Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht Sentenced to Life in Prison

[bitcollins85]

I wondered if he hadn't been involved with murder if the sentence would still have been the same?

[gentlemand]

I wondered if he hadn't been involved with murder if the sentence would still have been the same?

None of that came up in the trial at all. There was enough to put him away for as long as they liked already. I'm sure it can't have helped his general perception but it was all a bit murky anyway.

[Cryddit]

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.

This sounds reasonable, but seriously, America has some incredibly dumb criminals.  He's not even in the running compared to a guy who robbed a bank while wearing no mask, driving his own car, passed the holdup note to the teller written on the back of one of his own account's deposit slips at the same bank, and then got stuck in a multi-car pileup in the parking lot because his girlfriend lost control of her pet duck.  

Not saying that what Ulbricht did wasn't stupid of course.  It was.  It's just that you have to overcome some VERY stiff competition for the title of 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.

Yep.  To develop businesses, you need people who treat it as a business.  Not as a game, or a hobby, or a scam.

That said, I'm tempted by a distinctly 'hobbyist' impulse myself - to copy the silk road website software (now in the public record as evidence) and set up a "homage" site selling perfectly legal silks and spices.  Of course, at that point I'd have to compete with Ebay and Amazon, so it would probably never be profitable.  

[Cryddit]

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 think you have to separate the autistics and the psychopaths here.  The code was developed by some not-entirely-social engineers who might possibly have been autistic and/or Aspergers syndrome, and their entire point was telling people, Look, with crypto technology we're developing, you don't need to trust anybody with your money - especially not us!  No central point of control, nobody but you has your keys, nobody can take your coins or steal them without your cooperation.  And all of that?  That's true.  The "Autistics" actively developed a genuine trustless network where your keys are your money, you can check the blockchain yourself, and you don't have to share access to your money with anybody.  

The psychopaths came along later and built on the perception of a "trustless" network - while getting people to trust them (the psychopaths that is) with their keys and getting people to NOT check the blockchain themselves.  That's where we got web wallets, SPV clients, Mt.Gox, and all the con games that flatly wouldn't have worked if people used Bitcoin exactly like the "autistics" made it to be used.

[gambit1]

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.

This sounds reasonable, but seriously, America has some incredibly dumb criminals.  He's not even in the running compared to a guy who robbed a bank while wearing no mask, driving his own car, passed the holdup note to the teller written on the back of one of his own account's deposit slips at the same bank, and then got stuck in a multi-car pileup in the parking lot because his girlfriend lost control of her pet duck.  

Not saying that what Ulbricht did wasn't stupid of course.  It was.  It's just that you have to overcome some VERY stiff competition for the title of 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.

Yep.  To develop businesses, you need people who treat it as a business.  Not as a game, or a hobby, or a scam.

That said, I'm tempted by a distinctly 'hobbyist' impulse myself - to copy the silk road website software (now in the public record as evidence) and set up a "homage" site selling perfectly legal silks and spices.  Of course, at that point I'd have to compete with Ebay and Amazon, so it would probably never be profitable.  

Lol

[Brad Pitt]

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.

Drug dealing is drug dealing. He didn't directly sell the drugs but facilitated their sale only. And some people think taxation is theft but if govs legalized drugs then they could collect their taxes and end the drug war over night. He also hasn't been tried for the murder for hire and the case seems to have been dropped. Could have been entirely fabricated by the corrupt officers for all we know. Finally, warez sites usually make money from ads and commission from filehosters so they're still taking their cut

[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.

Drug dealing is drug dealing. He didn't directly sell the drugs but facilitated their sale only. And some people think taxation is theft but if govs legalized drugs then they could collect their taxes and end the drug war over night. He also hasn't been tried for the murder for hire and the case seems to have been dropped. Could have been entirely fabricated by the corrupt officers for all we know. Finally, warez sites usually make money from ads and commission from filehosters so they're still taking their cut

It doesn't matter how much you try to twist reality. Earning money with drug sales still make you a drug dealer. Conspiring with others in drug dealing makes it even worse.

[gambit1]

The idea of doing a silk road site selling spices and silk is AWESOME. Lets do it 

[gentlemand]

The idea of doing a silk road site selling spices and silk is AWESOME. Lets do it 

And give a discount for law enforcement.

[gambit1]

Indeed. You could totally make money of silk and spices. Could sell traditionally made persian rugs too because why not?

[Gervais]

The idea of doing a silk road site selling spices and silk is AWESOME. Lets do it 

Well I'm sure that would be great and all, but I can't imagine people will flock to a underground deep web market just to buy spices, but I'm sure there are already markets on the clearnet for doing this and maybe some already called Silk road.

[Cryddit]

Oh, hey, I could have drugs on the homage site too.  In addition to silks and spices, it could sell aspirin and ibuprofen and nasal decongestants and antacids and ....  See, then we could set up a site that did drug deals too! 

[needsHELP]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

[scarsbergholden]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

i dont think a pardon is need it here, let him get a fair trial with out any corruption from the government or any political pressure and no pardon will be needed.

[bryant.coleman]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

Highly unlikely. Even if Rand personally wants to either pardon Ross Ullbricht, or to reduce his sentence, his colleagues in the Republican party will not allow him to do that. The right-wing religious nuts within the Republican party will revolt against Rand, and they will accuse him of siding with drug dealers and pedophiles. His reputation will be permanently tarnished.

[needsHELP]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

i dont think a pardon is need it here, let him get a fair trial with out any corruption from the government or any political pressure and no pardon will be needed.

Giving him a fair trial is basically the same thing as giving him a pardon, no?

[needsHELP]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

Highly unlikely. Even if Rand personally wants to either pardon Ross Ullbricht, or to reduce his sentence, his colleagues in the Republican party will not allow him to do that. The right-wing religious nuts within the Republican party will revolt against Rand, and they will accuse him of siding with drug dealers and pedophiles. His reputation will be permanently tarnished.

I admit I am a bit naive when it comes to politics, but I'm talking about if he becomes president. Wouldn't he be leading the party if that happened?

[josephno1]

Will president Rand Paul pardon Ross?

Why would he?

[jslim18]

Some left over here:

Former U.S. agent pleads guilty to bitcoin theft in Silk Road probe
http://airkayu.com/content/former-us-agent-pleads-guilty-bitcoin-theft-silk-road-probe

[madonnino]

and yet how many years will give to those who instead of finding out the truth,  made money on it?
I would give more 'years to corrupt cop that a citizen who commits a crime