2013-08-14 Forbes: Dread Pirate Roberts, the Man Behind the Silk Road

[BitGo]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/meet-the-dread-pirate-roberts-the-man-behind-booming-black-market-drug-website-silk-road/

"“Meeting in person is out of the question,” he says. “I don’t meet in person even with my closest advisors.”"

"All my communications with Roberts are routed exclusively through the messaging system and forums of the website he owns and manages, the Silk Road."

"Roberts also has a political agenda: He sees himself not just as an enabler of street-corner pushers but also as a radical libertarian revolutionary carving out an anarchic digital space beyond the reach of the taxation and regulatory powers of the state"

"THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS isn’t shy about naming Silk Road’s active ingredient: The cryptographic digital currency known as Bitcoin. “We’ve won the State’s War on Drugs because of Bitcoin,” he writes."

"“We’re talking about the potential for a monumental shift in the power structure of the world,” Roberts writes. “The people now can control the flow and distribution of information and the flow of money. Sector by sector the State is being cut out of the equation and power is being returned to the individual.”"

[samson]

LOL Forbes !

[Spaceman_Spiff]

" When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. "

Or maybe he just decided not to waste his time on a bunch of idiots....  

What was the next question? "Can we meet at the nearest police station?"

Well-written though.

[2_Thumbs_Up]

Here is the entire interview, not just the article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/an-interview-with-a-digital-drug-lord-the-silk-roads-dread-pirate-roberts-qa/

[solex]

"THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS isn’t shy about naming Silk Road’s active ingredient: The cryptographic digital currency known as Bitcoin. “We’ve won the State’s War on Drugs because of Bitcoin,” he writes."

Sigh. With friends like this who needs enemies? .. and right as the NY and Senate investigations start. I wish DPR had just lurked in the shadows for all time.

[grondilu]

« When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. »

Unfuckingbelievable.   You gotta be seriously dumb to ask a drug dealer his name.

[aigeezer]

Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

The situation gives Forbes the perfect opportunity to say anything at all and attribute it to DPR.

For whatever reason, they didn't use the situation to say SR is collapsing or is Under the Eagle Eye of The Authorities, quite the opposite memes in fact. The main agenda seems to have been to reinforce a link between BTC and SR in their readers' minds - but why? Is it "evil BTC is used only by evil druggies" or is it "you can get anything you want with BTC, even naughty things"?

Weird apparent digression about how people were persuaded to use something by forbidding its use:

"... the king gave Parmentier some acreage for the growing of potatoes. Walls were put up and a guard established to protect the garden. The air of mystery aroused people’s curiosity, which was doubled when guards accepted bribes to allow people to dig up potatoes. All of this staging encouraged people to look at the humble tuber from a new perspective."

https://nobility.org/2012/10/15/recipe-louis-xvi-marie-antoinette-potato/

Machiavellian or clumsy - time will tell. There is an art in stumbling gracelessly toward one's goals, in looking like a fool while shaping reality all the while.

What does Forbes want? At first thought, they want only the status quo where they have a perch near the top. Perhaps it is as simple as that, perhaps not.

I look forward to the next chapter. More clues needed - I'm clueless.           

[zoinky]

« When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. »

Unfuckingbelievable.   You gotta be seriously dumb to ask a drug dealer his name.

Whoa whoa, who you calling a drug dealer? If anything he's an enabler  .

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.

[aigeezer]

Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.

Good point - you're right.

[bobdude17]

Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.

Good point - you're right.

He signed a warning before it was printed:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

I'd like forewarn everyone that in about 5 days an article will be published that is likely to generate a lot of buzz around Silk Road and attract new people to the site.  New information about me, the site and many things will be discussed and I have no doubt that it will produce some controversy.  I will be available to answer your questions here on the forums, and hopefully we'll have a fruitful discussion.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[aigeezer]

Thanks, guys. I was even more clueless than I realized. So we're pretty sure that it really is DPR and that he gave the interview (mainly) for the publicity, right?

How about the Forbes part? What do you think they want from these recent BTC/drug articles? Why are they doing them, and why in the mid-August media lull?

I'm too chastened to float another hypothesis right now but maybe I can counter or endorse someone else's.         

Mutter, mutter - it really is DPR but why the heck would he want to draw attention to BTC like that if it's his "secret ingredient"? Something still seems weird.

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Mutter, mutter - it really is DPR but why the heck would he want to draw attention to BTC like that if it's his "secret ingredient"? Something still seems weird.

Free publicity for SR?

[StreakfortheBTC]

I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.


Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....


Just saying.

[Spaceman_Spiff]

I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.

Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....

Just saying.

DPR probably thinks he is uncatchable, which may be true or not.  Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.  Wish he had just kept himself in the shadows...

[vokain]

government has power if you give it power. i think it's time for a paradigm shift

[Bitcopia]

I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.

Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....

Just saying.

DPR probably thinks he is uncatchable, which may be true or not.  Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.  Wish he had just kept himself in the shadows...

Agreed. This attention is not good for bitcoin at the moment. Even if you don't care about using bitcoin "legitimately" within the existing financial paradigm, this still doesn't help anybody except for SR vendors.

[justusranvier]

Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.

So you're saying I shouldn't publish my illustrated step-by-step tutorial designed to teach people in the sex work industry how to use Bitcoin?

[Bitware]

What does Forbes want?

Forbes goes back to the 1900 teens employed by William Randolph Hearst. He was a financial columnist at the time the Money Trust (bankers) and foundations bought up all the major newspapers. He was put there by Hearst - I believe - at the behest of the financial interests that got the Federal Reserve and Revenue Acts of 1913 enacted to give positive light to the new legislation. I believe this because in 1933 Hearst was defaulting on a loan... and the bankers extended it instead of forclosing like they did with everyone else who could not pay up. One of the biggest property, business and land grabs in all of human history, and the bankers were relentless and non-caring about it to, and the banks just let him go so he would not lose his land held in collateral. Bullshit. He was repaid a debt for a lot of work conditioning the public for decades.

Hearst and Forbes were also both heavily involved in investment banking and politics.

Make no mistake about it... Forbes relies on the traditional financial/economic systems for their quality of life, wealth and power. Bitcoin represents the end of all of that. They are scared and this is a blow on the battlefield.

It's a hit-piece to associate drugs/terrorism to Bitcoin...

Here's What It's Like To Buy Drugs On Three Anonymous Online Black Markets

Bitcoin gets the FBI, Homeland treatment

Bitcoin Investigation: Is this the end of virtual currency?

They want to tax it and control it.

Congress is talking about it right now.

[vokain]

They can try