Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: EnterTheMatrix on August 31, 2011, 02:14 am
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http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/riding-the-silk-road-the-flourishing-online-drug-market-authorities-are-powerless-to-stop-20110830-1jj4d.html
What does everyone think?
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I think PostmanPot and Novocaine are irresponsible in talking to the press about this. Australians access to drugs is limiting and expensive due to distance and availability. The exception to this is cannabis products. It would be nice of them to reply in this thread with the username that the author James Robertson used as others may not want to deal with that user at all.
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I would like to add that I am currently researching a story for Australian Penthouse magazine about SR. I have interviewed one buyer and several sellers so far.
I'm not coming at this from a sensationalist angle. Nor am I looking to instruct the layperson (eg Australian Penthouse readers) how to access the site. Instead, I'm looking to explore Silk Road as a concept, and in practice: namely, how technology is being used to connect buyers and sellers around the world in a secure and safe manner.
If anyone wishes to be interviewed for my story, you can contact me via message here on the forums or on SR (my username there is the same as here). I have no interest in identifying SR administrators or sellers; most of the sellers I've interviewed so far have asked me not to mention their username in the story, which I'm happy to oblige.
Thanks.
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fuck, this makes me wanna spend my bitcoins fast then lay low for awhile once this article hits.
although it would make sense to load up on bitcoins because they will blow up when all the new people come
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I guess the media beast will shine a spotlight on us, it's inevitable. I just would not like my username being splashed all over a national news network.
My position to secure the privacy of myself and others is that I will not talk to "media" outlets. Just look at the corrupt Murdoch network, do you trust them? I DON'T!
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Unfortunately I believe nothing good can come from coverage like this. Aussies already have a hard time getting access to decent product and this kind of attention could possibly scare off new local sellers from setting up shop.
I am also a little surprised that the sellers mentioned in the article were so forthcoming with information. I know if I was a seller I would declining any sort of communication with a reporter (who could easily be a LE officer). I think EnterTheMatrix had the right idea.
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Just for the record I have been interviewed by silicon43 as well as obviously James Robertson. They are both very professional and when I requested credentials and previous work they were both very forthcoming.
I also take extreme care with my customers details. Nothing gets written down or kept.
As for my reasons to do these interviews.....I want SR to be a household name. You may see it as just a place to buy and sell drugs and you are happy because you get what you need and its relatively underground but I see the SR concept as much bigger than that. I see it as a mighty big blow to the enforcers of the war on drugs and want a chance to support that.
The more people that hear about SR and use it the bigger the blow.
I can understand that this may cause more heat not just for SR but for myself as well. But I am risking a lot to support SR. Im not making enough cash to make the risk worthwhile. TBH i think about not selling here all the time. I have alot to lose. But I will keep at it.
I thought James Robertson did a really good unbiased report on SR and I have full confidence that silicon43 will do the same.
Ask yourself...how did you hear about Silk Road?? I read about it on 'Wired' and 'Gawker'. I was also highly motivated by Mr Silk Road's comments in the Gawker article.
Viva la SR
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Wow.. all the comments I have read so far under that article have been excellent.
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2nd, invite only SR, anyone?
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Are you hoping to get an invite or are you assuming you're already a member?
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Have to say I'm torn here. On one hand publicity logically doesn't sound great, I don't want the bubble to burst I guess.
On the other hand, maybe this is what's needed. As an anarchist at heart I'm all for people being able to do what they like as long as it's not violent or dangerous to others. I can think of nothing healthier than peacefully exploring one's own psyche.
Maybe, just maybe, this can show people that drugs aren't necessarily bad when they're obtained peacefully and used responsibly. Then again it could also just make it more difficult for us Aussies, but the idea has still grown, and it can't be stopped easily as has been discussed in other threads.
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We respect the other sellers here, even if they talk to the media.
However, we at EnterTheMatrix will firmly stand by our commitment to NOT communicate or cooperate with "journalists", corrupt media outlets and of course Agents Smith's of ANY agency.
We have a commitment to the privacy of our transactions and clients anonymity.
We are not trying to take the moral high ground here, it is simply our choice to ensure the survival of the Silk Road community and more importantly, our valued customers.
EnterTheMatrix
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yeah ive had several messages from reports asking me to tell them my story
one was from aus too, but he said he worked for maxim or something..
never know but it doesnt hurt to share your opinion to the reporters.
just try not to sound like a jackass or give SR a bad name (could be hard because they like to twist words around)
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Are you hoping to get an invite or are you assuming you're already a member?
I'll earn my way just like everyone else.
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Obviously a slow day for the Fairfax Media Grp yesterday.
The majority of people whom don;t imbibe could not give a rats arse where other source their product from.
Still, I would be speaking to anyone. Surely a good investigative journo would be able to put an article together from the info on these forums?
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I agree with EntertheMatrix, the media is corrupted, we can't trust them. I trust my friends, they told me about SR, and thats why im here. I think if SR has to grow, thats the best way, btw the only true way.
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this is fucked up! i knew this would happen :( soon the silkroad will be mainstream and destroyed in my opinion..
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I think you are forgetting that you are here at SR already enjoying the benefits while there are others out there, that didnt know about SR until yesterday that would like to enjoy the benefits too.
I say let this evolve, let the chips fall and see what we get. SR is not going away. I think its small town selfish thinking to keep this all to ourselves.
I hope you continue to tell your friends like I do and I hope all those who read that article tell their friends.
SR is relatively hard to get to. And then one has to go to the effort of getting bitcoin to use SR. If people go to that effort I think they deserve a place here.
Gawker attracted me here and I think I make a few people happy with what I sell. I hope that article will attract some more here selling their wares making this an even better place.
And yes the majority of media is corrupt in the way they twist the facts to make I good story, but like I said... I took the time to look at both journalists previous work and I felt comfortable that the would report SR as it stands.
Also if this has made me 'unattractive' from a buyers point of view. Thats ok. The less I sell means the less my neck is on the line. But I will be here until the end, supporting SR and happily offering substances to those who want them.
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novocaine, I think you are misunderstanding me.
Please read my signature.
Thanks :)
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I dont know if I am understanding you right either but a 2nd SR invite only??.....sorry but I will sell to anyone including a first time SR user... no invite necessary
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This media coverage makes me feel very uncomfortable!!!! First the wired / gawker articles and now the australian news...
I'm here from almost the beginning (#258) but i am really afraid now, lot's of scammers, kiddies, carding kids come here or to the OVDB. more members -> more customers & sellers of course, but the popularity will kill these boards and projects. Look at TFM, years of beeing private and hidden, but suddenly they came to the HW and changed registering terms, Link locations had to be changed cause of too many new "so called" customers.
Staying private allways wins !!!
If there's already something like an "invite only" SR please Admins consider me (looking at my User#). I would feel safer staying in private boards than sitting in the middle of the city !!!
Peace & Love
BockZu
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I won't deny it makes me a bit uncomfortable, but remember. As long as you (the sellers) don't keep any evidence (encrypt everything with a 40 chars long random password only you know, delete all client addresses), the search will be futile.
In the words of another user here:
"As a person who is interested in cypherpunk and technology, I think SR is quite safe not because of TOR or PGP security, but because SR isn't a site but an idea."
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what type of drug dealer in their right mind would want media and government attention on their drug dealing :/..
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The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club
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I dont know if I am understanding you right either but a 2nd SR invite only??.....sorry but I will sell to anyone including a first time SR user... no invite necessary
Well maybe you wouldn't find it useful, but I and others think it would be great to have a place that you can buy/sell only if you EARN it. Here's my reasons why,
No more scammer clones (or significantly less)
Significantly less buyer/seller scammers.
What's there to lose?
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What's to lose? Everything SR is.
This idea is based on open-ness. If you can find the keys to the doors you can get here. I like it. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for that, since I have no history of selling product online before this website, and I feel I add a good business model and voice to the community.
In the end it's up to SR, but I have no problem with the media taking a peek. This is a great opportunity to educate the world on how much harm prohibition has cause, how many families and lives it has ruined.
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What do some people not understand about a SECOND invite-only SR...
no offense.
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The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club
more attention brings the heat, yes. earlier this year when gawker released the story it went everywhere, even npr. with that, it got a senator to write a letter to mr. holder. i don't think it(sr) has been over-looked by the feds.
on the other hand, it brought more vendors and more buyers.
if sr dies. "i am jack's broken heart".
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Sr is one stalk of spreading bamboo - if it's cut off the roots will just push one up somewhere else. Sure there is a lot invested in this site, but it started from scratch.
Sellers could migrate over pretty easily - PGP can verify most of our identities now since we are the holders of private keys.
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I hope this brings BTC prices back up. :D
Silk Road is exposed Internationally, I don't really feel this is a bad thing but Too much media coverage can cause a backlash on the US vendors and buyers...possibly.
Very unlikely though.
Whatever.
:D
nomad bloodbath
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I doubt it. It would be entirely through a vendor's own lax security that he would be caught. And even the general public is very against people being charged criminally for possession of abritrarily-prohibited substances, so this might just generate more of a backlash against the state and show off its violent tendencies.
Now, if someone is leaving fingerprints all over everything and hair in their packaging... I'd almost say he deserves to be caught except no-one deserves the state.
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I'm not so concerned about publicity per se, of course everyone who wants access should have access to what we are currently enjoying but I believe these particular articles albiet generally well written where not so much concentrating on our idealogical beliefs and moral choices but rather our arrogance in that the 'law' could not touch us.
Now in our wonderfully corrupt 'democracy' down here in Australia where the majority of the sheeple still believe we are living in a free, fair and lucky country our rights and freedoms are being eroded left, right and centre on a daily basis. If a drug is to be banned then it is most likely Australia will be on the frontline of the ban hammer and we, as a society, essentially can and do nothing about it. Remember Salvia Divinorum fairly recently but the list goes on!
Remember the mandatory web filter that has been bouncing around for awhile now - yeah the one that censors our Internet to the degree of China & Iran. The existence of SR would be a perfect patsy for that hidden agenda.
I think we also underestimate the very vocal 'save-the-children' lobby who don't want our precious babies to see anything slightly controversial until they reach that magic age of 18 at which point they turn in to potiential criminals for wanting to explore what has been hidden from them all their life!! Too bad the parents are unwilling or incapable of educating their babies we must have the government do it. That's right the same government who are forever being caught doing what they claim to be against -- hiring prostitutes with union money, download CP on their work computers, secretly rorting schemes while denouncing the same schemes in public - damn hypocrites! - and these examples are just from the last week or so.
Trust me, our government and it's hired thugs (the police) hate to made the fools and plastering "You can't stop us!" all over the media is going to burn them so badly that they will do anything to show the sheeple that they still have the upper hand even if it means taking down a couple of well-educated, non-violent, people who like to feel good or expand their mind on the weekend.
Arrrghh, rant over.. :)
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I would like to add that I am currently researching a story for Australian Penthouse magazine about SR. I have interviewed one buyer and several sellers so far. I'm not coming at this from a sensationalist angle. Nor am I looking to instruct the layperson (eg Australian Penthouse readers) how to access the site. Instead, I'm looking to explore Silk Road as a concept, and in practice: namely, how technology is being used to connect buyers and sellers around the world in a secure and safe manner.
Hi all, sorry to drag up this old thread, but I wanted to let you know that my story on Silk Road was published in Australian Penthouse last month. I've just put the full story (around 2,000 words) up on my blog, which you can read here:
http://andrewmcmillen.com/2012/02/07/australian-penthouse-story-the-high-road-silk-road-an-online-marketplace-like-no-other-january-2012/
Excerpt:
The High Road
Silk Road is an online marketplace like no other. Totally anonymous, the website uses sophisticated encryption software and a digital currency to facilitate the worldwide sale of prohibited items, particularly illicit drugs. Australian Penthouse investigates.
“Imagine how exciting it is when you get something in the mail; even the shittiest thing, like a free sample. But in this case, you’re getting drugs that you really want to take, and get high on. It’s a compounded experience of excitement; an exponential high.”
A 24-year old man who lives in an inner-city suburb of Brisbane is describing what he felt upon opening his mailbox one day in 2011 and discovering a package containing one gram of cocaine. It was addressed to a person who does not exist. He does not know the source of the substance beyond its country of origin. This was not the first time he had purchased drugs online; his first order was for one gram of MDMA powder. That package was sent to a house that he knew was unoccupied; it took around nine days to arrive from Canada. He checked the vacant mailbox daily. “I’m still waiting for some undies off of eBay from Hong Kong,” he says. “[The MDMA] arrived way quicker than that.”
Why the alternate address in the first instance? “Because having something illicit sent in the mail seems fairly thick,” he replies. “It seems so simple; too good to be true. I wanted to put some form of buffer between myself and the order I made, as a ‘test run’.
“One day it was in there and it hadn’t been intercepted. I didn’t get immediately arrested when I took it out of the mailbox. Since I didn’t use my real name, it didn’t seem possible to get traced back to me. It still hasn’t been.”
These orders were made using a website called Silk Road. It can only be accessed after installing anonymity-enabling software called Tor. All purchases are made using Bitcoin, a currency which only exists online and whose public transaction history can be untraceable if handled correctly.
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Great article. thank you for impartial journalism.
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I would like to add that I am currently researching a story for Australian Penthouse magazine about SR. I have interviewed one buyer and several sellers so far. I'm not coming at this from a sensationalist angle. Nor am I looking to instruct the layperson (eg Australian Penthouse readers) how to access the site. Instead, I'm looking to explore Silk Road as a concept, and in practice: namely, how technology is being used to connect buyers and sellers around the world in a secure and safe manner.
Hi all, sorry to drag up this old thread, but I wanted to let you know that my story on Silk Road was published in Australian Penthouse last month. I've just put the full story (around 2,000 words) up on my blog, which you can read here:
http://andrewmcmillen.com/2012/02/07/australian-penthouse-story-the-high-road-silk-road-an-online-marketplace-like-no-other-january-2012/
Excerpt:
The High Road
Silk Road is an online marketplace like no other. Totally anonymous, the website uses sophisticated encryption software and a digital currency to facilitate the worldwide sale of prohibited items, particularly illicit drugs. Australian Penthouse investigates.
“Imagine how exciting it is when you get something in the mail; even the shittiest thing, like a free sample. But in this case, you’re getting drugs that you really want to take, and get high on. It’s a compounded experience of excitement; an exponential high.”
A 24-year old man who lives in an inner-city suburb of Brisbane is describing what he felt upon opening his mailbox one day in 2011 and discovering a package containing one gram of cocaine. It was addressed to a person who does not exist. He does not know the source of the substance beyond its country of origin. This was not the first time he had purchased drugs online; his first order was for one gram of MDMA powder. That package was sent to a house that he knew was unoccupied; it took around nine days to arrive from Canada. He checked the vacant mailbox daily. “I’m still waiting for some undies off of eBay from Hong Kong,” he says. “[The MDMA] arrived way quicker than that.”
Why the alternate address in the first instance? “Because having something illicit sent in the mail seems fairly thick,” he replies. “It seems so simple; too good to be true. I wanted to put some form of buffer between myself and the order I made, as a ‘test run’.
“One day it was in there and it hadn’t been intercepted. I didn’t get immediately arrested when I took it out of the mailbox. Since I didn’t use my real name, it didn’t seem possible to get traced back to me. It still hasn’t been.”
These orders were made using a website called Silk Road. It can only be accessed after installing anonymity-enabling software called Tor. All purchases are made using Bitcoin, a currency which only exists online and whose public transaction history can be untraceable if handled correctly.
Thanks for using a screenshot of our outdated product line o.O
Not a bad article tho... and no usernames are featured which is good.
Matrix
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I like how it says authorities are powerless and the guy they interviewed did a great job for us...He didn't make it seem bad at All.
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I thought that was a good report on us, much better than that rabble rousing Goldberg asshole from a few days ago, so well done novocaine! :)
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Thanks for using a screenshot of our outdated product line o.O
Well, it was taken when I was researching SR around August/September. So it reflects that period on the site. That said, happy to update the screenshot if you wish?
Thanks for the kind feedback all.
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Wow I only have just found this article. I thought it didnt get published. Nice one Andrew!!
@enddox
I hear you and I really agree with your perspective.
I often wonder what would happen if I got caught selling drugs on SR because I am under no illusion that they are trying, however "you cant stop me" will be my defense.
They can persecute me for it, but they will never stop me. I dont live my life by any law written by some wanker. I live it by my own moral compass.
I dont speed in my car because I dont want to hurt or kill somebody else, not because of fear of fines or loss of points. etc
I could go on and on but basically if I had my day in court for selling drugs I deem fit for personal development, if used in a responsible way...I would represent myself and I would plead not guilty to any charges that go against my moral code. There is not a trumped up conviction that would stop me from standing up to what I truly believe.
This is fact and anybody who personally knows this stubborn opinionated bloke, know this to be true.
So no matter what sentence they give me they have not won at all. They have just proven once again that their BS drug laws mean nothing.
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Thanks for using a screenshot of our outdated product line o.O
Well, it was taken when I was researching SR around August/September. So it reflects that period on the site. That said, happy to update the screenshot if you wish?
Thanks for the kind feedback all.
No, it's all good man :)