Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

barrons.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 332 posts

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#181

Post by refurb »

bluescrn wrote: post #140
refurb wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but that smoker would have paid a lot more in tobacco taxes and won’t be collecting a pension.

I suppose there's even environmental benefits to smoking/drinking yourself into an early grave. Think of all the resources you won't consume and CO2 you won't emit by not living those extra years

My comment is kind of glib but I recall hearing about a study in Canada decades ago that looked at this.

What they found was that smokers, on average, died early so they collected a decade or two less in pension payments. They paid tens of thousands in tobacco taxes. And when they did die, it was relatively quick and not that expensive to treat (chemotherapy). Overall, smokers were a net benefit to society.

That equation might have changed today with expensive lung cancer drugs and longer life.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#182

Post by s5300 »

transpostmeta wrote: post #135
inglor_cz wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Increase taxes on alcohol Illegal production of homebrewn alcohol is a thing and has been for centuries. Raising taxes at will does not mean that everyone will, unhappily, continue to buy expensive alcohol in the store. There is a limit after which people will start to produce their own moonshine, which is less safe than whatever you buy legally. Or start drinking various chemicals that resemble alcohol. (Window cl…

My solution: Increase taxes on all alcoholic beverages. Make pharmacies able to sell 20% by volume alcohol mixed with water that is drinkable in non-branded, medical-looking bottles. Addicts with little money can buy that and mix it with fruit juice or whatever, and everyone else buys the expensive real stuff.

Tax aspect of your post aside

Everclear already exists. Not going to get much cheaper than that w/regards to diluting it in fruit juice or whatever else.

40's also quite affordably exist.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#183

Post by brazzy »

cfcosta wrote: post #152
brazzy wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But note that all those statement are about the amount of harm in an environment where alcohol is legal, cheaply available in every supermarket, widely advertized, and its consumption socially accepted, even expected . Can you really say in good conscience that other drugs wouldn't be worse if they became equally ubiquitous?

Yes. If they were as widely available, you would be able to know what you're buying, how much and hopefully how to apply it as safely as possible. Having drugs being illegal make them stronger, as they have to be transported in secret, and create derivative drugs to fill lower price ranges for long term addicts, such as crack and oxy.

> Yes. If they were as widely available, you would be able to know what you're buying, how much and hopefully how to apply it as safely as possible.

Knowing and doing are two different things. Yes, you'd get fewer accidental overdoses from people getting stronger stuff than they thought. But you'd get more (possibly a lot more) people overdosing from chasing a high despite having built a tolerance, or from doing crazy shit while high, and drug psychoses.

> Having drugs being illegal make them stronger, as they have to be transported in secret, and create derivative drugs to fill lower price ranges for long term addicts, such as crack and oxy.

And with full legalization, you'd have billions of advertizing dollars invested into marketing and research departments by companies trying to convince people to get high from their brand.

Remember, I am not arguing for the status quo or against some degree of decriminalization. I am arguing that the larger observed harm caused by alcohol is not useful evidence that illegal drugs are inherently less dangerous than alcohol.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#184

Post by ClumsyPilot »

thinkingemote wrote: post #95
viraptor wrote: post #8

> A total of at least 320,000 transactions were carried out via the marketplace That's the total from 1-2 years (I can't find when in 2019 did they start). If that's the biggest right now, I'm surprised how small the markets are.

They also had 20 servers seized which also gives an indication on size.

For all we know they could call a gaming desktop or NAS a 'server', or a switch or a router.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#185

Post by gameswithgo »

martin_a wrote: post #79
pengaru wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uhhh... weed is not even close to the most purchased drug via the dark web. Certainly not in plant matter form. They'd have to legalize all the club/party drugs to make a dent; pills and powders, lsd.

So, let's just legalize them all and hope that people will use them responsibly. As a German, I can, with no problem whatsoever, go into the next supermarket and buy enough alcohol and cigarettes to severly hurt myself. No one gives a shit, probably because the state earns money when I do so. Either we find (all) drugs bad, or we stop being such liars in regards to this.

I would suggest that it is possible that some drugs are worse than others. That perhaps caffeine should be freely available but meth should be regulated or outlawed, for instance.

I do not KNOW this to be the correct I am simply asking you to consider that it could be the case that some drugs are more dangerous to people/society than others.

I do however agree that alcohol is likely extremely bad for people/societies but its sort of a cat that can't be put back in the bag as the USA showed. It escaped thousands of years ago.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#186

Post by gameswithgo »

brazzy wrote: post #125
that_guy_iain wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience talking to the people whose job it is to provide support and services to those who abuse substances. Most experts in substance abuse normally say Alcohol is the worst of all the substances. With many stating, it causes more havoc in families on scale than heroin. More people die because of Alcohol, not just from drinking it but from drink drivers, drunken fights, etc. The general violence caused by…

But note that all those statement are about the amount of harm in an environment where alcohol is legal, cheaply available in every supermarket, widely advertized, and its consumption socially accepted, even expected . Can you really say in good conscience that other drugs wouldn't be worse if they became equally ubiquitous?

we are starting to get data on that for weed as it is legalized across the usa

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#188

Post by narag »

leoplct wrote: post #139

It is very easy for the buyer to get caught: - Buy BTC from an exchange with KYC and then send it to the seller (police) - Receive the product by post or collect it at a pick-up point where the seller (police) knows the address. What strategies can the buyer follow to protect his privacy and trust the seller?

Also live in a country where posesion is not a crime.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#189

Post by hrktb »

aivisol wrote: post #187

> anonymous SIM cards Are anonymous SIM cards illegal in Germany? There are definitely some EU countries where you can buy a prepaid SIM card in a newspaper stand without presenting any ID and it is 100% legal.

Interesting question.

In France as far as I know they are not illegal, but almost completely disappeared from physical retail, and I had to identify myself to get a prepaid SIM card from one of the major operators (Orange). 10 years ago I'd just have bought it in a supermarket, no questions asked, and the line would be alive as long as it's credited.

I wouldn't be surprised that pressure was put on operators to set barriers and make their clients jump through hoops if they try to buy anonymously.

Re: German police take down 'world's largest darknet marketplace'

#190

Post by giantg2 »

gameswithgo wrote: post #185
martin_a wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, let's just legalize them all and hope that people will use them responsibly. As a German, I can, with no problem whatsoever, go into the next supermarket and buy enough alcohol and cigarettes to severly hurt myself. No one gives a shit, probably because the state earns money when I do so. Either we find (all) drugs bad, or we stop being such liars in regards to this.

I would suggest that it is possible that some drugs are worse than others. That perhaps caffeine should be freely available but meth should be regulated or outlawed, for instance. I do not KNOW this to be the correct I am simply asking you to consider that it could be the case that some drugs are more dangerous to people/society than others. I do however agree that alcohol is likely extremely bad for people/societies…

Not to mention alcohol is extremely easy to manufacture from normal household products.
Post reply on HN