Bitcoin and the Silk Road

[davout]

D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet

Actually it is not possible.

[maz]

I was thinking about The Silk Road website.  That site just totally fascinates me for some reason. It's just crazy that you can go on there and buy friggin' heroin just like you buy something from Amazon.com.

It fascinated me as well for a while, until I realized there are pubs in my city where the same services are available and have been for decades.

I dare say you need to be an 'expert' to use btc anonymously, just a fair bit of reading up on it.

No shit man, you are actually saying that you heard about Silk Road before even knowing that there are pubs in all the cities of the world where the same services are available and have been for decades?

FUCK. I must be old.

No, the other way around silly.

[farlack]

Well petty sure its more like:

Buyer:
You deposit funds to silkroad account:

Seller:
Silk road account pays you:

===========

So its not like if I send you coins, you send me crack, the coins are linked by a single transaction.

Then you put it in a spinner.

If you use pre-paid postage, and a fake name + address + gloves, they cant trace you.

It's against the law for the post office to open your mail, they have to have a warrant, and to get a warrant they need proof. For proof they need an x-ray, or a dog. If you stealth package your shit so a dog cant smell it, then you cant get a warrant.

You are so unaware of the system it's ridiculous.

A.) As time goes by the smell will come through the packaging, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SEAL IT, it is merely a question of time, say if you put it in a glass jar then you have 3 months until the smell is detectable outside of it, 3 air vacuum seals on top of each other will get you 12-20 hours.
B.) ALL the packages go through x-ray, dogs are incredibly effective at detecting drugs, furthermore the dog handler can make the dog do a false positive any time (can make the dog indicate as if it smelled something even though it didn't) and go through your shit.
C.) EVEN if you use a fake name + address + gloves, it's still not enough because you will need to change the gloves between every time you package something to not get particles on the outside of the package and cops will be waiting at mail drop boxes once they are aware of you, so enjoy your paranoia.
D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet, even easier to social engineer the shit out of you and dox you down to the color of your trousers.

Please stop spreading FUD and advertising an otherwise extremely dangerous lifestyle, you can make a decent living without ever getting into that shit.

You have no idea what you're talking about.
A) Can you smell soda through a can? Didn't think so. Also dogs cant smell through glass, you ever hear of a mason jar? As long as there are no molecules of the drug on the outside of packages they cant smell shit. And 3 months for a glass jar? The fuck are you going to have drugs in the mail for 3 months for.. seriously express is 1-2 days, its picked up in your international post office and flew in. And the USPS have to get a warrant to open your mail, they cant just open your shit.
B) IF ALL PACKAGES went though an X-ray, I feel like there would be ZERO sellers on silk road. Seriously tin foil will block the contents of the package.
C) Make a $2000 sale, change gloves big deal.
D) Right that's why silk road is doing $1-2Million a month in sales. You have no clue what you're talking about, so stop talking.


The post office have better things to do than to search everyone's mail, such as getting 1-2 day express shipping or your money back, where it needs to go.

[Rampion]

Well petty sure its more like:

Buyer:
You deposit funds to silkroad account:

Seller:
Silk road account pays you:

===========

So its not like if I send you coins, you send me crack, the coins are linked by a single transaction.

Then you put it in a spinner.

If you use pre-paid postage, and a fake name + address + gloves, they cant trace you.

It's against the law for the post office to open your mail, they have to have a warrant, and to get a warrant they need proof. For proof they need an x-ray, or a dog. If you stealth package your shit so a dog cant smell it, then you cant get a warrant.

You are so unaware of the system it's ridiculous.

A.) As time goes by the smell will come through the packaging, NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU SEAL IT, it is merely a question of time, say if you put it in a glass jar then you have 3 months until the smell is detectable outside of it, 3 air vacuum seals on top of each other will get you 12-20 hours.
B.) ALL the packages go through x-ray, dogs are incredibly effective at detecting drugs, furthermore the dog handler can make the dog do a false positive any time (can make the dog indicate as if it smelled something even though it didn't) and go through your shit.
C.) EVEN if you use a fake name + address + gloves, it's still not enough because you will need to change the gloves between every time you package something to not get particles on the outside of the package and cops will be waiting at mail drop boxes once they are aware of you, so enjoy your paranoia.
D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet, even easier to social engineer the shit out of you and dox you down to the color of your trousers.

Please stop spreading FUD and advertising an otherwise extremely dangerous lifestyle, you can make a decent living without ever getting into that shit.

You got all your facts wrongs, except the fact that you indeed need to change your gloves each time.

But you do not have any credibility, as all your statements and simply and plainly wrong.

[Bush]

What does it matter, people buy drugs daily anyways.

[2112]

I think Silk Road will do more for getting rid of gang violence than anything the police could ever do.

This is an intriguing possibility.  Imagine how much the gang violence in Mexico and Central America might be reduced, if demand for the services of those gangs were reduced by access to Silk Road, et al.

Non sequitur.

The gang violence would be simply redirected. Currently it is directed against the competing gangs and the police. The violence would spread to include the employees of the postal and courier services. Edit: not only against employees but also against the infrastucture: mail boxes and package lockers.

Net loss for the society.

[2112]

Whether gang violence would be redirected, rather than reduced, is unknowable without running the experiment.  With the rise of Silk Road, et al., have attacks against postal workers and facilities increased?  If not, it could be because activity related to those sites is still too small to register, and it could be that the thesis is in error.

This is being currently proven in some less-overpoliced regions of Europe. Package locker facilities are getting regularly firebombed; attacks on package couriers increased despite them no longer carrying any cash.

Silk Road is just the most widely known English language underground site. Mail order illicit drug sales have much longer history outside of the USA and even predating Bitcoin. Personally I think the spreading popularity of hidden-service Tor forums was the major enabler in this form of trade.

[tmbp]

D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet

Actually it is not possible.

"Not possible" is a pretty bold statement, an FBI agent could be sniffing the data coming through your internet cables right next to your house.

[davout]

D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet

Actually it is not possible.

"Not possible" is a pretty bold statement, an FBI agent could be sniffing the data coming through your internet cables right next to your house.

Have fun decrypting my encrypted traffic.

[Malawi]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

[QuestionAuthority]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

[Malawi]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

Hmmm, sounds like a myth.

[QuestionAuthority]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

Hmmm, sounds like a myth.

Well, it could be. I wouldn't know. I would never grow choice buds and mail some to my sister every year because that would be wrong.

[Malawi]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

Hmmm, sounds like a myth.

Well, it could be. I wouldn't know. I would never grow choice buds and mail some to my sister every year because that would be wrong.

If someone did grow choice buds and mailed some of that to his sister every year, it might pass straight trough even though a dog could have smelled it.

Maybee no dog checked it because it was domestic mail, or maybe the amounts were too small. A net does have openings.

[QuestionAuthority]

I'm not into silk road and that business, but would it not make more sense to pack the stuff in an airtight container and then dip it in some kind of strong solvent like acetone or hydrogen peroxide to remove smells?

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

Hmmm, sounds like a myth.

Well, it could be. I wouldn't know. I would never grow choice buds and mail some to my sister every year because that would be wrong.

If someone did grow choice buds and mailed some of that to his sister every year, it might pass straight trough even though a dog could have smelled it.

Maybee no dog checked it because it was domestic mail, or maybe the amounts were too small. A net does have openings.

That's true. They could be using a seal-a-meal to help out too. 

[tmbp]

Nah, just pack it in coffee. That fucks dogs up 100% of the time.

Myth. While training dogs they put some marijuana inside a ziploc bag along with acetone, coffee, hot sauce, diesel fuel, wall paint and body spray and dogs can still detect the marijuana inside easily. One thing to note is that dogs do not smell through the ziploc, it is the smell that evaporates through the ziploc as time goes by, it becomes easier for the dogs to detect the longer it stays in the ziploc.

The reason for this is dogs smell on different "channels", if a human smells a soup he can recognize that he smells a soup but if a dog smells a soup he recognizes all the individual ingredients, he smells the tomato, the chicken breast, the carrots, the cucumbers and so forth.

The only way to efficiently con the dog is to have food or cats nearby, thus when the dog signals the dog handler assumes the dog wants the food or the cat, not even really conning the dog but rather the dog handler.

D.) It isn't that hard for the government to check out which websites you're browsing on the deepnet

Actually it is not possible.

"Not possible" is a pretty bold statement, an FBI agent could be sniffing the data coming through your internet cables right next to your house.

Have fun decrypting my encrypted traffic.

Thinking logically, what would stop me from acquiring the keys that bounce around during the handshake? I have access to ALL of your traffic.

[justusranvier]

Thinking logically, what would stop me from acquiring the keys that bounce around during the handshake? I have access to ALL of your traffic.

Out of band key exchange.

[justusranvier]

Thinking logically, what would stop me from acquiring the keys that bounce around during the handshake? I have access to ALL of your traffic.

Out of band key exchange.

And how do you propose that? Homing pigeons?

I do not mean to sound like a pig, despite the fact that I am into sports and disregard narcotics everyone should be well educated on how vulnerable they are.

Suppose you are using a VPN so that your ISP can't snoop on your traffic. It could be possible to do a physical key exchange if the service has an office somewhere, or if you are connecting between two sites you control. That's one way to do it.

[QuestionAuthority]

Why don't you just go to your local college and pick up whatever you want? It's much easier. Or better yet make a doctors appointment. Doctors are the best pushers in town. I went to a doctor complaining about a lower backache and without knowing anything about me he gave me a script for Oxycodone with two refills. I was high for a month. lol

[pwi]

I think Silk Road will do more for getting rid of gang violence than anything the police could ever do.

This is an intriguing possibility.  Imagine how much the gang violence in Mexico and Central America might be reduced, if demand for the services of those gangs were reduced by access to Silk Road, et al.

This is not an endorsement of Silk Road, et al., but an observation about priorities.  Until recreational drugs are seen by regulators everywhere as a public health issue—as they are in the Netherlands, Portugal, and some other countries—rather than as a criminal issue, an step in the direction of less violence should be seen as a conditionally good thing.

Once again, engineers and entrepreneurs show the way.

Um...so long as contraband remains contraband the services of these groups will be in demand. The cartels will continue to battle over transit routes and supply chains unless the West eliminates the need by decriminalizing chemical and botanical experimentation and use. We are a long ways from that. We have guns to sell to the cartels, Wars on this and that to fund, and morality police to justify.

SR caters to tech savvy white guys that pay premium prices for their respective fix. It keeps the customer and the dealer relatively out of harm's way, if they are both smart.  They are rarely both are smart. The busts will still happen, but in the traditional sense (guy in blue smells reefer, buyer is loose, seller is followed from his supplier. Most of the dealers still deal locally, and many of the buyers are local dealers. If you do not agree, read the SR forum.

I do not transact on SR because I have neither the desire nor need for the wares. I admit that I was curious about the marketplace after hearing about it as a result of following Bitcoin. The main intrigue for me now is the unique escrow process, and the fact that there are more scammers here and other places selling legal wares than are on SR selling stolen CCs, fake IDs, and illicit substances. Fascinating. I'm happy it exist to meet demand because it keeps otherwise non-violent people out of the morgue and out of prisons. I wish they would do away with the criminal products that have real world victims (stolen paypal, CCs, etc). Individual liberties stop where others' liberties begin blah, blah, blah.