Silk Road forums

Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: grizzbrah on July 04, 2013, 02:54 pm

Title: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: grizzbrah on July 04, 2013, 02:54 pm
Okay, so I went through localbitcoints, did a cash deposit, received my bitcoins immediately (probably the easiest way to get bitcoins if you ask me as long as your dealer has high feedback), transferred it to blockchain.info, then transferred it to SR (had to wait a few hours, but heard that was expected). I'm ready for my first purchase I think, but...

My questions are:

1. Do I have to use a coin tumbler if I used the above methods? I heard tumblers use a fee to stay anonymous, and going through localbitcoins I already had to pay slightly more above the exchange rate (which I assume is kind of like a convenience charge, cause literally, that was incredibly easy and near immediate). Am I anonymous enough through localbitcoins and doing a cash deposit to my dealer's account?

2. What is Tails? I keep hearing about it. Is it necessary? I only want to buy personally, and in no way do I want to be a vendor (online or off).

3. In regards to PGP, I see my product on the SR marketplace (just some bud), and the vendor has his public key on display. I am currently using GPG4USB, and I copied his public key, then clicked "Import Key" -> "Clipboard" and I get his name/email on the right hand side.

I have also successfully created a private key using this tutorial: http://32yehzkk7jflf6r2.onion/gpg4usb/ , though I'm not sure if it has a message in it.

But now I'm stuck. Do I checkmark on both my vendor's key and my private key, create new, fill out my shipping address, and encrypt it? After that, I assume I get the "BEGIN KEY/GIBBERISH/END KEY" block, and I send that to my vendor in the messages?


If there are any more tutorials that you might think may help a newb like me, I'm all for reading them. Thanks
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: Jack N Hoff on July 04, 2013, 03:01 pm
1.  No.  You're fine.

2.  TAILS is a hardened Linux operating system where everything goes through TOR.  Not technically necessary.

3.  Type your message in the big white box on the left, click the check mark next to their name on the right side under where it says "Encrypt for:", click the button on the top left that says "Encrypt" and in the white box will be your encrypted message.  You can now copy it and send it to the vendor.

Jack
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: grizzbrah on July 04, 2013, 03:13 pm
1.  No.  You're fine.

2.  TAILS is a hardened Linux operating system where everything goes through TOR.  Not technically necessary.

3.  Type your message in the big white box on the left, click the check mark next to their name on the right side under where it says "Encrypt for:", click the button on the top left that says "Encrypt" and in the white box will be your encrypted message.  You can now copy it and send it to the vendor.

Jack

Wow, quick response, thank you.
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: basedglob on July 07, 2013, 07:21 pm
Honestly if I were you I would give tails a try. Its super easy to set up and will help you stay anon.
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: Jack N Hoff on July 07, 2013, 07:26 pm
Honestly if I were you I would give tails a try. Its super easy to set up and will help you stay anon.

It's actually less anonymous.  It is more stupid friendly though because you cannot fuck up and use the wrong browser.  TAILS does not have persistent entry guards.  You have a very high chance of and will eventually connect to a law enforcement, FBI or department of defense owned entry node.  It is very stupid friendly though.  Pretty much impossible to fuck up.
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: basedglob on July 07, 2013, 08:38 pm
Thanks for the info man. Ive been realy concerned about LE ran nodes and how to prevent myself from going through them. If you dont mind me asking, what stradegy do you use to avoid them? And what OS are you using? Ive been through them all and I do like tails the most for ease of use. Ive also tried whonix but its kind of a pain in the ass and resource heavy.
Title: Re: Just about to make my first purchase, but still have a few questions...
Post by: Jack N Hoff on July 07, 2013, 08:49 pm
Thanks for the info man. Ive been realy concerned about LE ran nodes and how to prevent myself from going through them. If you dont mind me asking, what stradegy do you use to avoid them? And what OS are you using? Ive been through them all and I do like tails the most for ease of use. Ive also tried whonix but its kind of a pain in the ass and resource heavy.

The most you can do is to try to stick with the same entry node for a long period of time instead of constantly changing it like TAILS does.  TOR and TBB both use persistent entry guards.  I don't use one set operating system or way of connecting to TOR and I rather not if I did I would rather not say it publicly as to narrow down my fingerprint.