What do you think about those that helped bring Silk road down?

[AceWallen]

I havent heard one way or another here on bitcointalk, I was wondering what the consensus is.. Are they heros or rats?

Just curious.....

they are rats. the lowest scum there is. people will die in prison because of these snitch f**ks. they deserve every horrible thing coming to them.

and look at this http://devtome.com/doku.php?id=arrests_of_silk_road_users --> just the start of people going down. this is so messed up.

STOP SNITCHIN!

[1714158794]

1714158794

[celestica]

I don't blame people at all who might have been pressured into giving information by FBI. I'd have done the same.

However, I get the sense that people giving info was not actually a major contributing factor to the crackdown and subsequent arrests. Seems more like people making basic errors that exposed them- like not encrypting messages, or handwriting labels on packages instead of typing them (that was a contributing factor to Nod's arrest). People got too comfortable, thinking using Tor and an anonymous currency was enough to keep them hidden. Even DPR. I think that's more to blame than anything.

[TheButterZone]

Look at the US War on Drugs.  Laughable how badly they have failed.  Best to legalize it like they did booze.

Don't know if you've got kids or not. I have, and in your scenario the thought that when they are older they could pop out to a corner shop, buy some bread, milk and a big bag of heroin, fills me with unimaginable terror.

They can do that NOW, from the dealer hanging outside the corner shop. Only now, they risk getting killed before they can even take the heroin.

[beekeeper]

SilkRoad creator brought it down by the mistakes he did. Including lol idea with the hitmans. As someone said, if you get FBI at your door only option is to comply.

[beekeeper]

SilkRoad creator brought it down by the mistakes he did. Including lol idea with the hitmans. As someone said, if you get FBI at your door only option is to comply.

Well yes you're right.
He should have used the money and moved somewhere in some mountain in Asia and live in a hut where he would never be found again  

I don't know about that, probably won't work, everybody on a radius of 100 km will know there is a white guy living on that mountain..

[darkmule]

Is there some information that this question is based on? I haven't heard about people helping to bring down Silk Road. Who helped?

Anyway, my position is that the destruction of Silk Road is good for Bitcoin, but it is bad for humanity.

Read the Maryland indictment.

The first person DPR allegedly took out a hit on was SR-affiliated and got busted, and apparently turned informant.  When DPR supposedly took out a hit on him, the guy he hired to do it turned out to be a fed.

The second was the FriendlyChemist guy, who supposedly tried to extort money from DPR.  DPR also communicated with someone (perhaps the same someone) purporting to be "redandwhite," one of FC's suppliers, to whom FC supposedly owed money.  Since it's not clear how these guys ended up being referenced in the criminal complaint, it is entirely possible one of them was also a federal informant, and/or both of them were the same person.  Again supposedly, the feds found this through monitoring the private messages at SR.

(If it turns out both of these guys, the Maryland indictment guy and FC/raw, were informants, DPR might have a defense on the murder solicitations, basically that there would have been no violent crime if it weren't for the feds manufacturing one--i.e. like the John DeLorean case.  He'll have a tougher time arguing that wrt the drug charges, though.)

[User705]

Look at the US War on Drugs.  Laughable how badly they have failed.  Best to legalize it like they did booze.

Don't know if you've got kids or not. I have, and in your scenario the thought that when they are older they could pop out to a corner shop, buy some bread, milk and a big bag of heroin, fills me with unimaginable terror.

Why terror?  Presumably you are ok with them buying fat, sugar, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and various pain killers but you draw the line at heroin?  It used to be sold at local drug stores alongside cocaine and civilized society seemed to survive fine.

[odolvlobo]

Don't know if you've got kids or not. I have, and in your scenario the thought that when they are older they could pop out to a corner shop, buy some bread, milk and a big bag of heroin, fills me with unimaginable terror.

Are you really terrified that your kids are going to start shooting up? Be realistic.

[TheButterZone]

Who should actually be filled with unimaginable terror as the drug war continues: people who live anywhere near, or in what could possibly be mistaken for, a drug dealer/user's home.

Gotta love drug search warrants being "mistakenly" executed at the homes of law-abiding gun/dog owners, who then proceed to become "collateral damage".

[cryptoanarchist]

The people who helped are rats.

The agents themselves are thieves and thugs.

They both aggressed against people who had victimized no one.

[dank]

Look at the US War on Drugs.  Laughable how badly they have failed.  Best to legalize it like they did booze.

Don't know if you've got kids or not. I have, and in your scenario the thought that when they are older they could pop out to a corner shop, buy some bread, milk and a big bag of heroin, fills me with unimaginable terror.

If you have concern your kids may be dabbling in heroin, you should probably talk to them about it.

I'm sure they could get their hands on synthetic heroin if they tried anyways.

[ilovealtcoins]

Look at the US War on Drugs.  Laughable how badly they have failed.  Best to legalize it like they did booze.

Don't know if you've got kids or not. I have, and in your scenario the thought that when they are older they could pop out to a corner shop, buy some bread, milk and a big bag of heroin, fills me with unimaginable terror.

Why? I mean yeah currently heroin is currently seen as an extremely dangerous drug. But really that's just it's street form. When dealers "cut" heroin they cut it with agents that can cause diseases and such, but if it were legalized and regulated they would be getting "clean" heroin which is much safer then even morphine which is used around the world in hospitals today. Even in the UK they prescribe Diamorphine which is heroin without the brand name.

So yeah I get that it would be scary but really the only "danger" is becoming addicted and since it would be available at any corner shop it would be much easier to get.

Just saying... your worries are misguided.