John Kowalski
Banned
Black markets are generally bad man. Especially the illicit drug market.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Silk Road founder sentenced to life in prison
- Thread starter gutshot
- Start date
- Status
Black markets are generally bad man. Especially the illicit drug market.
Opus Angelorum
Member
Would make a great film.
block tower
Member
Why is selling drugs to people willing to buy them bad though? Besides the law saying it's bad I'm not understanding what the problem is. Deaths cause by alcohol , cigarettes, and heart disease are big killers in this country, I don't see anyone really on any moral crusades to take down the local McDonalds or Wendy's, or what about the corner liquor store that sells hard liquor and cigarettes ? No, so why is there this high and mighty moral attitude when it comes to drugs? I don't get it personally , to me someone willing to buy drugs is no different than the willing consumer stopping by the McDonalds a drive thru or liquor store, so I just can't agree in locking non violent drug distributors up for selling drugs to people willing to buy them.
PantherLotus
Professional Schmuck
Basically this comes down to whether you think Walter White, if less romantic and more internetty and perhaps a bit less personally violent, deserved life in prison.
Zeus Molecules
illegal immigrants are stealing our air
I cant wait for the movie about this guys life to come out. I imagine it to be 1 part social network and 1 part blow.
-MD-
Member
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/silk-road-creator-ross-ulbricht-sentenced-life-prison/
This says the hits were a scam against him, am I missing something?
This says the hits were a scam against him, am I missing something?
N.W.A better be on the sound track.
frankie_baby
Member
He doesn't deserve the sentence at all, if the government's of the world had a sensible drug policy then he wouldn't have needed to set up his site, the sentence should be passed to Obama, Cameron Merkel and the the like
Guy LeDouche
Banned
Assassinations, Child Porn, Weapons Trafficking
Silk Road facilitated more than just buying weed.
he was mostly talking to undercover cops lmao
THINK OPSEC, ROSS!
Silk Road facilitated more than just buying weed.
he was mostly talking to undercover cops lmao
THINK OPSEC, ROSS!
He ordered the hits but they were never carried out. The scammers just made off with the money he paid them.
Syph Medwes
Member
Bingo. Unfortunate but that's what happens. An amalgamation of charges, you knew something would stick. Not that other charges shouldn't, but that was definitely the kicker and most likely why the prosecution/government was weary of a plea deal involving cooperation that he no doubt would've taken. Still a landmark case as far as independent internet markets go. Wonder if this will have any ripple effect on bitcoin.
edit: price is actually up today lol
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Well I do actually think we should re-examine how we handle alcohol and especially cigarettes. And the difference is that opiates, like nicotine, create an actual chemical dependency. Yes, a person can theoretically get addicted to anything, but there are some substances that generate addictions at much higher rates, and even if a person willingly buys into starting to use such a substance that doesn't mean that they have the same chance to willingly stop using it. An addict is not really "willingly buying drugs" in the sense that I go to the store to buy cereal, not when the choice is "buy drugs or experience genuine physical and psychological pain and suffering". Yes ultimately there are ways to stop, but the dependency is itself a coercive influence on behavior.
If heroin users could just quit cold turkey easily I would have basically no problem with its sale, for the same reason that I'm more or less fine with marijuana.
You need to read the whole wired article I posted earlier.
Basically, people were pretending to steal from him, then pretending to be hitmen that would kill the thieves (themselves). And he paid them to kill the fake thieves, and they sent him staged photos of the fake thieves dead to prove that the hit happened.
The guy was an absolute sociopath.
frankie_baby
Member
Sounds like entrapment to me
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
I didnt even know you could order a hit in 2015
Well... just read the article, it's amazing.
One of the hits could be considered entrapment because the entire thing was orchestrated by the DEA/FBI, but the other 5 were just random people scamming him the entire time
I don't think it does actually. Silk Road if anything is actually a mirror of society. If you think of the actual cost in life from drug trafficking in the real world, Silk Road pales in comparison. The amount of people being slaughtered in Mexico for instance.
You can see how legalising the drug trade would solve a lot of these problems. I have certain reservations about heroin because of just how easily it can destroy lives, but the truth is, you are not going to stop the drug trade or people taking drugs. The best thing you can do is spend the money on helping people get off drugs rather than incarcerating them.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Hence why I'm for the rehabilitation and aid for users and addicts and take a harsh stance towards those who distribute and sell for their own profit
onadesertedisland
Member
The narrative on this should focus on how crazy unchecked Libertarianism is. And legalizing drugs would eliminate most of darkweb transactions.
Huh? That quote was pointing out that these internet libertarians think they have the answers, but of course they have absolutely no idea how the real world works. And Silk Road is an excellent parable to this.
I am 100% for the legalization and regulation of all drugs. Silk Road is the exact opposite of that.
frankie_baby
Member
Could still be argued as entrapment by others, the whole thing though is entrapment by a system that is fundamentally fucked
StopMakingSense
Member
Yep.
Sure, it's entrapment by others. What's your point? That has no legal bearing whatsoever.
frankie_baby
Member
And the war on drugs has no moral bearing
The thing is though, how long has the US been fighting the war on drugs? They are never going to stop the flow of drugs. It is not simply the harm it does to addicts either, the war on drugs is causing real problems for the countries these drugs are coming from and passing through. Drug trafficking itself perpetuates violence.
Another thing you can do by legalising it, is you are able to regulate it. You can avoid drugs being cut with all sorts of shit.
block tower
Member
Truth
Libertarians are also for the legalisation of drugs though. That is why I questioned it.
lmao this is probably one of the worst first posts in internet history.
Guy was a drug kingpin plain and simple. No sympathy for him at all.
terrisus
Member
Or come back to threads to follow up on a hit-and-run first post.
StopMakingSense
Member
Silk Road sold many things that weren't drugs.
Fried Food
Banned
Damn. Now I almost feel bad about having bought stuff from this site.
frankie_baby
Member
When I browsed it a couple of years ago drugs were the dirtiest things available
terrisus
Member
So "a couple of years ago drugs were the dirtiest things available."
And yet it continued on for years more after that.
frankie_baby
Member
Going up to quite close to the end
Yeah he tried to have people assassinated and statistically many of his customers overdosed and died.
frankie_baby
Member
He tried to have people assinated due to pressure from others and any customers that died knew the risks
His ideas of economic liberty should celebrated though.
Just wondering, do any members here know people in the DEA or members of the DEA or police force or anything? Just wondering what they think of taking people down on drug possession... do they really feel a sense of achievement for arresting someone because he/she was taking drugs?
Just wondering, do any members here know people in the DEA or members of the DEA or police force or anything? Just wondering what they think of taking people down on drug possession... do they really feel a sense of achievement for arresting someone because he/she was taking drugs?
PlayALLtheGames
Banned
Weeell ok, but I mean who HASN'T ordered one or two or five people killed in their lifetime, you know?
I mean, certainly we've all wanted to and just didn't have the resources. Are we really any more innocent than he?
- Status