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OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

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Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#21

Post by rayiner »

Jukelox wrote: post #11
geographomics wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One advantage of the Silk Road style markets was that, being centralised, they could choose to filter their wares down to a particular niche. By permitting everything by design, OpenBazaar is probably going to become infamous for facilitating trade in child pornography, materials of terrorism, and other such items considered a great deal more disreputable than prohibited drugs.

I think your fears are purely speculative and are distracting from what's really going on here. We are witnessing a demand for unregulated markets because regulated markets are way too slow in responding to social changes. Let's face it - governmental decisions are made in the best interest of influential parties, not in the best interests of the individual. Do not protect me from myself.

Nobody is protecting you from yourself. They're trying to protect other people from the damage you can do as an addict, a child pornographer, or a terrorist.

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#22

Post by Jukelox »

rayiner wrote: post #20
Jukelox wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your fears are purely speculative and are distracting from what's really going on here. We are witnessing a demand for unregulated markets because regulated markets are way too slow in responding to social changes. Let's face it - governmental decisions are made in the best interest of influential parties, not in the best interests of the individual. Do not protect me from myself.

Nobody is protecting you from yourself. They're trying to protect other people from the damage you can do as an addict, a child pornographer, or a terrorist.

What is terrorism, actually? If you give this question some serious thought, it becomes apparent that the term is full of confusion. Politicians perpetuate – and exploit – this ambiguity; causing greater harm by diverting attention away from issues which really do need to be addressed.

More people are killed by the police than terrorism in the United States.

http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terrori...

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#23

Post by psykovsky »

XorNot wrote: post #12
mineshaftgap wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also taxes. What is the VAT like 20%? That is a lot of savings.

And again, illegal.

Not every law/tax is fair or should even exist in the first place. You don't change things by being complicit.

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#24

Post by SamPatt »

Hey HN, this is Sam Patterson, operations lead on OpenBazaar.

Please note that this open source project is about 6 months old, and not production ready. It has just started integrating Tor, but should not be considered private or secure yet.

We welcome testers, we are about to release 0.3.0 sometime in the next few days. Our Github is here:

https://github.com/openbazaar/openbazaar

We've gotten a lot of attention from the recent dark net markets being shut down. As I've said elsewhere, viewing OpenBazaar as SR 3.0 misses the true potential of creating a protocol, network, and client that allows individuals or companies to conduct trade directly with each other online.

We welcome feedback on our project, I'm happy to answer questions, and of course we'd be delighted if you want to join us. Let's make trade free.

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#25

Post by Touche »

jasode wrote: post #17

I see several comments questioning the legitimate value of a peer-to-peer marketplace. Some cannot see any use other than illegal commerce (drugs, porn, etc). It is true that such illicit trades will take advantage of that network but is it really impossible to envision legal business as the major activity? Yes, cars can be used as getaway vehicles from bank robberies and also smash terrorist bombs into government bu…

Why does a distributed marketplace intended for legal trade need to run on Tor? Do you need anonymity if you're selling towels?

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#26

Post by Touche »

Jukelox wrote: post #22
rayiner wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is protecting you from yourself. They're trying to protect other people from the damage you can do as an addict, a child pornographer, or a terrorist.

What is terrorism, actually? If you give this question some serious thought, it becomes apparent that the term is full of confusion. Politicians perpetuate – and exploit – this ambiguity; causing greater harm by diverting attention away from issues which really do need to be addressed. More people are killed by the police than terrorism in the United States. http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terror…

You can question what terrorism is when you're in the grey area. But some things are just black/white terrorism, like the Boston Marathon bombing.

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#27

Post by jasode »

Touche wrote: post #25
jasode wrote: post #17

I see several comments questioning the legitimate value of a peer-to-peer marketplace. Some cannot see any use other than illegal commerce (drugs, porn, etc). It is true that such illicit trades will take advantage of that network but is it really impossible to envision legal business as the major activity? Yes, cars can be used as getaway vehicles from bank robberies and also smash terrorist bombs into government bu…

Why does a distributed marketplace intended for legal trade need to run on Tor? Do you need anonymity if you're selling towels?

> need to run on Tor?

I don't know the technical details of OpenBazaar. From the article this thread is about, it says:

"OpenBazaar is open-source software that runs a peer-to-peer network that can be used with the Tor anonymizing network."

I interpreted that in the literal sense that it "CAN" be used and not "MUST".

If the only possible way to use the OpenBazaar client is to log into Tor, that would understandably raise skepticism about its ambitions for legal trade. A representative from OpenBazaar is in this thread and maybe he can clarify that technical detail.

As for hiding my sales of legal items, maybe I don't want my friends to know that I sold that ugly shirt they got for my birthday. I'm sure there are all sorts of legitimate reasons for being an anonymous seller of legal goods.

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#28

Post by Jukelox »

Touche wrote: post #26
Jukelox wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is terrorism, actually? If you give this question some serious thought, it becomes apparent that the term is full of confusion. Politicians perpetuate – and exploit – this ambiguity; causing greater harm by diverting attention away from issues which really do need to be addressed. More people are killed by the police than terrorism in the United States. http://www.alternet.org/more-americans-killed-police-terror…

You can question what terrorism is when you're in the grey area. But some things are just black/white terrorism, like the Boston Marathon bombing.

The Boston Marathon bombing was a terrible tragedy. They purchased their supplies from regular retail outlets, not a unregulated internet market. [1]

Which goes back to my original point. Linking terrorism to OpenBazaar is a far stretch and is rooted in fear, not data.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings

Re: OpenBazaar is a decentralized Dark Net market that's 'untouchable' by police

#30

Post by narrowrail »

jasode wrote: post #27
Touche wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does a distributed marketplace intended for legal trade need to run on Tor? Do you need anonymity if you're selling towels?

> need to run on Tor? I don't know the technical details of OpenBazaar. From the article this thread is about, it says: "OpenBazaar is open-source software that runs a peer-to-peer network that can be used with the Tor anonymizing network." I interpreted that in the literal sense that it " CAN " be used and not " MUST ". If the only possible way to use the OpenBazaar client is to log into Tor, that would understandab…

Just as an aside, use of Craigslist obviously avoids these fees, with the caveat that market participants be within the same physical vicinity. I wonder if there could be a potential for some sort of integration. I bought my truck in another state using CL, and flying one-way with cash in hand.
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