I came across this video: They Asked For My Name. I Said No.
She had to do a purchase online and used a :
- Private mail box
- Privacy.com to create a virtual card just for that purchase
- SimpleLogin to create an email alias
- Cloaked to get a virtual phone number
This all seemed a bit excessive to me, but I wonder in general how do privacy enthusiasts purchase things online from: a) Sites that they can “trust” b) Sites that they can’t “trust”
And what about offline? Do you guys use things like Google / Apple Wallet? Do you carry physical cards? Or do you not use cards at all and just pay by cash?
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I used to use Google Wallet, but I have switched to GrapheneOS so that no longer works, I need to substitute it to curve pay but I’m kinda considering maybe I don’t need it at all? Perhaps just carry the card with me, instead of adding yet another company that sees all of my purchases accepting all the downsides that this will give me. Or just use cash.
As far as online purchases go, honestly I don’t do anything special other than creating a disposable virtual card just for that purchase, which made me think maybe I’m exposing myself too much, especially on smaller sites that I can’t trust. That being said, I don’t really know what I would do to change that.
Thoughts?
You need to jump through several hoops to have privacy while ordering online. I mean per default they need your address to deliver the thing to you, need some bank details to get the money, you’ll be motivated to create an account (for example for warranty/returns…). And there’s always some things running in the background with your IP address and bank details because there’s fraud and shops have to mitigate for that. So… I’m sure it is possible to order online with varying degrees of privacy. But it loses all the convenience that online shopping is supposed to provide.
I like shopping offline. And maybe my small contribution is going to help some real-world stores stay afloat in our modern world. I have GrapheneOS on my phone, I don’t think Google Pay works on my phone. And even if it did, I wouldn’t provide my credit card number to Google. I’ll just pay with my card in the usual supermarket or at the gas station for convenience, or use cash if I don’t want to leave a trail. And I don’t do all the discount programs. They’re mostly there to keep track of my shopping behaviour. I’m going to need at least some 10 or 15% discount for me to start with that shit.
At least that’s how I do it. It’s not 100% privacy, by any means. But my dislike of Amazon etc at least makes me order few things there. So they only know about a small chunk of my life. Not what kind of washing detergent or phone or computer I use, what size of clothes fit my body. I buy all of that in offline stores. And I’ll keep doing that as long as there’s still some around. And the only thing they know about me is whatever number an EC terminal leaves when I swipe my card. Unfortunately they’re all being displaced by online shopping. I hope my government regulates what kind of things proper German stores can do with my credit card numbers.