Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: barx on May 04, 2013, 10:53 pm
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"The so-called "dark web," a shadowy part of the internet you haven't likely visited and won't find using Google, has become an online haven for anyone looking to buy or sell drugs, weapons or other illegal goods. And it's leaving law enforcement stumped."
CLEARNET LINK: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/05/02/dark-web-illegal-goods-global.html
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I find shit like this hilarious.
Just imagine if the news would report on shit like "The so called "trap-house" on 44th and David is a shadowy part of downtown you likely haven't visited. It has become a haven for people looking for any kind of drug and illegal unregistered weapons"
Free advertisement! If the feds or anyone could do anything about onion sites they would be more concerned with all the child porn out there.
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https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=http%3A%2F%2Fsilkroadvb5piz3r.onion.to
Turns out the Silk Road is indexed by Google after all. Google: 1 Ian Munroe: 0
And a finer point that many journalists have missed is this:
Cryptoanarchists ARE political dissidents. You realize of course that China calls its anti-Party bloggers lawbreakers as well. It is almost never the case that a "dissident" is not also considered a criminal by the state she or he is within. Not all criminals are dissidents, but some criminals are dissidents. The question that separates the two is: "Is the State primarily putting people in prison on the basis of ideological affiliation?" i.e. What is the State's motive?
By such a criteria, which seems logically sound and fair, a great number of SR members are political dissidents. Many of the people who have helped me with PGP Club have never bought or sold an illegal drug in their lives, nor have they profited from this place. Yet I am certain they would be thrown into cages on scary sounding trumped up charges based on scanty information if they were intercepted.
For us, the Silk Road is not about money. It is like the way civilians view the concept of prison: some say it is society's revenge, others that it is used to reform wayward individuals. That is exactly how the cypherpunks and cryptoanarchists view society. It is 1 part about changing the status quo but it is also about getting revenge. It is part creation, part destruction. This is to be done non violently via cryptography and free exchange, our common economic protocols, but it is hard to see this as an apolitical objective! Yet some journalists are proceeding to the paint by the numbers "bad people on the internet" narrative and missing the story that is actually interesting.
I assure you that if DPR were ever intercepted by the agents of the State, then he or she shall be viewed by a large segment of society as being closer to an Internet Age civil rights activist than an Al Capone. The Silk Road has far more fellow travelers than actual users. Politically it's a kind of reverse Pirate Bay. SR is so famous among the digitari that nobody that matters is taking the government influenced media line seriously. As disparate sources as the Guardian and Fox News are hesitant to go with the traditional party line, you can see that from their commentary, this is something never seen before and they don't quite know how to react but remain intrigued for various conservative and liberal reasons at the New Thing. The government is really out over the middle of a minefield but is pretending it's business as usual while fervently wishing it would all just go away. The trouble is that winning this battle could be as bad as losing it, they are on the horns of a dilemma.
If SR ever goes to a trial, it won't be the only thing on trial. The court would be keen to avoid a "spectacle" but I don't see how that can be done.
So, yes. This is politics.
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I assure you that if DPR were ever intercepted by the agents of the State, then he or she shall be viewed by a large segment of society as being closer to an Internet Age civil rights activist than an Al Capone
The large majority of people (society) will believe whatever the media tells them to believe.