"What is illegal and unethical trade for one is perfectly legal for another. Judge for yourself." Is it just me, or is this statement just plain incorrect?
Jurisdiction.
Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
111–120 of 195 posts
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#112Anonymous, decentralized transactions using dead drops only works with side-channels for reputation, or with security deposits. Side-channels for reputation like posting cryptographic proof on darknet forums isn't scalable or reliable. And security deposits without a third-party adjudicator just move the trust issue around without eliminating it. One ideal solution could be a cryptocurrency with on-chain confirmation…
> One ideal solution could be a cryptocurrency with on-chain confirmation of the real-world transaction by both parties after the fact.
How do you prevent merchants from just creating a thousand fake transactions to make them look reputable?
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#113> “The Silk Road” was the first of a phenomenon that became widely known: Darknet Markets. The history is way off here, Silk Road was one of the first two completely public darknet markets (the other being the short-lived Open Vendor Database) but there were private darknet markets long before, e.g. The Farmer's Market. > Use of the Internet to facilitate the marketing and sales of physical goods - drugs, weapons, fa…
Well, it was Adamflowers "long before".
And its OPSEC was over-the-top lame. I mean, Hushmail?
But then, DPR was also very sloppy.
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#114Very interesting reading the obstacles faced by the black market drug trade and how they're overcoming them. It seems like the producer layer is most susceptible to penetration as it is essentially identical to most gangs. It's entirely glossed over here but procuring the product seems like a difficult problem for an anonymized distributor: How do you make sure the product gets to your support layers? As interesting…
> The article essentially describes a quintessential terror cell structure, but with the added benefit of 0 direct interaction.
Isn't "terror cell" a little over-the-top? It's just trade craft. The US does it. Russia and China do it. The various mafias (at least, modern ones) do it.
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
A strong judiciary, high bar to change the law, and harsh accountability. Still a fine line to walk.
People from more or less politically stable countries like the US are very naive in not considering what can happen to the best of governments overnight. People from Europe have this sort of... experience. Most of us know that trusting the government with our lives is not a good idea.
> People from more or less politically stable countries like the US
I would have agreed with that assessment in the past but in the present I really can't.
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#116Very interesting reading the obstacles faced by the black market drug trade and how they're overcoming them. It seems like the producer layer is most susceptible to penetration as it is essentially identical to most gangs. It's entirely glossed over here but procuring the product seems like a difficult problem for an anonymized distributor: How do you make sure the product gets to your support layers? As interesting…
There's nothing to be worry dangers of this network. I don't believe that our intelligence agencies haven't found a way break this anonymized distribution network. Its a well known fact that IA is indirectly sponsoring this network to get funds for their illicit operations. And I am pretty sure that they have planted backdoor in this network.
What is IA?
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#117Very interesting reading the obstacles faced by the black market drug trade and how they're overcoming them. It seems like the producer layer is most susceptible to penetration as it is essentially identical to most gangs. It's entirely glossed over here but procuring the product seems like a difficult problem for an anonymized distributor: How do you make sure the product gets to your support layers? As interesting…
Since you are primed on the question. You should read Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. It's a near-future sci-fi book that tackles these sorts of questions. As a bit of a "spoiler" his solution is a covenant with the citizens. The government will hack all of our computers, will own the IME equivalents of every machine, and in return they will only use this power to hunt down terrorists and mass murderers, people who are…
That sounds like a rather dull anti-climax...
Another post on the same site as the root post discusses the surveillance state, he roughly justifies what is happening currently:
https://opaque.link/post/fog_of_cryptowar/
But I disagree on a couple of points, truth is more important than pseudo "pragmatism". A problem with incorrect pragmatism is that we collectively talk each other away from the seemingly impossible... which may in fact turn out to be possible. The study of cryptography (both primitives and protocols and systems) can be viewed as the study of paradoxical possibility. Things that seem to be impossible until they turn out to be possible.
It is in this sense that I wrote:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16947652
Perhaps I should be writing science fiction stories instead...
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#118> "What is illegal and unethical trade for one is perfectly legal for another"
What in the world does that mean? There's only one rule of law.
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#119> "What is illegal and unethical trade for one is perfectly legal for another" What in the world does that mean? There's only one rule of law.
That might be true for one specific country/state. But different countries have different laws.
Re: Dropgangs, or the future of darknet markets
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All they do is send you a “love letter” and people have reported receiving future packages just fine. well, that's what the end user sees, but we can't pretend to know what happens behind the scenes from a data perspective, and how that data might be used in the future. > They require a court order to open your package and even then can’t charge anyone with possession. this is not true. only first-class mail (13oz…
> 4. Can Postal Inspectors open mail if they feel it may contain something illegal? First-Class letters and parcels are protected against search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, and, as such, cannot be opened without a search warrant. If there is probable cause to believe the contents of a First-Class letter or parcel violate federal law, Postal Inspectors can obtain a search warrant to ope…
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