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Folks,
I think there is some confusion here what with Oracle's fireside chat style of writing and the various admin/moderator posts, so I'm going to do my best to put together a condensed, concise, perhaps even bulleted, listing of facts leading up to the present.
- - -- Beginning at an unknown date, DPR1 had a policy of requiring collateral in the form of documentation of identity for some of his team members. We know that among those required to hand over this info were Inigo, Libertas, and samsamebutdifferent. Cirrus and some other members of the team appear to have joined up without having to comply - likely due to lower levels of access.
- - -- StExo was a popular, prolific poster of valuable information on the now-defunct original SR forums. It is well known that he can be considered an expert in both IS and physical security.
- - -- On 2 October 2013, Ross Ulbricht was arrested on the suspicion that he is DPR1. During his arrest, the gestapo seized his laptop, which was later shown to have been fully logged onto, with all passwords and challenges answered. This, obviously, has allowed the gestapo access to everything on that computer. We know that DPR1 was not proficient in security or privacy.
- - -- Relatively quickly after Ross's arrest was made public and indictments unsealed, members of the original Silk Road administrative team, including *but not limited to* Astor, StExo, Libertas, contract web developers, and various unnamed stakeholders came together to decide what to do. Obviously, the decision was made to rebuild.
- - -- Initially and for obvious reasons, Libertas was the apparent DPR2 de-facto nominee, but declined due to his identity being compromised by way of DPR1. It wouldn't do to have the po-po dig up the new leader's passport scan in Ross's desktop Recycle Bin.
- - -- As Libertas was potentially compromised, the next choice was StExo. As previously stated, StExo is a security expert and through prolific involvement in the community had proved himself a more than capable leader. StExo declined for reasons related to having already made plenty of money.
- - -- The next choice, who will remain unnamed, was another prominent member of the community. Security expert, capable leader, no purchase history or vending, no disastrous skeletons lurking in old clearweb forum posts. This individual became DPR2. With a captain chosen, the next step is to build the ship and create disaster response procedures.
- - -- The team began building the site, new from the ground-up. This took time, and is still ongoing as I write this.
- - -- DPR2 went about creating response plans to various scenarios. One of these plans, unfortunately, had to be activated. This plan included what will be referred to as sleepers - members of the community who were to establish trust and conduct themselves in such a manner as to be respected by a majority of the userbase so that they may fill in various admin roles in a serious emergency. Continue to next bullet.
- - -- On or about 20 December 2013, individuals alleged to be Libertas, samesamebutdifferent, and Inigo were arrested simultaneously. At this time it is unclear if they became known to gestapo via computer forensics or via Ross's mouth - but this is immaterial. This clearly fell under the "NUCLEAR" category of serious shitstorms. DPR2 initiated and executed his plan and, as they say, skipped town.
- - -- The aforementioned "sleeper" members are now your new moderators. Defcon, whose existence was well known but his role was previously not disclosed, took over as the market and forum administrator, head honcho, as you will.
- - -- A series of disinformation, misinformation combined with a lack of any real information over the following days was actually a constructed period of confusion designed to allow the transition to take place and to give DPR2 the chance to make the arrangements he needed to make to ensure his safety and security.
- - -- To restate what has been stated already and for emphasis: NO ONE on the SR team currently is known to DPR1. DPR2 was not known to DPR1 - let me be clear - DPR2 was chosen while Ross Ulbricht sat in a jail cell. The best he could do is guess at who his successor was.
- - -- Here we are. We are saddened by the capture of our friends and teammates, but strengthened in spirit as we, as a community, will not let them endure this injustice for naught.
This is the truth, with as much detail as can safely be disclosed. Credit to Oracle, and various moderators whose information I used to create this basic set of facts. Oracle, to his credit, did a fine job keeping everyone very busy speculating, as was his job from the start - this is just a slightly easier to read version for those of us with short attention spans.
It's time to celebrate the holiday,and have a drink for our teammates under the chains of law enforcement. As you have dinner with your family, friends, or do whatever it is you do to celebrate this time of year, take a moment to think of Ross Ulbricht, Andrew Michael Jones, Gary Davis, and Peter Phillip Nash. Then, get ready to hit the ground running after the holiday break with the knowledge and assurance that we are in extremely capable hands.
Nero
25-12-2013
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