Silk Road forums
Discussion => Shipping => Topic started by: c4nd3ym4n on August 04, 2011, 10:09 pm
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This might seem like a stupid question, but seriously, can I trust the feedback that people have on their accounts? Does this mean I can trust sellers? I can see steps to secure every other part of the transaction but if the seller is not genuine then there is no way to avoid getting caught except getting someone else to recieve the package.
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And what would fed do with your name and address? That does not prove anything really. They can not do that so simple. They can not prove that you are actually a persona behind scene. With all that in mind, no fed will ever be allowed to do that because they have not grounds.
Somebody else that way could harm many inocent people, all have to do is to find a phonebook.
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I'm a seller not a buyer, so it's just my idea, not necessarily the most recommended way: order it to a friend's address, or better, to a company's address. When smoking weed, the best thing is to do it in groups with friends, so if cops visit, everyone denies it's his.
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I have found this article;
In drug cases, the police are often involved in the planning stages of the drug transaction, whether by using an undercover detective who poses as a buyer or seller, by using a confidential informant or by using surveillance to record the discussions between the parties involved in the drug transaction. With that kind of evidence, prosecutors often bring conspiracy charges in addition to the drug sale and/or purchase charges once the transaction has been completed.
However, police and prosecutors will sometimes assume the elements of a drug conspiracy are in place just because there were preliminary discussions about the drug transaction and the drug transaction took place. Conspiracy is a crime completely separate from the actual drug sale and purchase crimes. In order to prove a conspiracy, the state has to prove that there was an agreement between two or more people to commit the same offense. Therefore, if the state only has evidence that two people met at a certain location at the same time and completed a drug deal, they can assume there was an agreement to buy and sell drugs but without proof of the actual agreement, there is insufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy. In other words, proof of the drug deal, even where it appears to be elaborately planned, is not sufficient evidence to prove and agreement an a conspiracy.
Finally, where the state has evidence that two people agreed to a drug deal, it still may not be sufficient to prove a conspiracy. The proof of the agreement has to establish that the parties agreed to commit the same offense. So, if the state has recordings or other evidence that a buyer and a seller agreed to a drug transaction and actually went through with it, this is not a conspiracy because the two parties did not agree to the same offense. The two parties agreed to, and committed, separate offenses, i.e. sale of drugs and purchase of drugs. There is no common goal because one is selling and the other is buying and those are separate drug crimes.
Sometimes prosecutors like to add conspiracy charges in drug cases because it increases leverage for the prosecutor and adds exposure for a defendant. Prosecutors may look at evidence that the defendant(s) planned the drug deal and went through with it and assume they have a valid conspiracy charge. However, conspiracy is a completely separate crime and evidence of planning and/or a drug deal may not be sufficient to prove a conspiracy.
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Your worry is right on but there are several things that make you more safe.
First, who is to say that you actually ordered the contraband? Silk Road is safer than face to face because it is hard to tie you to the purchase. If you buy from "a guy" it is way easier to prove you did it.
If you buy from an experienced vendor with 300+ sales, chances are they are not LE. I just don't think it would be politically acceptable for LE could send out contraband 300 times because they cannot control the receiving end.
If you use PGP then ONLY that vendor can decrypt it. No reputable vendor would ever keep the information because it would only serve to incriminate them.
Just by themselves, buyers are not very valuable to LE. Busting people for personal use is not worth their time unless they can use that person to uncover a distributer. On Silk Road buyers do not know anything about vendors.
There are more reasons why buyers are pretty safe, why they are too expensive for LE to got after, why it would be very hard for them to prove.
LE does have a major interest in busting a vendor on Silk Road. If a vendor makes even a small mistake they are in serious trouble. But buyers should be safe.
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First of all, check the forums. If long-time buyers are lauding the seller you are looking at, there is virtually no chance he is LE.
Use PGP for general security if the site ever gets siezed, but also for plausible deniability.
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First of all, check the forums. If long-time buyers are lauding the seller you are looking at, there is virtually no chance he is LE.
Use PGP for general security if the site ever gets siezed, but also for plausible deniability.
Anarcho, I would be very cautious with this method. This forum has existed since June 18 2011, which is really not long ago. Those who appear as "long-time" buyers are better described as "prolific" posters. Read through the posts thoroughly and you'll see how their judgment calls are sometimes off. Being skeptical never hurts.
Yes, insist on PGP always.
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It makes me sad that in some places, you can be charged with the offence of buying drugs offered by a police man. (is this true?)
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PGP is the main go to becasue it gives you plausible deniability at worst.
When I say go to the forums and check out the sellers, I don't mean see who has posted the most. I mean see what other buyers are saying about a given seller. If you have multiple threads with many different buyers posting positive reviews, and solid feedback history on SR, you are dealing with a real seller. The amount of sheer effort that would take just to get the shipping information of potential drug buyers (that you can't even pin on them anyway since they haven't received drugs and you have no way of actually verifying it is even them on the other sdie) would deter that from being a plausible LE approach. Just setting up a few listings and some fake feedback and then letting unwary buyers into the net might land you some, but if a buyer does his due diligence he's going to be allright.
Besides, the only reason LE goes after buyers is to bust sellers - can't do that on here. Unless they can sieze the package and pray to nab a solid fingerprint or hair or something. Slim pickings...
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I agree with the other posters on this thread: buyers are safe for personal use orders because LE has no way of proving anything, nor any incentive.
As a seller, I'm pretty much positive that Feds have placed orders to dust for fingerprints and try to ruin my business with fake orders.