Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: müslix on February 22, 2013, 01:56 pm
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I know a guy who knows a guy .... who placed an order in UK to central EU.
Royal Mail x-rayed it, completely ripped open the package (nothing found in this particular instance) broke some things, resealed everything a plastic bag and sent it to the original receiver. The package was held hostage for roughly 3 weeks.
Here's the letter it contained: http://www.anonmgur.com/up/7623b1032151050a2479b8230d62e160.jpg
Royal Mail is the first instance I have ever seen where an EU package got intercepted and checked. Way to go RM! Who needs privacy laws anyway?
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What where those dangerous goods that eventually weren't ? :)
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What privacy laws are you referring to?
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I've had a similar letter when they stopped a torch lighter I shipped :(
I phoned the contact number to find out more and it seems they now use automatic x-ray machines to screen outgoing mail to comply with international regs. I was told the machines pick up certain shapes and that's why they find the lighters.
I now have to ship them empty of fuel and with a sticker outside explaining they're legal and safe.
Royal Mail can open any letter or parcel they like without a warrant, once posted it becomes "the queens mail" and technically belongs to the queen, :)
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I phoned the contact number to find out more and it seems they now use automatic x-ray machines to screen outgoing mail to comply with international regs. I was told the machines pick up certain shapes and that's why they find the lighters.
I now have to ship them empty of fuel and with a sticker outside explaining they're legal and safe.
Royal Mail can open any letter or parcel they like without a warrant, once posted it becomes "the queens mail" and technically belongs to the queen, :)
wow, that's new to me (shape detection), but makes sense of course.
A few EU countries still have laws in place that don't allow any person other than sender or receiver to open the letter, even LE can't. Old laws that will probably won't last much longer. X-Ray is a fancy way to bypass those laws legally.
The question now is: How to fool an algorithm to not detect a given shape? Anyone got a spare X-ray machine to test with?
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Shape detection is just one part i think, but it's the one that flags my lighters, they're shaped like a mini blowtorch so it's an easy shape to recognize, and my stash lighters are shaped like clippers and they've also been stopped. I've got a leaflet with all the banned categories and there's shitloads of stuff banned now that people don't realise like perfume, alcohol, batteries etc. even the tiny pots of glass paints i use for my hobby are banned because they're solvent based.