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My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

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Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#141

Post by tindrlabs »

tindrlabs wrote: post #140
amyjess wrote: post #3

So, I went to college with Ross. He was a year ahead of me. I didn't know him personally, but several of my friends did. I had a few friends in college (some of whom I still talk to) who were good friends with him. When he got arrested, I looked up his Facebook page, and I found we have 5 mutual friends listed (and I know a couple of others who knew him but didn't have him on FB). Also, when he was arrested, my then-…

Ross lived above me my Freshman year. UTD was a special place.

I actually remember him crawling from our porch up to his apartment because the door was locked. They also had a recliner with a bong built into it.

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#142

Post by d23 »

xorcist wrote: post #112
d23 wrote: post #108

> How could someone intelligent enough to graduate with a master’s from Penn State be dumb enough to use his own personal email to advertise an illegal bazaar on a message board as basic as Shroomery.org? Does anyone honestly believe this is how he was caught? Or is it just parallel construction[1]? I wouldn't be surprised if Tor is completely compromised by the United States Government, and this fact is just being h…

Does it matter? The fact of the matter he did make that post, and several others, with his personal email clearly visible on Archive.org. Even if they caught on to him some other way, not much work is required to follow those traces right to him.

So what? My personal email is probably in a lot of random places on the internet. If I commit the crime of public urination and the authorities are able to catch me because they have video cameras in my bathroom, is it a good thing that they can then google around for my email and say "Hey look, we found this guy because his email was registered on this public urination forum! That's how we caught him!"

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#143

Post by abawany »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #24
amyjess wrote: post #3

So, I went to college with Ross. He was a year ahead of me. I didn't know him personally, but several of my friends did. I had a few friends in college (some of whom I still talk to) who were good friends with him. When he got arrested, I looked up his Facebook page, and I found we have 5 mutual friends listed (and I know a couple of others who knew him but didn't have him on FB). Also, when he was arrested, my then-…

I knew them vaguely as well, sharing some friends. (I'd wager we've probably met in real life at UTD a few times.) Was Richard the guy who went as a flasher at a Halloween party? Because every time I read about him testifying in court, I'm imagining him doing so in that costume, which was ... graphic.

I never knew UTD had such goings-on, probably because I was just an evening student who attended business classes there :) (FYI: I have been a developer most of my life - just wanted to broaden my horizons re. business.)

I think I also know a Richard Bates from UTD, as a co-worker (but I am not real sure that it is the same person so I won't be too specific as to company and etc.). I found this Richard Bates to be a hard worker who was detail oriented and focused on doing the right thing.

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#145

Post by meric »

atmosx wrote: post #118
chatmasta wrote: post #2

"Sure, we wanted Ross to go free. We wanted him to be innocent, to be a hero: the poster boy for privacy in the Information Age." That may be partially true, but Ross polluted much of the goodwill the Internet community had for him when he decided to "order a hitman." I doubt he was ever that serious about hiring one. If you read the chats he had, he sounds completely out of his league, and probably never would have…

My personal belief on the matter is that Ross would at some point in time need to hire someone. When you're in the drug business, internet or not, at some point in time you will have to deal with this kind of people . At that point you either become an ferocious animal - more ferocious than your opponents - or you do as the say OR you go home. Strangely no one chooses to go home (a bit a la Walter White). Of course I…

>> Strangely no one chooses to go home

The ones that go home, don't get caught, and so you don't hear about it.

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#146

Post by MichaelGG »

atmosx wrote: post #118
chatmasta wrote: post #2

"Sure, we wanted Ross to go free. We wanted him to be innocent, to be a hero: the poster boy for privacy in the Information Age." That may be partially true, but Ross polluted much of the goodwill the Internet community had for him when he decided to "order a hitman." I doubt he was ever that serious about hiring one. If you read the chats he had, he sounds completely out of his league, and probably never would have…

My personal belief on the matter is that Ross would at some point in time need to hire someone. When you're in the drug business, internet or not, at some point in time you will have to deal with this kind of people . At that point you either become an ferocious animal - more ferocious than your opponents - or you do as the say OR you go home. Strangely no one chooses to go home (a bit a la Walter White). Of course I…

He only needed to kill people because he fucked up his opsec. Imagine if the person that was blackmailing him was an agent. If so, game over. Hence, he should never have allowed anyone to get into such a position.

That said, as far as damage control, he had no choice it seems. If the blackmailer really was going to turn over many innocent people to be prosecuted, well, it was probably the morally correct thing to do. (Assuming negotiations for a payment or other settlement didn't seem feasible.) It's not like he was out trying to murder random people or competitors. He was protecting many innocent users from potentially having their lives destroyed.

I dunno about everyone else here, but that feels like it'd be a heavy burden to have to choose. Sorta like shooting an informant that's gonna leak info on a bunch of refugees. You know the informant might just be trying to get out of his own mess, or getting a safety package setup for his family or whatnot. But if you let him have his way, many people will be tortured. As sad as it is, what else can you do in such a case, even if it was your fault in the first place?

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#147

Post by DonHopkins »

calbear81 wrote: post #74
untog wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not really a landlord if he's looking for a roommate. I mean, technically he is, obviously, but it's not a traditional landlord - tenant relationship when you're living in the apartment together. And I'm not sure in what world talking up how much money you make or the vacations you take would endear you to a potential roommate - it'll just make you sound pompous.

In a world where roommates don't always pay their rent on time and in turn screw you because now you have to cover since they're not on the lease. Vetting a roommates's ability to pay rent is not unreasonable.

And roommates who make a lot of money but DON'T spend it on exotic vacations and other luxuries are much better than roommates who do spend every penny they make on ephemeral luxuries.

But then again, as long as your roommate has paid his rent in advance, one of the nicest times of the year in San Francisco is when all the burners are out of town.

http://www.jwz.org/blog/2014/08/i-wish-you-could-stay-on-the...

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#148

Post by atmosx »

meric wrote: post #145
atmosx wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal belief on the matter is that Ross would at some point in time need to hire someone. When you're in the drug business, internet or not, at some point in time you will have to deal with this kind of people . At that point you either become an ferocious animal - more ferocious than your opponents - or you do as the say OR you go home. Strangely no one chooses to go home (a bit a la Walter White). Of course I…

>> Strangely no one chooses to go home The ones that go home, don't get caught, and so you don't hear about it.

Excellent point.

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#149

Post by Lawtonfogle »

spinlock wrote: post #133
Lawtonfogle wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really victimless? I'll admit that for something like pot, that is responsibly grown and used, there is no victims (well maybe with second hand smoke, but you get that just as much from cigarettes). But many drugs being sold do not come responsible producers. Instead, they come from groups that cause a lot of harm in order to acquire the money from selling those drugs. Yes, legalizing responsible production wou…

Pot actually accounts for most of the income of Mexican drug cartels.

That is why I mentioned acquiring responsibly produced pot. The issue with buying it in an anonymous online black market is that it is really hard to verify who it is coming from.

Re: My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord

#150

Post by marktangotango »

pc86 wrote: post #75
marktangotango wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice observation guys, one I've wondered about myself. And totally off topic to the thread. Question is: how to prepare for the burst? I tend to think the current bubble is related to Fed policy, so when the money supply tights up, so will salaries. Just my two cents here. Edit: Yay! down votes!

My guess is they are because your comment has nothing to do with anything being discussed.

I was referring to the collapse in software development jobs after the 'first internet bubble' burst in 01-02 and extrapolating another jobs collapse after this bubble bursts. Guess people here don't have that perspective.
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