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Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

theatlantic.com

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Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#21

Post by bsullivan01 »

Stupid question and a stupid argument. Buying /selling drugs is illegal, so is buying /selling fake docs etc so why would anyone expect FBI to let such a service operate? Especially when sales numbers reach $1+ Billion and when the owner gives Forbes interviews saying FBI can't catch him?

Let's get back to basics: FBI is supposed to enforce the laws. They do have some leeway in prioritizing, but a $1.2 Billion market is way too big not to attract enforcement.

Now about the war on drugs...

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#22

Post by GhotiFish »

venus wrote: post #7
cottonseed wrote: post #2

Better to ask, has the war on drugs made the world a more dangerous place?

I wonder if there is anyone who believes - really believes - it has not. The war on drugs is kind of this diorama encapsulation of everything that is wrong with our politics, media, and society.

Well. I'm not convinced it did, myself.

If prohibition didn't happen 1920s for the americans, would Al Capone never of being born?

Really these prohibition laws give lowlifes something to fight over, and the fightings dangerous, but who says they wouldn't be fighting anyway?

Does it make life more dangerous. Maybe not.

Does it make it more dangerous for me? Maybe.

edit: Ouch. Looking forward to that rebuttal.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#23

Post by MattyRad »

>Extra-legal violence is often a part of black markets.

Curious turn of phrase. Extra-legal violence meaning "violence outside of the government," which implies that there is intra-legal violence, "violence within the government," which may be referring to how the government coerces its citizens to not transact drugs, by means of violence (that is, the government will arrest/hurt you if you do not comply), and that somehow that is more appropriate or noble.

Also it may be somewhat jokingly implying that the government's violence is "extra legal," meaning "more appropriate with respect to law." I wonder if the author had this is mind when they wrote the article. I don't mean to start a huge libertarian rant about government violence/coercion, only to point out that the sentence could have a clever hidden meaning.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#24

Post by jtbigwoo »

BashiBazouk wrote: post #14

Did Silk Road even put a slight dent in street drug sellers in the first place? I would be surprised if street level sellers and buyers are internet savvy enough to use a service like this. SR looks more like the ideal system for savvy college students and young techs to specifically avoid the street level market.

Right. Just requiring the use of tor prevented 95% of the population from using SR.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#25

Post by carlob »

jtbigwoo wrote: post #24
BashiBazouk wrote: post #14

Did Silk Road even put a slight dent in street drug sellers in the first place? I would be surprised if street level sellers and buyers are internet savvy enough to use a service like this. SR looks more like the ideal system for savvy college students and young techs to specifically avoid the street level market.

Right. Just requiring the use of tor prevented 95% of the population from using SR.

Make that 99.5%.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#26

Post by GhotiFish »

nickpinkston wrote: post #19
acomjean wrote: post #16

Shutting it down certainly didn't help the US Post Office. Not a silk road user but being able to anonymously contract hitmen (and hitwomen) doesn't seem to make the world safer..

Yea, but to honest the Silk Road hitman business is probably like 10,000x smaller than the drug business - maybe more.

My understanding is that Silk Road did not have a hitman business. I remember the site laying out explicit rules such that "nothing may be sold that could be used to hurt another human being." I believe that was the phrasing anyway.

I that made sense to me, as it was inline with DPR's philosophies. However, my peers have said he had another site for stuff like that. Maybe they're mistaken? Anyway, I know that stuff wasn't on SR.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#27

Post by hvs »

MattyRad wrote: post #23

> Extra-legal violence is often a part of black markets. Curious turn of phrase. Extra-legal violence meaning "violence outside of the government," which implies that there is intra-legal violence, "violence within the government," which may be referring to how the government coerces its citizens to not transact drugs, by means of violence (that is, the government will arrest/hurt you if you do not comply), and that…

While I'm a libertarian, it doesn't require a big political discussion to debate whether the government generally has a monopoly on the legal use of violence. That also doesn't require that "legal" somehow implies "noble" or "appropriate". I guess my point is that the author almost certainly has a libertarian leaning, so I'm not sure that the phrase's meaning was all that hidden.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#28

Post by lisper »

MattyRad wrote: post #23

> Extra-legal violence is often a part of black markets. Curious turn of phrase. Extra-legal violence meaning "violence outside of the government," which implies that there is intra-legal violence, "violence within the government," which may be referring to how the government coerces its citizens to not transact drugs, by means of violence (that is, the government will arrest/hurt you if you do not comply), and that…

> somehow that is more appropriate or noble

Not "somehow". There's actually a theory behind it: when the government does it, it is (nominally) done according to the rule of law. In a democracy, that means that the people have condoned it, at least indirectly, and so it is less subject to the whims of a single individual.

You may not agree with this theory, and the theory may not actually apply in practice. But the distinction between individual violence and government violence is not completely arbitrary.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#29

Post by harshreality »

MattyRad wrote: post #23

> Extra-legal violence is often a part of black markets. Curious turn of phrase. Extra-legal violence meaning "violence outside of the government," which implies that there is intra-legal violence, "violence within the government," which may be referring to how the government coerces its citizens to not transact drugs, by means of violence (that is, the government will arrest/hurt you if you do not comply), and that…

The quote meant violence tied to the dealings of groups operating in extra-legal markets.

Re: Did Shutting Down Silk Road Make the World a More Dangerous Place?

#30

Post by Touche »

BashiBazouk wrote: post #14

Did Silk Road even put a slight dent in street drug sellers in the first place? I would be surprised if street level sellers and buyers are internet savvy enough to use a service like this. SR looks more like the ideal system for savvy college students and young techs to specifically avoid the street level market.

Street sellers get their supply from people up the food chain who are savvy enough to use SR. I've not sure who you think the sellers on SR are, but they weren't mom and pops. As for the buyers, yes most likely white collar addicts.
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