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

Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 62 posts

Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

#11

Post by mahyarm »

neotek wrote: post #7

I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…

People espouse libertarian ideals because they are terrified of the power of the state and do not trust it. To go with this kind of defense, especially when you don't have many options, is not hypocritical. It's easy to say 'have some balls' from the safety of your keyboard.

Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

#12

Post by neotek »

mahyarm wrote: post #11
neotek wrote: post #7

I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…

People espouse libertarian ideals because they are terrified of the power of the state and do not trust it. To go with this kind of defense, especially when you don't have many options, is not hypocritical. It's easy to say 'have some balls' from the safety of your keyboard.

I didn't suggest it was hypocritical, and nor did I suggest Ulbricht should feel compelled to defend the principles he wrote about. I'm saying that I wish he (or anyone in his position) would fight for those ideals, which are entirely justified in a world where NSA spying is treated as the punchline to a late night show monologue joke.

Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

#14

Post by btilly »

It will be interesting to see this unfold. But I am inclined to believe Ulbricht here.

My main reason for finding it immediately believable is that the name "Dread Pirate Roberts" is an obvious Princess Bride reference to a pirate who inherited his trade and occupation from another pirate. That combined with the fact that the name did not appear on the forums for the first few months leads me to believe that the name is an inside joke about the fact that the Dread Pirate Roberts did not create the site.

The 2013 quote from the Dread Pirate Roberts saying the same thing when he had no particular reason to lie is just icing on the cake.

Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

#16

Post by tedunangst »

codezero wrote: post #3

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Maybe they just need to convince the jury he didn't act alone? There is probably a decent amount of evidence to show he had help and maybe wasn't running the whole operation, but this seems like a defense approach that will make the jury very suspicious from the onset.

Obvious question the jury will be asking: so who did he sell it to? Better have a good answer.

Re: Silk Road Defense Says Ulbricht Was Framed by the ‘Real’ Dread Pirate Roberts

#18

Post by krapp »

neotek wrote: post #7

I know he's fighting for his freedom and you can't begrudge a man for doing whatever it takes to beat a charge, but I really think this is such a cop-out defense and I wish he had the balls to act like the same person he pretended to be when he was writing his grand manifestos about freedom of choice and individual rights. Whatever Ulbricht himself may be, whether or not the murder for hire allegations are true, howe…

His trial probably wouldn't be a proper venue for that. Those principles are that the laws he's accused of breaking shouldn't exist. This would be a very difficult defense to make in a criminal court, which both presupposes the credibility of the laws on the books and its own legitimate capacity to adjudicate them.

The court of popular opinion seems to be edging ever so slightly in Ulbricht's favor. Morally and politically, arguments for minimal government and drug legalization might have some merit. But no one is ever going to convince a judge that, while, the defendant might be guilty, the real crime is that there are even laws against everything he's accused of.

Although I suppose he could use the opportunity to make a statement anyway, regardless of how well it works as a legal defense. I wouldn't blame him either way, really.

Post reply on HN