Bitcoin Forum

Aussie coppers bedeviled by online contraband networks
War on the Silk Road requires legal barriers dismantled and police technical skills to be mapped.

Darren Pauli
2012-09-10

http://www.scmagazine.com.au/News/314984,aussie-coppers-bedeviled-by-online-contraband-networks.aspx
(also here: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/315014,police-struggle-with-online-drug-networks.aspx)

...
Each element of Silk Road transactions is wrapped in security. The site operates as a hidden service that hides its server IP address, while users connect through the Tor network which is constantly tested for security holes by thousands of users. Users buy drugs, weapons and other contraband through the untraceable BitCoin online currency.
...

The report flagged possible attacks against the Tor network, and cited previous research including Perez-Gonzalez and Crandall's timing and fingerprint analysis, and man-in-the-middle attacks against exit nodes. It said it was unknown if the latter attack was possible against Tor hidden services.

‎"The main weakness of a tor hidden service AFAIK is that the address doesn't have enough bits of entropy. However even if you did crack the silk-road address, many users on the forums use GPG to communicate.

The other issue is a legal one, what happens if you order a less than trafficking quantity of drugs?? Is it worth the police's time to track and prosecute you.

Finally, those who order on-line, most likely will not be using their real-name, and will not ship to their real-address (maybe ship to a letter-box of a vacant unit?) Even if the police tracked the letter, it is going to be very difficult to prove guilt, if they don't also camp outside the said letter-box.

In many ways I think that the enforcement of the prohibition drugs it up a creak without a paddle. The obvious solution, (legalize drugs), is in-fact the most rational also."