Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: pine on February 03, 2012, 02:52 am
-
Metasauce:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16801382
3 February 2012
"The dark web: Guns and drugs for sale on the internet's secret black market"
By Adrian Goldberg
Out of reach of regular internet searches is the secretive online world known as the 'dark web' - anonymous, virtually untraceable global networks used by political activists and criminals alike.
"You have the availability of multiple dealers so you can compare products - and customers can review the dealer's product, too."
American student, David - not his real name - explains why he chooses to buy illegal drugs on the so-called 'dark web'.
"You don't have to go in front of a street dealer, where there might be a risk of violence," he adds.
And it is not just drugs which are available on this online black market. Fake passports, guns - even child pornography.
Anonymous drug dealers:
The dark web is facilitated by a global network of computer users who believe the internet should operate beyond the supervision of law enforcement agencies.
It allows users like David, and those who sell him drugs, to remain anonymous. Users often do not know the real identity of the fellow users they are dealing with, and it is very difficult - although not impossible - for authorities to track them. (trollololol motherfucker)
5 live Investigates spoke online with a number of anonymous dark web users.
One told the programme "I feel much safer [online] than doing transactions in the real world. I used to sell drugs in the real world. Nowadays I almost strictly use the dark web for any drug transaction."
Another said: "If you're young and trying to find a contact for drugs harder than marijuana it is practically impossible without risking exposure and arrest."
“We don't have enough courts, we don't have enough judges, and we don't have enough police officers to tackle the real scale of illegal behaviour on the internet”
-- John Carr Internet security adviser
Getting access to the dark web depends on users downloading freely available software, based on peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, which effectively scrambles the location of users and dark web websites.
It is not just a criminal domain, either - the dark web has proved a crucial tool in concealing the identity of political campaigners living in countries with oppressive governments.
It is said to have helped some of the organisers behind the Arab Spring protests.
That said, the potential for criminal enterprise is significant.
Researchers from the 5 live Investigates team successfully accessed the dark web, and made a purchase of the hallucinogen DMT - a class A drug, ranking it on a par with heroin and cocaine.
An extra layer of secrecy is added to the dark web by the use of Bitcoins - an electronic currency which is used legitimately by online gamers, but which can be used by criminals to mask their financial transactions.
After a wait of around 3 weeks a package arrived in the post with a Spanish postmark. Concealed between two thin strips of cardboard was a white powder.
Analytical Services International, at St George's University and London Hospital examined the drugs.
The lab test proved the powder was DMT - and that the dark web works.
We have no idea who sent the drugs to us. They have now been destroyed by the lab as possession of DMT can lead to a jail sentence of up to seven years.
Dealers of DMT can face a maximum life term in prison.
But what is being done to police the criminal activity that takes place on the dark web?
"Police officers on both sides of the Atlantic say the same thing," says John Carr, an internet security advisor to the British government and the United Nations.
“Many people share the belief, myself included, that drugs should be legal and the dark web is that belief put into action”
-- 'David' Dark web user
"We don't have enough courts, we don't have enough judges, and we don't have enough police officers to tackle the real scale of illegal behaviour on the internet.
"What that means is increasingly we're going to have to look to technical solutions, we're going to have to look to the internet industry to help civil society deal with this really enormous problem the dark web has created," Mr Carr told the BBC.
"The police service is acutely aware of the large and growing problem of cybercrime and is actively working with police nationally and internationally along with the private sector in a bid to combat criminality on the web," says Deputy Assistant Commissioner Janet Williams, the lead on e-crime for the Association of Chief Police Officers.
Yet for all their efforts much of the illegal activity on the dark web remains beyond the reach of the police, and to some supporters of the dark web, its anonymity is its virtue.
They point to the protection it has offered to anti-government bloggers who spread the message of revolution during the Arab Spring.
And they argue that it continues to provide cover for dissidents who might otherwise face persecution in China.
For US student and dark web user David, it is about freedom of choice:
"Many people share the belief, myself included, that drugs should be legal and the dark web is that belief put into action."
You can listen to the full report on 5 live Investigates on Sunday, 5 February at 21:00 GMT on BBC 5 live.
-
> implying child porn is available on the Silk Road.
Goldberg knows full well that is not true.
-
> implying child porn is available on the Silk Road.
Goldberg knows full well that is not true.
The journalist didn't imply that child porn was available on Silk Road, just that it was available on various hidden services. The "dark net" is more than just Silk Road -- it's most often used as a term for /all/ .onion sites.
-
- as per thread 2 mths ago:-
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=7059
- I was just PM'd by a BBC journalist | To be aired on 5Live
-
> implying child porn is available on the Silk Road.
Goldberg knows full well that is not true.
The journalist didn't imply that child porn was available on Silk Road, just that it was available on various hidden services. The "dark net" is more than just Silk Road -- it's most often used as a term for /all/ .onion sites.
No, he is implying that there is child porn on SR itself. The way we read that article is not how a member of the public will read it. If you google dark net and drugs you will almost exclusively find references to the Silk Road. He uses the singular 'market', not markets. He is a journalist using sleight of hand to become even more of an attention whore than he already is.
-
> implying child porn is available on the Silk Road.
Goldberg knows full well that is not true.
The journalist didn't imply that child porn was available on Silk Road, just that it was available on various hidden services. The "dark net" is more than just Silk Road -- it's most often used as a term for /all/ .onion sites.
No, he is implying that there is child porn on SR itself. The way we read that article is not how a member of the public will read it. If you google dark net and drugs you will almost exclusively find references to the Silk Road. He uses the singular 'market', not markets. He is a journalist using sleight of hand to become even more of an attention whore than he already is.
Yeah, plus there is a screenshot of SR in the article.
-
drugs are bad LEGALLY, but i'm not hurting anyone enjoying myself on my substances of choice.
paedophilia is bad MORALLY as well as legally and is fucking some poor kids entire life up pretty much before it's begun.
it's not even comparing apples and oranges, it's more like apples and car tyres or something - not even remotely relevant apart from in a legal perspective
Although I agree with you in this case, I'm wondering where you draw the line. If legality is not the issue (which it's not, as were buying and selling illegal drugs here), you're going to use very arbitrary definitions. Whether something is 'morally' good or bad is not shared between everyone. We might all agree here that drugs should be legal (I don't think that everyone on SR feels that way, but most do probably), but how do we feel about guns? There's been a lot of debate about guns, and there is no consensus about it.
Anyway, if you're going to condemn something as 'good' or 'bad', please understand that it's based on your beliefs. This doesn't make them necessarily right.
-
Fuck sake :(
This is not good.
-
thinking about spending the rest of my BTC on my SR account sooner rather than later :S
-
This is exactly why SR should stay a drug site, and not a one-stop illegal amazon.com
Most people, regardless of what country they live in believe the war on drugs is overblown, and that consenting use by adults is both widespread and not treated by the public as a violent activity.
Most people, regardless of whether they actually use drugs, take a softer tone with drugs than with child porn or untraceable guns.
When little Johnny buys an 1/8 of weed from the web his parents ground him, but when little Johnny buys a Glock 7 from SR the parents call every federal acronym out there looking for blood and justice.
I'm a dyed-in-the-wool gun owner but in the past week we've had two huge articles (gawker and now BBC) that are both spending more time alerting the public about the guns and porn than what we mostly sell here. Remember last year when all the articles about SR were about how cool and easy it was to buy weed online? Now they're all like this, warning us about the evil dark web, and it's master tenant, Silk Road.
SR should be for drugs only and the owner of SR should start a second site for everything else if he wants money that badly or has a strong belief in selling guns online.
More of these damning articles will keep forcing politicians to work harder to shut down SR permanently.
-
..did you expect anything different of the BBC {radio or television...its irrelevant ...what gets researched and "published" still has to be signed off by someone...}
-
More of these damning articles will keep forcing politicians to work harder to shut down SR permanently.
True. The more attention brought to this place, the more people pissed off and demanding their representatives do something about it. Politicians don't care about much, but they do care about money and getting re-elected.