Silk Road forums

It really depends on where you live. The US feds aren't going to bust you for ordering small amounts of drugs in the mail, unless MAYBE they decide to make a huge example out of you in order to discourage others. Quietly prosecuting you in federal court for possession of an eigth of bud or a few pills is not worth their time, at all. It's not like you can rat out your SR vendor.

What you really have to worry about are the local cops, especially in small towns with unusually high LE budgets and/or or states with ridiculously harsh drug laws. If your local PD is driving around looking for grow house exhaust with FLIR, then I'd worry (and consider moving lol). Then again, why would local cops set up fake vendor accounts if they can't be sure their customers will be within their jurisdiction?

I can see the feds running the vendor account and then forwarding order details to the AHJ, or whoever is capable of busting you locally.

Local cops spider P2P networks looking for IP addresses that are involved with trading child porn. There are LE communications networks / programs that allow them to seamlessly refer a case to its appropriate jurisdictions local law enforcement if they find someone out of their jurisdiction trading in CP. Most CP busts that involve under ~100 images are dealt with this way, the feds mostly go after ~100+. But the point is local law enforcement do attack CP traders and jurisdiction doesn't stop them. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they approach the online drug trade in the same exact way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_Exploitation_Tracking_System

here is current USA federal law regarding mail covers. It doesn't say anything about not using mail covers for exploratory purposes, so this is clearly just a USPI guideline and not actually enforced by law.

Title 39: Postal Service

CHAPTER I: UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE

SUBCHAPTER D: ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION

PART 233: INSPECTION SERVICE AUTHORITY

233.3 - Mail covers.

(a) Policy. The U.S. Postal Service maintains rigid control and supervision with respect to the use of mail covers as an investigative technique for law enforcement or the protection of national security.

(b) Scope. These regulations constitute the sole authority and procedure for initiating a mail cover, and for processing, using and disclosing information obtained from mail covers.

(c) Definitions. For purpose of these regulations, the following terms are hereby defined.

(1) Mail cover is the process by which a nonconsensual record is made of any data appearing on the outside cover of any sealed or unsealed class of mail matter, or by which a record is made of the contents of any unsealed class of mail matter as allowed by law, to obtain information in order to:

(i) Protect national security,

(ii) Locate a fugitive,

(iii) Obtain evidence of commission or attempted commission of a crime,

(iv) Obtain evidence of a violation or attempted violation of a postal statute, or

(v) Assist in the identification of property, proceeds or assets forfeitable under law.

(2) For the purposes of ? 233.3 record is a transcription, photograph, photocopy or any other facsimile of the image of the outside cover, envelope, wrapper, or contents of any class of mail.

(3) Sealed mail is mail which under postal laws and regulations is included within a class of mail maintained by the Postal Service for the transmission of letters sealed against inspection. Sealed mail includes: First-Class Mail; Priority Mail; Express Mail; Express Mail International; Global Express Guaranteed items containing only documents; Priority Mail International flat-rate envelopes and small flat-rate boxes; International Priority Airmail, except M-bags; International Surface Air Lift, except M-bags; First-Class Mail International; Global Bulk Economy, except M-bags; certain Global Direct mail as specified by customer contract; and International Transit Mail.

(4) Unsealed mail is mail which under postal laws or regulations is not included within a class of mail maintained by the Postal Service for the transmission of letters sealed against inspection. Unsealed mail includes: Periodicals; Standard Mail; Package Services; incidental First-Class Mail attachments and enclosures; Global Express Guaranteed items containing non-documents; Priority Mail International, except flat-rate envelopes and small flat-rate boxes; International Direct Sacks?M-bags; certain Global Direct mail as specified by customer contract; and all items sent via ?Free Matter for the Blind or Handicapped? under 39 U.S.C. 3403-06 and International Mail Manual 270.

(5) Fugitive is any person who has fled from the United States or any State, the District of Columbia, territory or possession of the United States, to avoid prosecution for a crime, to avoid punishment for a crime, or to avoid giving testimony in a criminal proceeding.

(6) Crime, for the purposes of this section, is any commission of an act or the attempted commission of an act that is punishable by law by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

(7) Postal statute refers to a statute describing criminal activity, regardless of the term of imprisonment, for which the Postal Service has investigative authority, or which is directed against the Postal Service, its operations, programs, or revenues.

( Law enforcement agency is any authority of the Federal Government or any authority of a State or local government, one of whose functions is to:

(i) Investigate the commission or attempted commission of acts constituting a crime, or

(ii) Protect the national security.

(9) Protection of the national security means to protect the United States from any of the following actual or potential threats to its security by a foreign power or its agents:

(i) An attack or other grave, hostile act;

(ii) Sabotage, or international terrorism; or

(iii) Clandestine intelligence activities, including commercial espionage.

(10) Emergency situation refers to circumstances which require the immediate release of information to prevent the loss of evidence or in which there is a potential for immediate physical harm to persons or property.

(d) Authorizations?Chief Postal Inspector. (1) The Chief Postal Inspector is the principal officer of the Postal Service in the administration of all matters governing mail covers. The Chief Postal Inspector may delegate any or all authority in this regard to not more than two designees at Inspection Service Headquarters.

(2) Except for national security mail covers, the Chief Postal Inspector may also delegate any or all authority to the Manager, Inspector Service Operations Support Group, and, for emergency situations, to Inspectors in Charge. The Manager, Inspection Service Operations Support Group, may delegate this authority to no more than two designees at each Operations Support Group.

(3) All such delegations of authority shall be issued through official, written directives. Except for delegations at Inspection Service Headquarters, such delegations shall only apply to the geographic areas served by the Manager, Inspection Service Operation Support Group, or designee.

(e) The Chief Postal Inspector, or his designee, may order mail covers under the following circumstances:

(1) When a written request is received from a postal inspector that states reason to believe a mail cover will produce evidence relating to the violation of a postal statute.

(2) When a written request is received from any law enforcement agency in which the requesting authority specifies the reasonable grounds to demonstrate the mail cover is necessary to:

(i) Protect the national security,

(ii) Locate a fugitive,

(iii) Obtain information regarding the commission or attempted commission of a crime, or

(iv) Assist in the identification of property, proceeds or assets forfeitable because of a violation of criminal law.

(3) When time is of the essence, the Chief Postal Inspector, or designee, may act upon an oral request to be confirmed by the requesting authority in writing within three calendar days. Information may be released by the Chief Postal Inspector or designee, prior to receipt of the written request, only when the releasing official is satisfied that an emergency situation exists.

(f)(1) Exceptions. A postal inspector, or a postal employee acting at the direction of a postal inspector, may record the information appearing on the envelope or outer wrapping, of mail without obtaining a mail cover order, only under the circumstances in paragraph (f)(2) of this section.

(2) The mail must be:

(i) Undelivered mail found abandoned or in the possession of a person reasonably believed to have stolen or embezzled such mail,

(ii) Damaged or rifled, undelivered mail, or

(iii) An immediate threat to persons or property.

(g) Limitations. (1) No person in the Postal Service except those employed for that purpose in dead-mail offices, may open, or inspect the contents of, or permit the opening or inspection of sealed mail without a federal search warrant, even though it may contain criminal or otherwise nonmailable matter, or furnish evidence of the commission of a crime, or the violation of a postal statute.

(2) No employee of the Postal Service shall open or inspect the contents of any unsealed mail, except for the purpose of determining:

(i) Payment of proper postage, or

(ii) Mailability.

(3) No mail cover shall include matter mailed between the mail cover subject and the subject's known attorney.

(4) No officer or employee of the Postal Service other than the Chief Postal Inspector, Manager, Inspection Service Operations Support Group, and their designees, are authorized to order mail covers. Under no circumstances may a postmaster or postal employee furnish information as defined in ? 233.3(c)(1) to any person, except as authorized by a mail cover order issued by the Chief Postal Inspector or designee, or as directed by a postal inspector under the circumstances described in ? 233.3(f).

(5) Except for mail covers ordered upon fugitives or subjects engaged, or suspected to be engaged, in any activity against the national security, no mail cover order shall remain in effect for more than 30 days, unless adequate justification is provided by the requesting authority. At the expiration of the mail cover order period, or prior thereto, the requesting authority may be granted additional 30-day periods under the same conditions and procedures applicable to the original request. The requesting authority must provide a statement of the investigative benefit of the mail cover and anticipated benefits to be derived from its extension.

(6) No mail cover shall remain in force longer than 120 continuous days unless personally approved for further extension by the Chief Postal Inspector or designees at National Headquarters.

(7) Except for fugitive cases, no mail cover shall remain in force when an information has been filed or the subject has been indicted for the matter for which the mail cover is requested. If the subject is under investigation for further criminal violations, or a mail cover is required to assist in the identification of property, proceeds or assets forfeitable because of a violation of criminal law, a new mail cover order must be requested consistent with these regulations.

( Any national security mail cover request must be approved personally by the head of the law enforcement agency requesting the cover or one designee at the agency's headquarters level. The head of the agency shall notify the Chief Postal Inspector in writing of such designation.

(h) Records. (1) All requests for mail covers, with records of action ordered thereon, and all reports issued pursuant thereto, shall be deemed within the custody of the Chief Postal Inspector. However, the physical storage of this data shall be at the discretion of the Chief Postal Inspector.

(2) If the Chief Postal Inspector, or his designee, determines a mail cover was improperly ordered, all data acquired while the cover was in force shall be destroyed, and the requesting authority notified of the discontinuance of the mail cover and the reasons therefor.

(3) Any data concerning mail covers shall be made available to any mail cover subject in any legal proceeding through appropriate discovery procedures.

(4) The retention period for files and records pertaining to mail covers shall be 8 years.

(i) Reporting to requesting authority. Once a mail cover has been duly ordered, authorization may be delegated to any employee in the Postal Inspection Service to transmit mail cover reports directly to the requesting authority.

(j) Review. (1) The Chief Postal Inspector, or his designee at Inspection Service Headquarters shall periodically review mail cover orders issued by the Manager, Inspection Service Operations Support Group or their designees to ensure compliance with these regulations and procedures.

(2) The Chief Postal Inspector shall select and appoint a designee to conduct a periodic review of national security mail cover orders.

(3) The Chief Postal Inspector's determination in all matters concerning mail covers shall be final and conclusive and not subject to further administrative review.

(k) Military postal system. Section 233.3 does not apply to the military postal system overseas or to persons performing military postal duties overseas. Information about regulations prescribed by the Department of Defense for the military postal system overseas may be obtained from the Department of Defense.

We should organize interested people in the digging through of everything marked with [intel] so that useful intelligence can be distilled from it. Many of the PDFs in particular are huge and only have a few interesting parts hidden in huge walls of not-so-applicable-to-us text. We should go through all of this information and concentrate the parts that have implications for us. After the useful information is distilled we can then analyze it as a community. Intelligence is important people. Too bad we don't have a specific forum for it and need to clutter the security forum up....seems kind of strange since intelligence and security are two distinct things. Security techniques are effected based off of intelligence gathering and subsequent analysis.......but to lump them together is kind of stupid.

So it has come to my attention that at least some countries use automated mail sorters that are capable of deciphering human written addresses. More importantly, some countries are starting to store databases of all mail routing information. I was told this by a very trusted source, although I am digging around for technical specs of mail sorters right now (love open source intelligence!). This is scary.

Let's say Alice buys a pack from Bob. Bob is known to ship from netherlands. Alice gets the pack with no interception. WOOT. Then Alice leaves feedback on Bob saying that she got her package. Next Alice orders from Carol. Carol ships from New York. Alice gets her package with no interception, and then leaves feedback on Carol.

The DEA is not happy. They want Alice to fuck off. So they query mail sorting records and look for everyone who got a package from Netherlands in X time frame around when Alice left a review for Bob, in addition to everyone who got a package from New York around the time frame that Alice left a review on Carol. Lots of people are probably in both of these crowds. Now they intersect these two crowds, and out pops Alices shipping address.

My source tells me that he is absolutely certain and knows for a fact that some nations have sorters that log this information. He is not sure about other countries.

edit: The person who told me this says it is unlikely that police agencies can (legally) gain access to this information, but that intelligence agencies certainly have access to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_reader
http://www.toshiba.co.jp/sis/en/scd/postal/lsm.htm

edit II: hmm maybe police can legally gain access to this information....

https://ssd.eff.org/book/export/html/16

Postal mail. The mail that you send through the U.S. Postal Service is protected by the Fourth Amendment, and police have to get a warrant to open it in most cases.

If you’re using the U.S. Postal Service, send your package using First Class mail or above. Postal inspectors don’t need a search warrant to open discount (media) rate mail because it isn’t supposed to be used for personal correspondence.

Keep in mind that although you have privacy in the contents of your mail and packages, you don’t have any privacy in the "to" and "from" addresses printed on them. That means the police can ask the post office to report the name and address of every person you send mail to or receive mail from — this is called a "mail cover" — without getting a warrant. Mail covers are a low-tech form of "traffic analysis," which we’ll discuss in the section dealing with electronic surveillance.

You don’t have any privacy in what you write on a postcard, either. By not putting your correspondence in an envelope, you’ve knowingly exposed it, and the government can read it without a warrant.

www.cryptome.org/isp-spy/usps-spy.pdf

USPS mail cover procedure

edit III: In some countries only intelligence agencies can legally access mail routing information without a specific warrant (law enforcement can check routing information of certain people with a warrant, but they can not do blanket analysis of stored routing information), USA is *not* one of those countries (USA citizens have a right to privacy of mail contents, but not routing information....there is no law preventing police agencies from doing the attack mentioned in this post.)

edit V: Apparently it is against USPI procedures to use mail covers as an initial investigatory technique. I am not yet sure if this is protected by law or not, but from the EFF information it appears not to be.

Mail covers are issued only to agencies empowered by statute or regulation to conduct criminal
investigations and are strictly controlled to assure proper use. They are not to be used as an initial
investigative step.

1. Mail covers are not authorized for exploratory purposes or for crimes punishable by
   less than one year imprisonment (misdemeanors).

nice work . I have a copy but couldn't find a link to one.

Of all intercepted packs that I am aware of I would say probably about 70% of them were from international express mail. I would avoid international express at all costs personally. The vendors I work with are not forced to use escrow and usually don't do refunds even if the pack never makes it. Prior to SR the risk of interception / non-delivery was largely on the customer, particularly for bulk orders.

Not signing for a pack really probably isn't going to save you though, unless you also refuse delivery or never open the pack and return it to sender. But from what I have seen, if you sign for a pack during a CD you will be arrested about two seconds later. Also it is obviously to LE advantage for you to sign for a pack, otherwise they wouldn't (usually, but not always) try to get you to sign for it, even if signature was waived. In USA in particular almost every CD I have heard of (with a few exceptions) the agents delivering the pack got the customer to sign for it prior to arresting them, even in cases where the pack was sent without a signature being required (and the retarded customers still sign for it for some reason....).

WHY SOUTH CAROLINIANS GOT ARRESTED FOR DRUGS IN 1996 – 2006
         Personal use                  76.8%
         Distributing or selling drugs 19.3%


www.lwvcharleston.org/files/Revised_Drug_Study_Summary.pdf


http://blog.norml.org/2010/09/15/incarceration-nation-marijuana-arrests-for-year-2009-near-record-high/

Of those charged with marijuana violations, approximately 88 percent (758,593 Americans) were charged with possession only. The remaining 99,815 individuals were charged with “sale/manufacture,” a category that includes virtually all cultivation offenses.

Your logic is perfectly fine but the problem is you are assuming that LE use logic. Or that the jury will use logic. Or that it will ever make it to a jury. In reality signing for the package means you accept ownership of the package, and even though it might be possible to argue against this in court, in practice they usually try to get you to sign for it (even if it is sent in a way that doesn't require signature). If signing for it wasn't bad for you, they wouldn't bother trying to get your signature.