Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: TrustusJones on July 08, 2012, 03:11 pm
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Both articles reference child porn on SR in the first paragraph... obvious lies meant to inflame the public.
FIRST: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/connect/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501833&objectid=10818083
A hidden internet marketplace hawking drugs, guns, child porn - and even uranium - counts New Zealanders among its traders.
Silk Road, a website which promises anonymity to traders, is currently under investigation by a New Zealand government agency. More details on the investigation are expected later this month.
Heroin, methamphetamine, opium and other drugs are sold openly at the "anonymous marketplace". Some overseas vendors target Kiwi and Australian buyers.
One discussion, "successful New Zealand orders", features Silk Road clients commenting about drug deals. "It's all down to the vendor ... I've received stuff from the Netherlands, no problems," a user called Nineinchnails writes.
Another Silk Road user, Kiwiana, was interested in how big the potential market for cannabis could be. "Just seeing if there is any demand for a Kiwi vendor selling skunky buds ... If I get enough people I'll start up a vendor account. Have heaps of bud but no clients so can do cheap prices."
A German-based drug vendor called Sesampino(97) had a batch of MDMA crystals for sale to Antipodeans.
"Our product is always of highest quality and comes from the Dutch market. If you're buying this, then you already know what it is about. We ship a full gram, so not 0.8 or 0.9. You get what you pay for."
Sesampino explained how he exported drugs. "The envelope looks like a very normal invoice or business letter. We have used this system for years and never lost a shipment. "
Silk Road was accessed by downloading a browser, The Onion Router, known as TOR. Goods were bought with a virtual currency, Bitcoins. This week, one Bitcoin equalled NZ$8.09. Sesampino was selling 10g of "low-budget cocaine" for $720 this week. In New Zealand, 1g of cocaine had a street value of $350-$400.
Silk Road and other "Hidden Wiki" sites offered services including blackmail, fixed sports matches and assassination. Elsewhere, counterfeit Australian bank statements, university degrees and driving licences were discussed.
A Silk Road user called "nz" asks: "Could I get a NSW full off ya and transfer into full New Zealand licence?"
Silk Road also had products for paedophiles, offering child porn and advice on how to escape detection. This was the reason for a FBI investigation into it last month, and for an attack by hacker group Anonymous, which leaked information about child porn merchants.
A manifesto on the site outlined some of the beliefs Silk Road backers held. "We fundamentally believe that people can thrive and prosper under these conditions and so far tens of thousands have done so."
A new marketplace, The Armory, offered guns and weapons for sale. One user hoped it would deflect attention from Silk Road's drug trade. "Segregating the weapons trading from silk road may [displace] some of the heat aimed at this community.[sic]"
Officials here are reluctant to comment while investigating, but obvious problems are getting product into the country, and the risk of rip-offs.
SECOND: http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/investigations/website-enables-easy-illegal-drug-sales
Website enables easy illegal drug sales
Digital black market activity hard to trace
Updated: Friday, 06 Jul 2012, 7:32 AM CDT
Published : Thursday, 05 Jul 2012, 8:32 PM CDT
Leslie Rhode
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Log on to the Silk Road Anonymous Marketplace, and you may think you are looking at an eBay-type website. However, you will not find children's clothing or used electronics to buy.
Shoppers on Silk Road may buy illegal drugs including marijuana, ecstasy and heroin. Buyers simply search for a drug, look through the options including photos, add it to their online cart and wait for it to arrive in the mail.
The sellers are listed as living all over the world, and are even evaluated and rated by past shoppers. You can even read comments about the sellers. It sure sounds like eBay, but Silk Road has federal investigators watching it very closely.
A spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Washington, D.C. told KXAN News they are "very aware of Silk Road" calling it a "big problem" and confirming to KXAN they are investigating the website.
"It's scary,” said recovering drug addict Cary Acevedo. “It's very scary."
Acevedo is a recovering drug addict in Austin who sees Silk Road as a huge setback in the drug war and an even bigger setback for addicts like herself.
"I was real good at getting my family to give me money and doing whatever it took,” said Acevedo. “There was a lot of lying and stealing, to tell you the truth, to get to my drug.
Acevedo talked about leaving her family in the middle of the night and risking her safety just to get her hands on drugs. She would do whatever it took to feed her addiction.
“My God -- to have something delivered to me and not have to do anything at all but push a button,” said Acevedo. “Boy, that sounds really good to an addict."
How Silk Road works
Silk Road runs on an anonymous network called TOR or The Onion Router. Dr. Qijun Gu at Texas State University has been researching the technology for years. He said he believes the United States government has used it, but was surprised to learn it may be used to sell illegal items.
"TOR basically is technology to hide people's identity in the network when they use the network to send information,” said Gu.
TOR works by using encrypted messages. The beginning message from the buyer or seller is encrypted or encoded several times. Then the message is sent randomly through Silk Road members' computers all over the world, and at each stop, part of the message is revealed. Think of it as peeling off the layers of an onion. By the time the entire message reaches its destination, the person who receives it has no idea where it came from.
The hidden nature of TOR makes Silk Road a perfect outlet for a drug addict to hide his or her disease, according to drug counselors.
"It's almost like Amazon,” said Austin Recovery clinician Ilana Zivkovich. “You've got one-click shopping. Now drug addicts are experiencing some of the same things which will only intensify their disease and the negative consequences to them, their families and the community."
Zivkovich said the internet is becoming more of a problem in the drug war and treatment of drug addiction, because it is an easy trigger of a drug habit.
"My first reaction when I heard of Silk Road was shock and disgust," said Zivkovich. "I think the fact that this is happening online at the fingertips of our children is a terrible thing."
If your child, husband or friend has any dramatic change in their peer group, in the way they are dressing themselves or in their mood, Zivkovich said those may be warning signs that they are experimenting with drugs or already are addicted. If they start isolating themselves in any way, possibly on their computer, she said you should ask questions.
Silk Road adds firearms
Just in the past few months, Silk Road added firearms to its black market digital store. Some of them are illegal in the United States. Buyers may find them spun off on a new anonymous website called "The Armory." It also runs on the TOR anonymous network. Now the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is on alert.
The ATF sent KXAN News a statement saying the "ATF is aware of 'Silk Road Marketplace,' an encrypted members-only website, as well as other online sites that may be involved in the illegal sale of firearms. ATF is always concerned when it learns about these types of websites. One of ATF's primary missions is to enforce firearms laws and to protect the public from violent criminals."
Hard to trace
Getting on either Silk Road or The Armory takes some work. It not as simple as just searching for it through Google.
Other than the complicated anonymous network, another reason investigators may have a harder time tracking down those involved in these sites is the currency used for purchases. The websites do not take a check or credit card but only Bitcoins , perfectly legal digital money that Silk Road claims is not traceable. The trading rate for Bitcoins fluctuates constantly.
DEA has been investigating Silk Road for more than a year. New York Sen. Charles Schumer publicly pushed the DEA to shut down Silk Road in June 2011.
Most local law enforcement entities that KXAN News asked about Silk Road and The Armory had not heard of the websites.
The illegal items are sent through the mail. The United States Postal Service, United Parcel Service and FedEx said they cannot discuss their security measures.
There are other legal uses for the TOR network: Some journalists use it to keep their sources private; businesses use it to keep information secure and private.
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these articles always end up increasing awareness and explaining how to access the site in broad terms, i wonder if their motive isnt to shut it down but to give it some free publicity.
on a serious note, they throw in CP references because they know that no one will call them on it.
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They didn't mention that in that CP thread, 99% of people were flaming the fuck out of the pedos.. There was only one guy from my memory that was actually an admitted "kid-lover" and a couple sympathisers, who at MOST said that pedophiles needed help and not punishment (an argument that was ripped by almost everyone in that thread)..
So where the fuck are they getting this shit about SR selling child porn?
Are they equating SR with THE ENTIRE TOR NETWORK?
That's fucking absurd. That's like saying microsoft encourages child porn because you have to use a computer to download it. Fucking cretins.
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They are so much crap in news those days... I think all journalist always lies on everything anyway, where are journalists like Hunter S. Thompson in today's world. Gonzo journalism is dead >:(
Among the forefathers of the new journalism movement, Thompson said in the February 15th, 1973 issue of Rolling Stone, "If I'd written the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism."
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haha, those articles were full of lulz.
it scares the people who want to be scared, intrigues the people who want drugs, and pisses off the cops who can't do shit about us.
let them write whatever they want; i'm still getting whatever drug i want and DPR is laughing all the way to his swiss bank.
the authorities have been trying to shut down CP on the net for 2 decades with no success....it took Anonymous to actually get some shit done. this is strong evidence that the authorities are a clown show and the real power lies within the cyber community.
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Who's got that fire Plutonium?!?
Hook it up 8)
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I wish people would stop trying to interfere with us, if some fucking junkie is going to keep ordering until they overdose that's their own fault. But we should be allowed to freedom to make that choice ourselves. These reporters and government officials are getting in the way of mother nature. It's called survival of the fittest, people endanger themselves by ordering shit like heroin, it's not the Silk Road's fault if they end up dying as a result of their own stupidity.
I notice none of these shitty articles give any insight about members like me who use the service for psychedelics to enlighten themselves withing the confines of their own property, and let's be honest that's way safer then driving out to the bar and getting shit-faced drunk and possibly endangering the lives of others on the way home. If everyone could legally order their own drug of choice through the mail, I'd make a bet the streets would be a lot safer in most parts of the world. The world needs more reporters like Hunter S. Thompson again, we could sure as hell use them on our side.
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Now if anyone has some intel on a SilkRoad move that is more underground please PM. I will be saddened to see it disappear and not be in the loop. Probably need more rep/trust first just hoping I have time to build that up. 8)
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Go big green camels.
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Who's got that fire Plutonium?!?
Hook it up 8)
I'll trade ya some anthrax I've been cooking up
Watch them actually quote this shit as legitimate product requests in their next articles...
Now if anyone has some intel on a SilkRoad move that is more underground please PM. I will be saddened to see it disappear and not be in the loop. Probably need more rep/trust first just hoping I have time to build that up. 8)
Hey look it's another reporter. We should give him some more info for his next article.
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More of a trolling joke but okay queer :P
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the viewpoint of an addict should have very little space decicated in this article, if any. the fact is, addicts are probably the one group of drug users who wouldn't be too interested in silk road. i've been an addict before, and during that time i was far toobusy getting drugs on the street and doing them to find something like SR. an addict wants his shit RIGHT NOW not at the rate of first class mail. and they definitely don't want to pay for exchange fees and the like.
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tootiefruitie that's exactly why I tell my "writer" friend to fuck off every time she writes an article on a subject she knows nothing about. Like a couple hours devoted to a topic gives you insight haha
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Hey guys, sorry, new to the forums, don't know if this is the right place to post this. Received my order of uranium from Ivory today. Very well concealed. Can't wait to give it a shot!
Will update once and let you guys know whether it's as deadly as the last batch I got from NL
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In other words.
Fuck you John Weekes
Fuck you, good and proper.
Good day.
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a good show sir, a good show.
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I fuckin love these articles-they're just growing out our wonderful community while all LE can say is that "we're aware of it".
Fuckin priceless.
I myself have at one time been addicted to various drugs, and there's no way in hell that with my habit I'd ever sit on here waiting for drugs to come to get my fix when I can just drive down the street and see the fuckin dopeman that day. In fact, this website has freed me from dealing with sketchy people in sketchy area's in attempt to buy sketchy drugs. Its comforting to know that now that my drugs of choice (mostly just weed and molly) are available on here, SAFELY and the quality is unmatched. Further, I'm able to provide these substances to my close friends so they too don't have to deal with that shit anymore either. But the media isn't interested in all that-they just see a market for drugs but don't understand the community we have here, the love, the respect and knowledge to rise above governmental control-maybe it's the fact that we're using resources that governments ultimately control (such as the postal service :) ) against them!
Sorry D.E.A. your "just say no" campaign failed with me-shame on you!
Fuck the media, your only making us stronger one article at a time!
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In fact, this website has freed me from dealing with sketchy people in sketchy area's in attempt to buy sketchy drugs. Its comforting to know that now that my drugs of choice (mostly just weed and molly) are available on here, SAFELY and the quality is unmatched. Further, I'm able to provide these substances to my close friends so they too don't have to deal with that shit anymore either. But the media isn't interested in all that-they just see a market for drugs but don't understand the community we have here, the love, the respect and knowledge to rise above governmental control-maybe it's the fact that we're using resources that governments ultimately control (such as the postal service :) ) against them!
Sorry D.E.A. your "just say no" campaign failed with me-shame on you!
Fuck the media, your only making us stronger one article at a time!
Agreed 100%!!!
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I fuckin love these articles-they're just growing out our wonderful community while all LE can say is that "we're aware of it".
Agreed. The thinking people will see through the bullshit and read how you can buy drugs on the internet easily, reliably and cheaply. I wonder how many people have read an advertisement like this in their local paper and made their way here as I sure have. ::)
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I fuckin love these articles-they're just growing out our wonderful community while all LE can say is that "we're aware of it".
Agreed. The thinking people will see through the bullshit and read how you can buy drugs on the internet easily, reliably and cheaply. I wonder how many people have read an advertisement like this in their local paper and made their way here as I sure have. ::)
+1 , New here, I first read about the site on Wired.com a couple months ago, and that's how I found my way here.
I admit I have an addictive personality, and that's exactly why I think SR is a perfect place for me to buy an occasional chill-pill or whatever. It's much less dangerous impov , given my propensity to go overboard in the past...
Having a 'local' connection is what makes and breeds 'addicts'. When you run out and 'need' more, you just call your local dealer and get it in a matter of hours...
There are no 'addicts' that order some psychedelics here, a gram of coke here, a couple xtc pills here, or a couple of pain killers of their choice here. There are no addicts that buy a small quantity, then wait 1 or 2 weeks for their next order to arrive...
Perfect situation for me. And maybe, I can get an epiphany from whatever I happen to order here, to move away from the main monkeys on my back, which are all happily approved as legal by my government overlords...
I'm pretty much a functional alcoholic, and can buy all the booze I want every night after work, and I smoke tobacco too. It seems ridiculous that I would be thrown in jail if somehow got nic'd for ordering some psychedelic that may open my mind to the err of my ways in continuing to abuse myself with booze and tobacco...
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Where's limitless and his bomb threat script?
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I fuckin love these articles-they're just growing out our wonderful community while all LE can say is that "we're aware of it".
Fuckin priceless.
I myself have at one time been addicted to various drugs, and there's no way in hell that with my habit I'd ever sit on here waiting for drugs to come to get my fix when I can just drive down the street and see the fuckin dopeman that day. In fact, this website has freed me from dealing with sketchy people in sketchy area's in attempt to buy sketchy drugs. Its comforting to know that now that my drugs of choice (mostly just weed and molly) are available on here, SAFELY and the quality is unmatched. Further, I'm able to provide these substances to my close friends so they too don't have to deal with that shit anymore either. But the media isn't interested in all that-they just see a market for drugs but don't understand the community we have here, the love, the respect and knowledge to rise above governmental control-maybe it's the fact that we're using resources that governments ultimately control (such as the postal service :) ) against them!
Sorry D.E.A. your "just say no" campaign failed with me-shame on you!
Fuck the media, your only making us stronger one article at a time!
+1, Buying LSD in real life is really a roll of dice, here if the product is not good or is not LSD at all it not take so long before we see the bad feedbacks 8) You can't see the feedback of street dealers ,,
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Those moron reporters try to make Silk Road sound bad but all their doing is driving traffic here. Oh well fuck them.
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My comment is in it haha
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They're known here for always writing sensationalist tripe.
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most (if not all ) journalism in NZ is a joke..............
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the viewpoint of an addict should have very little space decicated in this article, if any.
When I read that part, I was thinking, what about alcoholics? You can walk into any gas station or grocery store and get alcohol, but somehow they survive (well, some better than others).
Also, coke costs $350 a gram in NZ? Christ on a cracker.
try 350 for a quarter gram, the other 3/4 will be Novocaine and baby lax, if you lucky !
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Where's limitless and his bomb threat script?
I'm sure you mean kmfkewm, yes? Because Lim doesn't know anything about scripting, after all. Kmf does. And Kmf condones violence!
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They didn't mention that in that CP thread, 99% of people were flaming the fuck out of the pedos.. There was only one guy from my memory that was actually an admitted "kid-lover" and a couple sympathisers, who at MOST said that pedophiles needed help and not punishment (an argument that was ripped by almost everyone in that thread)..
So where the fuck are they getting this shit about SR selling child porn?
Are they equating SR with THE ENTIRE TOR NETWORK?
That's fucking absurd. That's like saying microsoft encourages child porn because you have to use a computer to download it. Fucking cretins.
Are you talking about the jailbait thread you made some months ago where you talked about how hot underage teenagers are?
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One of ATF's primary missions is to enforce firearms laws and to protect the public from violent criminals."
This is a complete joke, most of the firearms that where on the armory are coming from the states...maybe they should concentrate more on tightening up the gun laws so not every jackoff can walk around with a deadly weapon.lol