It's been a while since CD's have been discussed in a rational way around here so I thought I'd ask for advice on my situation and also have this post double as a way for paranoid people to quell their fears. I recently (starting a few weeks before the holidays) made 4 orders, about a week apart each: 2 domestic and 2 non-domestic (1 overseas, I know dumb move). These were all personal amounts from very reputable vendors who have no past history of scamming, I vetted them quite thoroughly. My third order arrived, but none of the others have yet and one of them was sent priority domestic and is 2+ weeks over due. I have obviously considered the fact that this might just be the result of Holiday post delays, but my gut feeling is that one of the non-domestic orders was intercepted and my address was flagged, preventing any of my other packages from arriving. This is backed up by the fact that a non-DNM package (a book) is also way overdue. I should add that I always triple check my address and never use fake names to order. That being said, what should I, or any other paranoid person, make sure to do in order to be as safe as possible in the case of a CD? Obviously cleaning house is key, but what about encrypting drives? Will we be forced to provide the key? Also, what are some things to look out for when you are expecting a CD?
Tl;dr: Paranoid guy looking for advice on how to survive a CD.
So how long is your book (the non-DNM pack) overdue? Just a note that my packs from Amazon are all taking longer than expected. Not a ton longer, but an extra day or two which you don't see often as a Prime customer. So mail is definitely slower than normal. Have you tracked the non-DNM package? Anything odd with the tracking? If you are concerned about all of your packs getting monitored, order something from a non-Amazon or big retail shop (I figure the USPS knows which these packs are and won't bother with them, pllus you generally can't control which service Amazon uses anyway). If you have a friend in another state or even city, have them send you a priority pack with tracking. See if there is anything odd with tracking - is it diverted, held up anywhere, going to a strange city?
The 2+ weeks overdue is a long time for domestic priority. But there are other explanations. For one, you do have mail taking longer than usual. You also don't know for sure when the vendor actually shipped out. Many vendors are slow on the ship, and this is especially true aroudn the holidays. Have you reached out to the vendors to ask when they shipped out? I figure you'd be disputing the orders (at least on the domestic ones) relatively soon if not already. What has their response been?
Look, you should always be on guard no matter what. I keep my house clean when an order is in transit. I know for some this is not practical unless you have a suspicion that something is up. Thta's up to you. But given the position you are in, to be safe, clean house like you said. More importantly, should the unthinkable happen, be prepped on how to handle the encounter. All you need to know/do is to shut your mouth except to ask to see your attorney and to exercise your right to remain silent. That's all there is to it. If you are in the position of a CD, you will probably get a ride to jail. Just know that nothing you say or do will get you out of that. The cops will pretend that they don't care about you, they only want the truth, blah blah blah. Just know that if the cops have enough, they'll take you to jail and NOTHING you say will change that fact. Its out of your hands at this point, so this is all you can really do:
So on the forcing you to divulge your password or key... good question and this is being tried in various appellate courts. So here's the thing - its been successfully argued that not divulging your password is protected by your 5th amendment rights. There may be court cases though that have countered this, I'm not sure, but I believe this is prob. protected and you can just shut up anyway and not say anything. Now, biometric logins may not be protected. I've read that a court ruled that biometric passwords (read: your fingerprint, like for your iphone) is not the same as a password and that police can force you to say unlock your phone via a fingerprint b/c I guess its a "passive" way of obtaining entry. Its all going through the court system, you dont' want to be The United States of America vs throwawayymydarling to decide what's constitutional or not, so I assume you just want to play it safe - keep it to passwords rather than biometric data. This more applies to your phone than anything else BUT some laptops do have the thumbprint. Better yet, just destroy the drives containing this data or keep at a friends. If you used tails, just get rid of your thumbdrive.
So the above is if this actually happens. Its still rare I believe. The international shipment though is higher risk and I personally avoid it, but plenty of people do it and are fine. I seem to think that international shipments get more love letters than CD's but I could be wrong - just my general impression, nothing to back it up. What's done is done. You can only control certain things so just worry about what you can control as I mentioned above. More than likely you are just fine and the vendor shipped late. Again, none of us can know with any certainty at all what's going on. We just know that CDs aren't all that common, its rare for domestic packages to get pinched esp if you used a good vendor. Did you FE on any orders? This is all I can think of at the moment. Looking at the probability of various outcomes, I think the CD is still low on the list. There are things that are much more likely. Good luck, report back, reach out to the vendors, and let us know what they say.
One thing to keep in mind is that often the cops will have no clue how you ordered this shit. Most don't seem to even think its DNM related. So that's why I say to delete anything like texts or emails that mention it. Sure, cops can get this via subpoena thru your providers, but they might not think of doing that or think its applicable. Don't make their job easier. Also, remember you don't need to provide an explanation as to how these packages came to be sent to your home. They need to prove you ordered it. So just to reinforce the STFU.