The Untold Story of Silk Road (Wired article)

[checkoutgirl]

I read on the Guardian that Dread Pirate Roberts aka Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road just got sentenced to life in jail. The length of the sentence intrigued me and I happened upon this very well researched and engrossing article. This is part 1 and the link to part 2 is at the bottom of the page. It's amazing because the whole thing is so well documented from start to finish. It must be one of the most complete modern true crime stories. I couldn't tear myself away and was up to 1am last night reading it. Fascinating stuff.

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/

[Queneau]

Good stuff. I've only read part one so far, but I am wondering about some bits. Like this:

Home alone with his two Chihuahuas, Green cried like a baby. "I'm a good little Mormon boy," he said to himself.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Yes the regular claims as to the private thoughts of these people makes it come across unnecessarily fictionalised doesn't it?

[Queneau]

It certainly does. How long before Silk Road: The Movie? How much of this story is true?

[Ignatius_S]

I read on the Guardian that Dread Pirate Roberts aka Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road just got sentenced to life in jail. The length of the sentence intrigued me and I happened upon this very well researched and engrossing article. This is part 1 and the link to part 2 is at the bottom of the page. It's amazing because the whole thing is so well documented from start to finish. It must be one of the most complete modern true crime stories. I couldn't tear myself away and was up to 1am last night reading it. Fascinating stuff.

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/

Started that article the other day - looks a good read.

Also, Ars Technica has been covering it a while and also worth a read - http://arstechnica.com/series/the-silk-road-trial/

[Queneau]

Also, Ars Technica has been covering it a while and also worth a read - http://arstechnica.com/series/the-silk-road-trial/

Cheers for that.

Back to the linked article:

There was an Icelandic prosecutor present—Tarbell was mildly distracted by how attractive she was, with her fitted skirt, secretary glasses, and hair in a bun—and an attaché from the US embassy.

Er, okay. Cheers.

[Noodle Lizard]

It's fucking insane that he got a life sentence, or any sentence at all, really.  The judge sounded particularly cunty in her sentencing as well:

"It was a carefully planned life's work. It was your opus," she said. "You wanted it to be your legacy. And it is."

They all think they're fucking Batman or something, don't they?  This is meant to be real life here, fucking calm down.

I stopped reading that Wired article though as I hate that style of "wish I'd made it as a novelist" journalism.  This is a guy who's just gone to jail for life and you're pissing about using him to flex your narrative flourishes.  Fuck off.

[checkoutgirl]

I stopped reading that Wired article though as I hate that style of "wish I'd made it as a novelist" journalism.  This is a guy who's just gone to jail for life and you're pissing about using him to flex your narrative flourishes.  Fuck off.

Overall I think it's very well written from a narrative point of view. My patience was tested at certain points though. For instance the description of the Icelandic geographical features at the start of the second part were a bit...

But there's a twist at the end that was nicely concealed and I was absolutely fixated on the story from start to finish. There were bits where I wondered how he knew what was happening. For instance when Ross goes to get a plastic bag out of a tree, but it's explained at the end. Also a lot of Ross's motivations are speculated on somewhat. But I think that's a fair sacrifice in the name of drama and interest.

The severity of the sentence is what drew me to the article in the first place. I think it might be a landmark case/conviction. He got decades with no chance of parole and he touched no kids and never laid a finger on anyone in anger. He just sat at a laptop moving money around and facilitating small drug deals between mutual parties.

You could say he crossed a line by the dodgy deals he did with Carl Force but
a) they didn't happen anyway and
b) he wasn't being tried for that in this trial.

The replacement of Silk Road is already well in place and is doing way more business than Silk Road ever did so Ross is a pioneer in a way. It's a great story of the corrupting influence of power and the adulteration of idealism by money and obsession.

[Queneau]

Yeah, yeah, Harry Potter proves that people will read the most awful prose for the sake of a story - however shit and full of wizards.

[checkoutgirl]

Yeah, yeah, Harry Potter proves that people will read the most awful prose for the sake of a story - however shit and full of wizards.

Oh, I didn't realise the prose was that bad. Now I know. Thanks.

Don't bother reading it lads, it's a shit story with bad prose about wizards. I hate wizards. I can't believe I read this shit. I want you to do me a favour, will you do me a favour? Kick my ass. Please, kick my ass. I'm not asking you, I'me telling you. Kick it now.

[El Unicornio, mang]

It's fucking insane that he got a life sentence, or any sentence at all, really. 

I haven't read the above article but having read other articles about him, it appears his website cost people's lives, not just through drug trafficking but also child pornography and contract killings, and he himself was responsible for attempting to organise four murders. All so he could rake in millions. He deserved a pretty lengthy sentence.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

Have any of you ever used any of these sites? I don't know whether you'd admit it publicly if so, but I'd be interested to hear how it works.

[weekender]

Have any of you ever used any of these sites? I don't know whether you'd admit it publicly if so, but I'd be interested to hear how it works.

Send me £100 and I'll tell you the secret.

[Noodle Lizard]

I haven't read the above article but having read other articles about him, it appears his website cost people's lives, not just through drug trafficking but also child pornography and contract killings, and he himself was responsible for attempting to organise four murders. All so he could rake in millions. He deserved a pretty lengthy sentence.

The stuff about him attempting to get people killed was mysteriously dropped: http://www.dailydot.com/crime/silk-road-murder-charges-ross-ulbricht/

As for child pornography and contract killings, that's Tor in general, not the Silk Road (which actively rejected that element, refusing to even sell weapons):

The site's terms of service prohibited the sale of certain items. This included child pornography, stolen credit cards, assassinations, and weapons of any type; other darknet markets such as Black Market Reloaded gained user notoriety because they were not as restrictive on these items as the Silk Road incarnations were.

He's been charged with computer hacking, money laundering and conspiracy to traffic narcotics, although I'm sure they'll try and think up more to get the public on-side (as prosecutors tend to do with any high-profile case (Assange, Snowden etc.)).  It'll probably transpire that he got his bum out soon.

There'll be a tonne of character assassination coming up, but it's really nothing but a huge drug bust against someone who probably didn't even sell any drugs himself and the hefty sentence is purely to make an example of him: "This is what you get when you outsmart the law", basically.

[Queneau]

There'll be a tonne of character assassination coming up, but it's really nothing but a huge drug bust against someone who probably didn't even sell any drugs himself and the hefty sentence is purely to make an example of him: "This is what you get when you outsmart the law", basically.

Which will lead to much tighter security and fewer lapses when it comes to this type of thing in the future, I'd imagine.

[Noodle Lizard]

Which will lead to much tighter security and fewer lapses when it comes to this type of thing in the future, I'd imagine.

That depends if you think the Silk Road was a bad thing or not, though.  I don't, personally.  I think anything that helps prevent drug users from dealing directly with criminal elements and questionable quality is a good thing overall.  There's really not much evidence that anything bad came of the Silk Road service itself, as far as I'm aware, certainly nowhere near as much as comes from face-to-face drug dealings.

Throwing this guy in prison serves no more sensible a purpose than a head on Traitors' Gate.  They've done it out of anger and humiliation rather than any interest in justice or what's best for society, and they can't honestly think it'll stop the illicit trade on Tor.  It's like illegal filesharing: now someone's shown it can be done, not to mention has sort of become a martyr for the cause, it'll continue happening and become bigger and more widespread.  Problem is, while Silk Road actively forbid the sale of child porn and weapons etc., other sites aren't quite as discerning.

[MojoJojo]

There'll be a tonne of character assassination coming up, but it's really nothing but a huge drug bust against someone who probably didn't even sell any drugs himself and the hefty sentence is purely to make an example of him: "This is what you get when you outsmart the law", basically.

I was a bit surprised myself, but I think it makes sense from a deterrent point of view. He made a lot of money and it was low risk - so a hefty punsihment is needed to discourage others from trying to do the same.

[mook]

how did he monitize the silk row site?

[Joy Nktonga]

He took a percentage of each sale.

[mook]

ah right. there must be a less "clumsy" way of bringing together two like minded people and being able to take a "introduction fee" that doesn't fall foul of the law.

[Joy Nktonga]

Something that guarantees your cut but isn't necessarily dependent on the transaction completing? Whoever can make that happen and keep the whole thing secure from the bizzies will be onto a sure-fire winner.

Edit: perhaps the seller and buyer each get an encrypted key on the completion of the transaction, that are held/bounced around randomly until they "meet" then a final key is generated from from that "meeting" that also bounces around until it hits the right server with that day's "take my cut" programme? Fuck; I have no idea what I'm talking about.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Wasn't it all done with bitcoins so as to avoid getting traced?

[Noodle Lizard]

I was a bit surprised myself, but I think it makes sense from a deterrent point of view. He made a lot of money and it was low risk - so a hefty punsihment is needed to discourage others from trying to do the same.

Worse people are already doing the same and will continue to do so.  The Silk Road's sales mostly comprised of weed and psychedelics.  The sensible thing to do would be to say "Look, this is a fuckload better than street dealing, cuts down on a lot of associated criminal activity, let's at least tolerate it and deal with dealers/users as we find them".

But "No, this cunt's making money, let's throw all kinds of charges at him, two life sentences and then some, and then take $200 million of his for our time".  Yes, he made a lot of money - he didn't steal it, he earned it by having a fucking good idea and providing a service millions of people wanted.  I'm sure he would've paid taxes on it too if they'd have let him.  Far worse criminals have been punished far less.  It's pissy vengeance, not justice, how the fuck anyone can support it is beyond me.

[mook]

Wasn't it all done with bitcoins so as to avoid getting traced?

yeah! and that worked like a fucking charm for him.

[Thomas]

Cool, but the novel-me-this prose bothered me, as did the edgy graphic of his topless girlfriend. I liked the bit where Emperor Drugs didn't know about The Smiths.

Nob advised DPR against seeing the latest Batman, invited him to LA for tacos, and talked about how much Latinos like the Smiths.

DPR had never heard of the Smiths.

I swear to God, I swear, I never even knew what drugs were.

[El Unicornio, mang]

DPR had never heard of the Smiths.

This alone is worthy of a life sentence.

[Hanslow]

Have any of you ever used any of these sites? I don't know whether you'd admit it publicly if so, but I'd be interested to hear how it works.

The Tor browser keeps your connection secure, bitcoin ensures no paper trail, the rating system helps you decide which dealer to buy from, if the rozzers confiscate your parcel just don't reply to any of their letters and your safe. That is unless your buying dealer quantities in which case they'll probably allow the parcel be delivered and then raid your house.

[Queneau]

That depends if you think the Silk Road was a bad thing or not, though.

I think I'm massively missing the point here. I meant that people setting up these networks would be extra vigilant not the police. I've made no comment on whether I think it's a bad thing or not.

[Noodle Lizard]

I think I'm massively missing the point here. I meant that people setting up these networks would be extra vigilant not the police. I've made no comment on whether I think it's a bad thing or not.

Ahhh I thought you meant the government fuzz would be more vigilant in not allowing something like the Silk Road to happen again.  My mistake.

[Queneau]

Ahhh I thought you meant the government fuzz would be more vigilant in not allowing something like the Silk Road to happen again.  My mistake.

I was worried that I hadn't been clear enough there.

I would absolutely love to read DPRs journals. Is this the sort of thing that can be made public?