Drug Raid In Israel - Bitcoin Involved

[bootlace]

Article here: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/30-arrested-in-raid-on-online-drug-distribution-ring-312441

Thoughts if Bitcoin is really indeed involved here:

1) So while the media has been incessantly talking about the supposed link between Bitcoin and online illegal drug sales, there is now direct evidence supporting this claim and I envision this story to be referenced ad infinitum from here onwards - a permanent smear that will hurt public perception.

2) Apparently undercover detective were involved buying drugs from the darknet. How does this affect Silk Road and anyone who sells/buys on there, surely precautions will be taken and this could hurt that service severely.

3) The trend of online drug sales shifting online with Bitcoin serving as the monetary agent allowing the transactions to be possible will not be lost on the authorities.  They will either step up such honey trap efforts and catch more culprits or alternatively a more severe crackdown on the currency is possible (not sure how this would be imposed).

Not the end of Bitcoin, but certainly could be a bump on the road.

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[SAQ]

That's like saying, Drug Raid in Israel - Money Involved

[granolageek]

That's a worse piece of slanted reporting and police puffery than the Australian police press release about the Silk Road customer the busted because he resold via text messages.

[ineededausername]

I hate when someone posts something tangentially FUD-related to Bitcoin, especially when it goes right in the Speculation section, not Press or Discussion.  It's obviously meant to troll down the price.

[byronbb]

Money does not buy drugs, people do.

[superduh]

Right, because this is the first drug bust involving a type of currency, possibly

[paraipan]

Right, because this is the first drug bust involving a real currency, possibly

FTFY, is like reporting people are buying drugs with gold and not using paper money...

[pera]

afaik it doesn't have any relation with SR so who cares

[Rygon]

So... is this bullish because presumably whomever had their computer confiscated could have had a large BTC balance that is now inaccessible? Or perhaps they are in jail and won't be able to spend it anytime soon unless they had a friend who had a backup? Less coins circulating for the rest of us!

[w00t]

Money does not buy drugs, people do.

+1 exactly my thoughts. I'm even wondering when something is connected with drugs or guns it's negative.

If a drug dealer uses MS Windows and MS Excel to maintain list of clients does it imply it's tool of bad people?

[gollum]

In most cases US Dollar bills are involved in drug deals. If you analyze a dollar bill you will most likely find small doses of cocain in that randomely selected bill.

[ewitte]

How about "drug raid in Afghanistan US military/government involved.  Collusion from a dozen more countries involved."

Or how about HFBC caught laundering drug money but prosecuting them may hurt the economy so we are letting them go

THIS is why the world needs bitcoin.  Most people don't know all the sick things going on in the background these days.

[countryfree]

The trade would have been in dollars, nobody would have complained about the currency.

There were drug dealing 5 years before bitcoin was invented and I doubt anyone could prove that drug trade has increased because of bitcoin.

[yona]

too bad people were involved

[bootlace]

I hate when someone posts something tangentially FUD-related to Bitcoin, especially when it goes right in the Speculation section, not Press or Discussion.  It's obviously meant to troll down the price.

I was speculating how this news could affect Bitcoin - wtf is wrong with that..whether right or wrong, justified or not, public perception doesn't give a shit about all the comparisons you guys are making to US dollars. Too many blind fanboys in here to engage in any worthwhile discussion..

[iCEBREAKER]

Money does not buy drugs, people do.

According to the Government Media Complex

-Bitcoins buy drugs (Bitcoins are notorious for their love of getting high and staying addicted at any cost.)

-Guns kill people (Guns are notorious for their unquenchable thirst for blood and propensity to initiate violence.)

-SUVs cause accidents (SUVs are notorious for being self-absorbed, terrible drivers and texting instead of paying attention.)

-Islam creates terrorism (The Koran is notorious for hijacking planes and crashing them into tall buildings.)

-People are at the mercy of inanimate objects (People are notorious for their lack of free will and propensity to be swayed by Bad Things.)

-Only the GMC can protect us from the dangers listed above (Internet media is notorious for telling secrets we don't need to know for our own good.)

[bootlace]

Money does not buy drugs, people do.

According to the Government Media Complex

-Bitcoins buy drugs (Bitcoins are notorious for their love of getting high and staying addicted at any cost.)

-Guns kill people (Guns are notorious for their unquenchable thirst for blood and propensity to initiate violence.)

-SUVs cause accidents (SUVs are notorious for being self-absorbed, terrible drivers and texting instead of paying attention.)

-Islam creates terrorism (The Koran is notorious for hijacking planes and crashing them into tall buildings.)

-People are at the mercy of inanimate objects (People are notorious for their lack of free will and propensity to be swayed by Bad Things.)

-Only the GMC can protect us from the dangers listed above (Internet media is notorious for telling secrets we don't need to know for our own good.)

This is what I mean, I agree this is wrong, but this is reality. Perception unfortunately matters more than reality folks.

[Kluge]

That hilarious video of Chuck Schumer looking at the Silk Road site on a laptop and appearing outraged is what initially brought me back to look at Bitcoin seriously, so.... I'd rather have a US Senator talking about it being impossible to trace than in an article about a drug raid. Drug rave, maybe - but not a drug raid.

Bitcoin being a tool for monetary privacy is great, but I doubt we'll see many articles where journalists buy drugs and report the police haven't been in contact with them, yet. 

Tangent:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VEueDUUe6Q
(I can't find the original nor load that one to tell if it's even the right video -- sorry if I picked the wrong one.)

[hammz]

Further analysis will probably reveal there were no actual drugs or people involved...

[repentance]

Tide laundry detergent is used as an intermediate currency in drug sales too but nobody's going to try to shut down Proctor and Gamble because of that.

A lot of people simply don't care about end users buying drugs so Bitcoin being used for that purpose isn't going to taint its public image.  If it became the preferred currency of drug cartels, the public might care more about associations between drugs and Bitcoin but right now that association operates at a level which most people don't care about.  Either they think SR is great because is gives people expanded access to recreational drugs or they don't care that it exists because the only people being affected by its existence are "drug users" (who they don't give a damn about anyway).

There are certainly things which could happen to make the general public give more of a shit about Bitcoin being used to facilitate drug transactions, but they haven't happened yet.