Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

[jt byte]

I'd be cool with the life sentence if he was actually prosecuted for the supposed attempt to hire a hitman, but that charge was dropped. Giving someone life without parole as a first time non violent offender is obscene. 10 years in prison would have been much more reasonable.

[Cryddit]

I'd be cool with the life sentence if he was actually prosecuted for the supposed attempt to hire a hitman, but that charge was dropped. Giving someone life without parole as a first time non violent offender is obscene. 10 years in prison would have been much more reasonable.

This.  I'm glad to have the asshole behind bars 'cause he was bad for business, but I think a life sentence was unjustified considering that they didn't even get a conviction on the murder charge. 

The dude is a first offender.  As far as I'm concerned rape, torture and murder are really about the only things that can justify life sentences, and while there was a murder charge they could have prosecuted, they didn't.

[Bit_Happy]

Agreed that Ross has a bleak future, but if "if everything was legalised" a libertarian President could pardon over a million people in jail for victimless crimes. (?)
Do pardons have to be for individuals, or can a USA President do a sweeping pardon of all people convicted of certain crimes, both State and Federal?

That's an interesting question. I would've thought it could only be used for individually considered cases otherwise the prez would be accused of discarding entire laws which makes a mockery of the existing mockery.

If someone did do that they'd probably be voted straight out again by the hang 'em high crew.

I know they can't do anything about state and local level convictions.

The law as written:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Sweeping pardons are not specifically forbidden or granted under article two of the Constitution but I can't imagine a situation where multiple applications could not be reviewed and acted on separately by the Executive Office of the President. The Presidents advisors would review the applications and suggest a pardon. All he has to do is sign them. It's not that much work for him to do them separately.

It's not uncommon, however, for a state governor to pardon (grant clemency) to all prisoners on death row before leaving office. Several hundred are usually pardoned at once.

Awesome details, thanks for helping us question authority. QuestionAuthority. 

[notrelated2]

Message to Law Enforcement

(...)

3.) now let me ask you, do you think what you are doing now is really beneficial to the world?

The overwhelming majority of both active military and police are not doing it for altruistic reasons, they are doing it because it is reliable career option for terrified young people with no or few other options. There's a reason you always see military recruiters centers near community colleges and high schools in poor neighborhoods.  Like the person jumping from the window of a burning building, for people raised in relative poverty, any way out is good enough. The way they (accurately) see it, at least on the police force they have a future, will have a chance to make friends and get laid.

In most places, being a police officer isn't actually all that dangerous. It's much safer than being a garbageman, for example. Still, if you offered these folks a career with equal pay and similar benefits that didn't involve the risk of being shot, many of them would probably take it. But for most of them such a life is a privilege they will never have. Like nearly all of us do, they're behaving rationally in their own self interest. They're not considering that being paid to violate the non-aggression principle is fundamentally unethical regardless of the circumstances. That sort of thinking is reserved for people who live in a different world, a world of safety and comfort, of couches and laptops and cofeeshops.

When an 18 year old poor kid decides to sign up for the army during wartime, he is essentially saying "I'll try my luck with this new hell, it can't possibly be worse than the hell I'm coming from". And most of them are probably right.

..

Most of them.

other explanation (why crimes is essential)

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/east-india-company-original-corporate-raiders

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/30/it-will-take-100-years-for-the-worlds-poorest-people-to-earn-125-a-day

[scarsbergholden]

so people know how crazy ross sentence is, read up a little on a man name salvatore mancuso http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/colombian-paramilitary-leader-sentenced-more-15-years-prison-international-drug-trafficking

i wouldn't doubt is this Colombian Paramilitary leader has more the 2,000 deaths under his commands plus all the drugs he pumped into the states.

is just plain crazy for 15 years.

[Gervais]

I'd be cool with the life sentence if he was actually prosecuted for the supposed attempt to hire a hitman, but that charge was dropped. Giving someone life without parole as a first time non violent offender is obscene. 10 years in prison would have been much more reasonable.

This.  I'm glad to have the asshole behind bars 'cause he was bad for business, but I think a life sentence was unjustified considering that they didn't even get a conviction on the murder charge. 

The dude is a first offender.  As far as I'm concerned rape, torture and murder are really about the only things that can justify life sentences, and while there was a murder charge they could have prosecuted, they didn't.

Bad for what business? Who's business? Without Silk Road bitcoin might not have got to where it is today. For many people the coverage bitcoin received in the media via silk road was their first introduction to bitcoin myself included. I agree the sentence was harsh though. You can rape and murder someone and get less time than what Ross got. Even people who attempt to hire hitmen to kill people usually only get 5 years or something so that shouldn't have affected his sentence much even if it was relevant to this trial (which it wasn't).

[scarsbergholden]

I'd be cool with the life sentence if he was actually prosecuted for the supposed attempt to hire a hitman, but that charge was dropped. Giving someone life without parole as a first time non violent offender is obscene. 10 years in prison would have been much more reasonable.

This.  I'm glad to have the asshole behind bars 'cause he was bad for business, but I think a life sentence was unjustified considering that they didn't even get a conviction on the murder charge. 

The dude is a first offender.  As far as I'm concerned rape, torture and murder are really about the only things that can justify life sentences, and while there was a murder charge they could have prosecuted, they didn't.

Bad for what business? Who's business? Without Silk Road bitcoin might not have got to where it is today. For many people the coverage bitcoin received in the media via silk road was their first introduction to bitcoin myself included. I agree the sentence was harsh though. You can rape and murder someone and get less time than what Ross got. Even people who attempt to hire hitmen to kill people usually only get 5 years or something so that shouldn't have affected his sentence much even if it was relevant to this trial (which it wasn't).

a lot of people will denied that the silk road bitcoin volume didn't help bitcoin to boost up, given the fact with out that volume things would have never gotten that much exposure on the general tech savvy world.

[Wonka]

a lot of people will denied that the silk road bitcoin volume didn't help bitcoin to boost up, given the fact with out that volume things would have never gotten that much exposure on the general tech savvy world.

Who would deny that? I think it's actually undeniable that Silk Road transactions were massive for bitcoin and actually gave bitcoin it's first widespread use and definitely boosted its value.

[Cryddit]

It might have helped with adoption, but after adoption you need legitimacy.  Silk Road had become a hindrance rather than a help, long before it got taken out. 

If your best-known or only known model lets people believe  Bitcoin is just a means of committing crime, then Bitcoin has no long-term value because it will be treated only as a means of committing crime.

In some kind of bizarro-land way, we are probably fortunate that the FBI agents investigating this case were so completely crooked.  It at least prevents people from neatly categorizing all the people doing business in Bitcoin as having been the only crooks involved.  Hey, a Bitcoin business was at least comparable in legitimacy to the FBI's finest!

[bryant.coleman]

so people know how crazy ross sentence is, read up a little on a man name salvatore mancuso http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/colombian-paramilitary-leader-sentenced-more-15-years-prison-international-drug-trafficking

i wouldn't doubt is this Colombian Paramilitary leader has more the 2,000 deaths under his commands plus all the drugs he pumped into the states.

is just plain crazy for 15 years.

Salvatore Mancuso fought for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which is funded and armed by the United States. Most of the times, he was merely following the orders from his American masters. He was sentenced to prison, for trying to smuggle cocaine in to the United States, and not for killing those 2,000 people.

[scarsbergholden]

Who would deny that? I think it's actually undeniable that Silk Road transactions were massive for bitcoin and actually gave bitcoin it's first widespread use and definitely boosted its value.

Most of the people that say silk road or any usage of bitcoin in the dark web is bad for bitcoin, i seen quite a lot of people saying that the dark usages of bitcoin are a cancer for bitcoin to grow in the general public.

[gentlemand]

Most of the people that say silk road or any usage of bitcoin in the dark web is bad for bitcoin, i seen quite a lot of people saying that the dark usages of bitcoin are a cancer for bitcoin to grow in the general public.

There's still a ton of dark web usage for it. It doesn't seem to pop up as a subject very often any more. All the mainstream stuff has drowned it out somewhat.

[foxbitcoin]

I'm not advocating for drug dealers, but come on. give him 20 years or something, but life in prison ? For running an illegal website?

[AGD]

I'm not advocating for drug dealers, but come on. give him 20 years or something, but life in prison ? For running an illegal website?

I don't agree with the sentence either, but what he did, was not just "running an illegal website".

[JJB]

I'm not advocating for drug dealers, but come on. give him 20 years or something, but life in prison ? For running an illegal website?

I don't agree with the sentence either, but what he did, was not just "running an illegal website".

What else was it? It was just a market.... a free market at the end of the day. Most libertarians believe people should be able to take whatever drugs they wanted and this facilitated that for them. Obviously what he did was a crime in the eyes of the law but others would argue it was just a free market and people sold and bought what they wished.

[AGD]

I'm not advocating for drug dealers, but come on. give him 20 years or something, but life in prison ? For running an illegal website?

I don't agree with the sentence either, but what he did, was not just "running an illegal website".

What else was it? It was just a market.... a free market at the end of the day. Most libertarians believe people should be able to take whatever drugs they wanted and this facilitated that for them. Obviously what he did was a crime in the eyes of the law but others would argue it was just a free market and people sold and bought what they wished.

He earned commission from all sales incl hard drugs, which is the definition of drug dealing and not just "running an illegal website". Also he didn't pay tax (of course) and was defending his drug empire with violence (Maryland indiction). He was conspiring with other people to maintain his business. This is not the same as for example release a free warez site or hacking stuff, which I would call "an illegal website", but not SilkRoad. Ross intended to gain money in form of Bitcoins with Heroin sales for example.

A free market is something like OpenBazaar, but definitely not SilkRoad.

[gambit1]

I feel for Ross but we need serious people leading in the crypto communities, not silly men-children like Kapeles and Ulbricht.

That Ross would run it from a cafe on an unencrypted laptop in the US beggars belief. Thats more dopey than anything Kapeles did and should win him an award for America's dumbest criminal.

We need leader of the community who are serious people. People in suits. People who take things seriously, act professionally and don't regard crytpo as a game. People who look and act more at home in a corporate board room than at Starbucks.

 Crypto has made great strides in its short history, now to kick on it needs real leaders.

The age of the hobbyist, 30 something manchild as a leader in crypto is comming to an end and not soon enough.

[gentlemand]

I feel for Ross but we need serious people leading in the crypto communities, not silly men-children like Kapeles and Ulbricht.

That Ross would run it from a cafe on an unencrypted laptop in the US beggars belief. Thats more dopey than anything Kapeles did and should win him an award for America's dumbest criminal.

We need leader of the community who are serious people. People in suits. People who take things seriously, act professionally and don't regard crytpo as a game. People who look and act more at home in a corporate board room than at Starbucks.

It often amazes me to think how far it's come off the back of infrastructure run by a bunch of autistic psychopaths. It amazes me even more that thousands of people chose to entrust them with their money.

I don't think we need corporate robots. Just decent and skilled people with the passion to steer things in the right direction. People like Jesse Powell from Kraken are a whole lot more reassuring to have around than some stiff who waltzed in fresh from his MBA. It still needs a bit of vision to get where it deserves.

[Bitcoininspace]

I feel for Ross but we need serious people leading in the crypto communities, not silly men-children like Kapeles and Ulbricht.

That Ross would run it from a cafe on an unencrypted laptop in the US beggars belief. Thats more dopey than anything Kapeles did and should win him an award for America's dumbest criminal.

We need leader of the community who are serious people. People in suits. People who take things seriously, act professionally and don't regard crytpo as a game. People who look and act more at home in a corporate board room than at Starbucks.

It often amazes me to think how far it's come off the back of infrastructure run by a bunch of autistic psychopaths. It amazes me even more that thousands of people chose to entrust them with their money.

I don't think we need corporate robots. Just decent and skilled people with the passion to steer things in the right direction. People like Jesse Powell from Kraken are a whole lot more reassuring to have around than some stiff who waltzed in fresh from his MBA. It still needs a bit of vision to get where it deserves.

Well we saw what happened with mtgox when people trusted others with their money. Bitcoin should be the rule number 1 where people should start to learn that trusting anyone except yourself with your money is just not gonna work out for you in the end.

[gambit1]

Sure, I agree with that. You don't have to be an empty suit, but you should probably at least be wearing one.