Meet the Dread Pirate Roberts, the man behind Silk Road

Post by rdl » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 8:21 AM UTC

telephonetemp wrote: post #111

rdl wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who steal credit cards (usually in industrial quantities, often mag stripe data), then use those credit cards fraudulently. You get credit cards by retail theft (corrupt waitstaff, etc.), site breakins (particularly before PCI and vaulting, when every crappy ecommerce site had a bunch of card data lying around), compromises at network participants like acquirers, corrupt staff, etc. There are whole communities…

That sounds like a lot of effort and genuine technical skill to invest in crime. If that is true, you have to wonder what motivates people to do it. Is it really profitable enough to be rationally worth the risk if you don't care about the ethics involved, or is it that the people who do it can't find legitimate employment where they live due to the state of the local economy or have personal traits that prevent them…

Post by shubb » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 9:03 AM UTC

shubb wrote: post #76

chrischen wrote: post #14

Whether it's a victimless crime or not depends on where they source the drugs. You could argue that aggressive law-enforcement is what causes reprisal violence, but that still wouldn't justify supporting it in another way.

So I smoke normal, legal cigarettes. About 10 a day, 20 when I'm stressed. I started about 20, borrowing them off friends, and it's been maybe 8 years now. The first 2 years, I didn't realize I was addicted to them. I just smoked when I wanted, which was between every lecture and with my friends in the evening. Then I tried to stop. Quitting smoking is weird because sometimes you can just stop, and don't feel the nee…

Post by etherael » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 11:23 AM UTC

stromstad wrote: post #110

etherael wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kinds of things he is saying are very widely espoused by people of similar mindset. If you were trying to profile based on political beliefs and agitation he could easily be me. (he isn't, for what that's worth, I personally know thousands of others that fit in the exact same category and I am sure there are many, many more.)

>[You] personally know thousands of others that fit in the exact same category. "personally know thousands". Let that sink in.

Post by MacsHeadroom » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 11:56 AM UTC

telephonetemp wrote: post #111

rdl wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who steal credit cards (usually in industrial quantities, often mag stripe data), then use those credit cards fraudulently. You get credit cards by retail theft (corrupt waitstaff, etc.), site breakins (particularly before PCI and vaulting, when every crappy ecommerce site had a bunch of card data lying around), compromises at network participants like acquirers, corrupt staff, etc. There are whole communities…

That sounds like a lot of effort and genuine technical skill to invest in crime. If that is true, you have to wonder what motivates people to do it. Is it really profitable enough to be rationally worth the risk if you don't care about the ethics involved, or is it that the people who do it can't find legitimate employment where they live due to the state of the local economy or have personal traits that prevent them…

Post by p4bl0 » Thu, Aug 15, 2013, 1:26 PM UTC

rabbidruster wrote: post #98

LukeShu wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Incorrect comma usage, actually. You can't omit the Oxford comma (the comma before an "and") with a list of exactly 3 items. If you do, the middle item in the list can be parsed too many different ways, as happened here.

I beg to differ. I don't see how an oxford comma would fix this confusion. In fact I think without it his statement is easier to understand. We can easily see he means three people. If he used the Oxford comma the second person would look identical to a preposition and would make your parents comment more valid.