14, 2013, 12:50 am
ALso, this is for USPS.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Gozarian on May 14, 2013, 12:54 am
MT. Gox will also flag your account for accessing it via TOR. Its not a difficult system to implement. Safest bet is to use a 3rd party package tracking system. Google it and you can find a ton.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Imperialised on May 14, 2013, 12:57 am
Im pretty sure its just paranoia to be honest

I mean, the extra work this would cause for any, already overworked, postal company would be massive

Not to mention the fact that they would have to work in real time and instantly act to any new alerts of packages being tracked by Tor, they would have to be able to locate and then send someone out to retrieve packages all day everyday, before the said package had chance to be moved

It just isnt feasible
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: offbeatadam on May 14, 2013, 12:59 am
Checking against a tor exit node isn't exactly difficult. I wouldn't doubt that the ability to scan for this information has been added to at least some tracking sites. Tor serves a purpose: you are not who you are. That, in and of itself, also serves a purpose: you didn't want someone to know that you are not who you say you are. You, yourself, may be anonymous, in that they don't know who is behind that address, but if you look at tracking for a package destined to you, then you've given up all anonymity, and if anything, you've brought to light that you wanted to be anonymous in the first place. That is one of the down sides to Tor's list of exit nodes.

The reality is though... if you want to be anonymous, it means not looking. If you don't want to exist, you have to not exist - that means tracking information is one of the easiest ways to flag that it is to you that this information is meaningful. It is the catch 22... its natural that you would want to know and be informed on what is yours. All the same, its just as natural that if they knew and were watching you, that they would let that package you tracked, deliver to where you were expecting - and then, when you go and pick it up - because naturally, you want what you went through all the trouble to get - they grab you.

It's the worst case scenario... patience is a valuable asset.

Added after the fact: package tracking is a mostly automated system in most services, and with the addition of rfid tagging and barcode readers, the transfer from source to destination involves less hands. The converse to this, is that, its computer driven - flagging a package is extremely easy in a system that is majority automated. Its another catch 22: if a human touches it because you wrote the tag, then its an extra pair of eyes that with a step of due diligence could compare it against computer records and see a flag. Conversely, if a computer driven system automatically flags something, then the computer driven system will do whatever it is programmed to do.

I agree that it is probably overly paranoid... but Tor can only do so much, and most of what it can do is on the *.onion network.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Imperialised on May 14, 2013, 01:04 am
Flagging a user account on a given system is one thing, constantly running around all day, every day for packages that are constantly moving around in transit, along with millions of others, is another

Not possible IMO
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: offbeatadam on May 14, 2013, 01:10 am
Flagging a user account on a given system is one thing, constantly running around all day, every day for packages constantly moving around in transit, along with millions of other, is another

Not possible IMO

It really depends on the locality. A good example is one of my old hometowns, the county municipality was still running on paper systems with LE. In certain city municipalities, where there were additional LE, particularly in the richer areas, they were running on far more advanced networked systems, including cellular based ticket machines that also linked into the national insurance database. This lead to a lot more no-insurance tickets and impounding, simply by fact that the LE in that area had more information available to them. Yes, I do agree that in many cases, it is largely not possible as our country notoriously forgets that technology has gotten better in the past 30 years. However, don't sit in comfort because local LE still write tickets - that does not mean that FedEx can't send a notice to another entity that IS operating on modern technology. In other words - I would use due diligence in the service /used/ to send, as private companies do have the money to invest towards achieving that goal.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: conversation16 on May 14, 2013, 01:55 am
If you're worried about tracking a package through TOR or your own ISP, just go to any McDonalds or Starbucks, get on their WiFi & go to the tracking page.  I don't get all this sweating about worrying about being on TOR or not to track.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Meerkovo on May 14, 2013, 02:01 am
Or better yet, go to an internet caffe, not sure if everyone knows what I'm talking about, but its exactly what it says, mcd's and all these places tend to have a little more cctv then my own liking these days. I wonder who's stealing little privacy the little privacy we have left...
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: offbeatadam on May 14, 2013, 02:22 am
Or better yet, go to an internet caffe, not sure if everyone knows what I'm talking about, but its exactly what it says, mcd's and all these places tend to have a little more cctv then my own liking these days. I wonder who's stealing little privacy the little privacy we have left...

I like internet cafes for that exact reason. Though, I don't really use them for that - but they are definitely something I like to keep a note of when I'm driving around and finding new places around the city. The ones that are closer nearby make for a good place to get out of the house and get on the tubes.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Hendrix99 on May 14, 2013, 03:43 am
yeah this is common knowledge amongst SR users not to check through TOR, and I agree the best option is some public computer or something of that nature that  lots of ppl use

Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Theory on May 14, 2013, 04:30 am
So just check the tracking number on a normal browser and your all set right?
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: zetterberg99 on May 14, 2013, 07:37 am
A normal browser yes, but its more important to use a computer that won't be connected to you like a library or internet cafe.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: bloodsipper on May 14, 2013, 07:44 am
wouldnt it not matter if you checked on a package that was being delivered to you if you checked from your computer? - yes i understand that tor would/could/should redflag it.  But there is nothing of particular interest of someone checking the status of a package that is coming to them - that is why they have the service free online isnt it?
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: zetterberg99 on May 14, 2013, 07:55 am
wouldnt it not matter if you checked on a package that was being delivered to you if you checked from your computer? - yes i understand that tor would/could/should redflag it.  But there is nothing of particular interest of someone checking the status of a package that is coming to them - that is why they have the service free online isnt it?


If you're mailing a SR package to your house then your safety in the event of a LE encounter is linked to "plausable deniablility."  If you're unfamiliar with this term do some research and scroll around the security/shipping threads for a while. 

If LE knocked on (or down) the door your default response should be "Thats not mine.  I don't know anything about it.  I wasn't expecting any packages."  Politely refuse to answer more questions until a lawer is representing you.  Basically, if you check the tracking # on your computer there will be a record of it on the harddrive.  That proves that you were expecting the package if LE were to seize your computer.  Therefore the claim of ignorance is thrown out the window.
Title: Re: Traking your packages
Post by: Madam Ave on May 14, 2013, 08:26 am
good advice regarding plausible deniability. that makes sense