David Molnar wrote:

On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Anonymous wrote:

...

than using your Visa card because only the seller learns your address rather than a centralized agency that knows all of your purchases. But it's hardly worth it.

A friend of mine was considering a business plan for physical remailer+ "infomediary" for a class project a year or two ago. Precisely to get around this problem. Sell learns the remailer's address. More than a few remailers and you can chain them, etc. etc.

Unfortunately U.S. postal regulations require identification when you rent a mail box, public or private. See http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/audio/private_mail_box.htm: Recent amendments to postal regulations will make it harder for criminals to victimize innocent consumers by using mail drops. Anyone renting a box from a commercial mail-receiving agency such as Mail Boxers, Etc., Parcel Post, and Postnet will be required to provide two forms of ID, one being a photo ID. It won't do much good to chain them if each one in the chain has your ID on file. Granted you can use fake ID but that would be breaking the law, raising the costs considerably.