Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison • Hacker News Board

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#441

Post by pakled_engineer » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:23 AM UTC

The guy who ran "The Farmer's Market" AKA Adam's Flowers who was pre Silk Road and busted during Operation Adam Bomb was only given 10yrs for hustling MDMA/Acid/weed, and ran an impressive smuggling operation where he had US resellers pick up ocean freight shipments, and his plea has him serving time in a Netherlands prison.

The difference is he didn't make his black market political, which unfortunately Ross did. He also didn't try to kill anybody which although thrown out was still referenced by the sentencing judge. Still no word on what happened to the guy who was running SR 2.0 who worked for SpaceX and was busted.

I remember people peddling drugs on MindVox forums when Lord Digital ran it back in the day none of this is new except for Ulbricht trying to market his biz as a revolution. Online drug sales will continue regardless of this sentence.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#442

Post by lesigh » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:28 AM UTC

Let's just ruin a mans life so maybe we'll deter %.0000001 of a billion dollar drug industry. Why does the United States continue with this nonsense "War on Drugs"? Could it have anything to do with the for profit prison system? Giant militarized police force? Booming civil asset forfeiture?

For a country that prides itself on freedom and fairness, why create a system that punishes for doing what they want with their body? What if we spent the billions we do now on a failed drug war for education, addiction treatment, mental health, job training? Why ban certain drugs and allow alcohol and cigarettes that have just as addictive properties and kills just as many people?

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#443

Post by Nadya » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:36 AM UTC

Spooky23 wrote: post #432

Nadya wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Context of who I was responding and what they were saying is extremely important when reading. You should give it a try! Or do you enjoy making silly strawman attacks against things that were never said? Try reading the parent I responded to once more - then my response. If it isn't clear how they correlate, focus especially on the closing sentences of the parent before reading my response to them. If still confused…

I'm capable of reading, thanks. Drug policy and private prisons are completely irrelevant. This dude operated a massive organized criminal enterprise, and was willing to kill to protect it. Frankly, whether he was selling stolen stereos, cocaine or moon rocks isn't really relevant in the eyes of the law.

Apparently you aren't - seeing as your original response to me had absolutely nothing to do with what I and the parent were talking about and instead was a strawman attack against things that were never said.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#444

Post by jsonjson » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:38 AM UTC

amyjess wrote: post #3

My condolences go to the mutual friends Ross and I share. Honestly, I don't have much sympathy for him directly (due to his complete and utter stupidity and lack of opsec), but I know this is going to hurt some people I care about, people who were good friends with Ross back in college, and I feel bad for them .

Me, me, me.. (inject sentence that appears not to be about others).. but more about me.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#445

Post by giarc » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:40 AM UTC

Andrenid wrote: post #438

> The 31-year-old physics graduate and former boy scout was handed five sentences: one for 20 years, one for 15 years, one for five and two for life. All are to be served concurrently with no chance of parole. Meanwhile: > Hu Wanlin was in prison for human trafficking. That didn't stop him from opening a medical practice while jailed. Once he was released after a retrial in 1997, Hu treated hundreds of patients with…

You are comparing two completely different legal systems (US vs China) and you are surprised there is a difference?

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#446

Post by icebraining » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:46 AM UTC

themartorana wrote: post #437

markbnj wrote: post #435

The dual solicitations of murder put him well off the list of people I will ever have any sympathy for. Having said that, he's 31 and reading "two life sentences" and "no chance of parole," was a little bit of a shock. He didn't actually kill anyone and I would guess some actual murderers have served less time. I can't help but feel this is mostly meant as a warning to any other smart guy who might think about settin…

I'm very against making examples of people. Justice should be dealt entirely equally. Punishing one person more harshly as a warning to hypothetical criminals with a like mind is an unequal application of justice. I didn't know he had solicited murder (it's not mentioned in the short article linked) so I was wondering what made a glorified drug dealer middleman deserve life in prison. I agree that "without parole" is…

I didn't know he had solicited murder (it's not mentioned in the short article linked) so I was wondering what made a glorified drug dealer middleman deserve life in prison.

But the thing is: he wasn't even convicted for that!

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#447

Post by toomuchtodo » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:49 AM UTC

lesigh wrote: post #442

Let's just ruin a mans life so maybe we'll deter %.0000001 of a billion dollar drug industry. Why does the United States continue with this nonsense "War on Drugs"? Could it have anything to do with the for profit prison system? Giant militarized police force? Booming civil asset forfeiture? For a country that prides itself on freedom and fairness, why create a system that punishes for doing what they want with their…

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

It's not right, its not fair, and until the judicial industrial complex (private prisons, police forces & civil forfeiture used for revenue instead of proper tax increases) is dismantled, we'll continue to see these sorts of travesties.

We have a lot of cruft to cut from the US legal system.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#448

Post by tptacek » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:50 AM UTC

pakled_engineer wrote: post #441

The guy who ran "The Farmer's Market" AKA Adam's Flowers who was pre Silk Road and busted during Operation Adam Bomb was only given 10yrs for hustling MDMA/Acid/weed, and ran an impressive smuggling operation where he had US resellers pick up ocean freight shipments, and his plea has him serving time in a Netherlands prison. The difference is he didn't make his black market political, which unfortunately Ross did. He…

No part of the allegation that Ulbricht commissioned a murder appears to have been "thrown out"; that accusation was a formal predicate (the second listed "overt act") of the conspiracy charge for which he was convicted.

Can someone help me understand why people keep suggesting that this murder-for-hire allegation was dropped? That does not at all seem to be the case.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#449

Post by tptacek » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:53 AM UTC

markbnj wrote: post #435

The dual solicitations of murder put him well off the list of people I will ever have any sympathy for. Having said that, he's 31 and reading "two life sentences" and "no chance of parole," was a little bit of a shock. He didn't actually kill anyone and I would guess some actual murderers have served less time. I can't help but feel this is mostly meant as a warning to any other smart guy who might think about settin…

My understanding is that there is no parole in the federal penal system; parole wasn't an option available to the judge.

Re: Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

#450

Post by etchalon » Sat, May 30, 2015, 2:54 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #448

pakled_engineer wrote: post #441

The guy who ran "The Farmer's Market" AKA Adam's Flowers who was pre Silk Road and busted during Operation Adam Bomb was only given 10yrs for hustling MDMA/Acid/weed, and ran an impressive smuggling operation where he had US resellers pick up ocean freight shipments, and his plea has him serving time in a Netherlands prison. The difference is he didn't make his black market political, which unfortunately Ross did. He…

No part of the allegation that Ulbricht commissioned a murder appears to have been "thrown out"; that accusation was a formal predicate (the second listed "overt act") of the conspiracy charge for which he was convicted. Can someone help me understand why people keep suggesting that this murder-for-hire allegation was dropped? That does not at all seem to be the case.

It's an inconvenient talking point for people who want to hold Ulbricht up as some type of hero.

Painting over it is their only option.