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Silk Road 2.0 Launches

forbes.com

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Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#91

Post by the_watcher »

This is just an example of the massive waste of resources used up by the drug war (assuming this is what it claims to be, point stands regardless). So the Silk Road was shut down, but all that did was reduce the available supply of the drugs. It did nothing to address the demand side of drugs, which is really what drives everything. All attacking the supply does is make it more lucrative for those who are able to evade law enforcement.

There is some role for law enforcement to play in discouraging the supply of drugs (if the society we live in remains one where drug use is considered negative). However, the vast majority of resources should go towards addressing the demand (making people want them less, treatment, etc., I don't mean just arrest all the buyers).

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#92

Post by jes5199 »

malandrew wrote: post #77
hack_edu wrote: post #64

Never, ever, ever trust anyone or anything that suddenly reappears after a major bust by the authorities. NEVER . Move on.

One would think that they'd start moving to technologies that are decentralized using technologies such as distributed hash tables. This puts the onus on the users to have a client app that helps host the transaction system for everyone else. The clients would openly share the buy and sell orders and then communication would moved to an encrypted channel that supports perfect forward secrecy. The only part that osten…

Yes, but those systems don't exist yet, and the cost of setting up a Rails app hidden inside Tor is much lower.

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#93

Post by [deleted] »

njharman wrote: post #37
thex86 wrote: post #27

A serious question: while I have nothing against Silk Road (the drug war is a waste of money anyways), aren't people afraid of putting stuff in their body that they had an anonymous person send to them? I mean, unless the seller has a reputation, isn't there is a substantial risk of using that drug? Are my fears unfound? On one hand, the idea of buying drugs online is probably more safe than doing it on the streets,…

Do you ever buy anything at grocery store, drug store, restaurant that you put in your body? There is risk in everything. Generally people aren't sociopaths and aren't out to harm others. Risk is minimal but exists. Sellers on Silkroad do have reputation? Anonymous does not mean "unknown".

[deleted]

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#94

Post by rhgraysonii »

swalsh wrote: post #86

Yesterday my cousin was found dead. He had committed suicide. It was the end of a long battle he had been waging against himself. Drugs have destroyed this small part of my family, but i'm really glad to see something like the silk road revitalized. I think the sooner we realize how fleeting a battle it is to fight them, the sooner we can place the money where it belongs. My cousin is dead now, but I think my tax mon…

I've been an active Libertarian for several years now, and just looking at the countless stories I've heard like this leads me to hold the same belief as you do. It truly is tragic the way many people are simply thrown in a cell rather than helped with what is clearly an illness. Addiction itself is not a choice. Using a drug is, but the consequences that follow oftentimes cannot be overcome. I'm sorry for your loss.

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#95

Post by UVB-76 »

nickles wrote: post #78
jarrett wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> considering that the sellers might be cops Why wouldn't law enforcement pose as buyers, as well? This is a common tactic in narcotics enforcement. Entrapment often isn't an issue, as the seller took the first step of advertising the drugs for sale. Are you getting at the fact that the buyer must have a receiving address, while the seller can ship anonymously? I would be skeptical of that. If I were attempting to tr…

This is what made Kaczynski (the Unabomber) so difficult to track. IIRC, he would travel for a few hours (by bus) to a town and deposit his packages in a mailbox there [citation needed]. This made it difficult to track him, since the origin of the package didn't leak any information about the sender. For sellers, proper OPSec requires that they do not leave fingerprints in/on the package, that mailing locations are r…

A good precaution would be to use a range of mail boxes that, when plotted on a map, form a ring around a population centre far removed from the one you are actually residing in.

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#96

Post by philfreo »

jbackus wrote: post #84
subpixel wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see the Silk Roads of the world making much difference with regard to the drug war. Right now Silk Road is the eBay of drugs, where convenience is it's competitive advantage. I can get some drug without visiting a shady person in some shady place, but the drugs (in general) are still coming to the US the bloody, violent way via paramilitaries, druglords, etc. A huge part of the US war on drugs takes place amo…

You can use digital black markets like the silk road as an analogue for legalization though. Forget how the vendors obtain the drugs for a second and just analyze the differences in distribution and consumption between offline and online drug trade. Offline there is: - competition via violence - political narcoterrorism - profit maximization by product dilution - profit maximization by product deception (most street…

> violence impossible in anonymous marketplace

if you read the report about the 1st silk road, you'll see that's not true

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#97

Post by zaphoyd »

ye wrote: post #82
corin_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have ratings systems on there to help this - obviously it doesn't mean it's not possible to get stuff that isn't want you think it is, but it's not too much better or worse than trusting a local dealer on the street.

But dead people can't leave negative reviews.

killing your customers seems like a poor business plan though

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#98

Post by jbackus »

philfreo wrote: post #96
jbackus wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use digital black markets like the silk road as an analogue for legalization though. Forget how the vendors obtain the drugs for a second and just analyze the differences in distribution and consumption between offline and online drug trade. Offline there is: - competition via violence - political narcoterrorism - profit maximization by product dilution - profit maximization by product deception (most street…

> violence impossible in anonymous marketplace if you read the report about the 1st silk road, you'll see that's not true

Alright. Let's assume the massive difference in quantity of violence is substantial. We're talking 10s of thousands dead via cartel trade vs. 2 alleged attempted hits on the silk road. Even then that was the operator of the marketplace defending users, it wasn't a vendor killing another vendor to gain a competitive advantage.

Re: Silk Road 2.0 Launches

#99

Post by JustinAiken »

jes5199 wrote: post #87
the_watcher wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NOTE: I live in Austin and am acquaintances with a few people who knew him a bit while he was here. From what I understand, at the time of Silk Road's creation, he was not nearly technically capable of creating a site like it. He seems to have learned enough to administer and update the site, but the initial construction was done by another.

SR was just a glorified rails app, and my understanding was that it was initially pretty buggy. It's within reason that someone could pick up the knowledge they need within a few months to build such a thing, at least enough to get it rolling.

I thought it used PHP? At least the question on StackOverflow that allegedly led to his demise asked about PHP issues.
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