2012-07-19 gizmodo.com - The Secret Online Weapons Store That’ll Sell Anyone Any

[julz]

The Secret Online Weapons Store That’ll Sell Anyone Anything

Sam Biddle
2012-07-19

http://gizmodo.com/5927379/the-secret-online-weapons-store-thatll-sell-anyone-anything

...
Once you're actually signed in, you then have to turn to Bitcoins as mandatory currency, a further exercise in computer secrecy and complexity in itself.
...
So I wondered, just how easy is it to get a gun? A semi-auto, 9mm Beretta 92FS with "No scratches or dents, very slight wear from extremely light usage" would hit me for 338.69 bitcoins. At the current Bitcoin/Dollar exchange of roughly 9-to-1, that's a little over $3,000.
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[hazek]

A bunch of baseless fear mongering supported by scammers on the Armory trying to score and then a little bit of truth in the very very last paragraph:

The Armory shouldn't scare you, really. There are plenty of ways for a crook to buy guns, and there have been since both crooks and guns existed. The site doesn't represent some new influx of bullets into murderous hands, so much as it's a harbinger of things to come—and a klaxon for what's already here. The Armory is a tiny community, but the network that hides it is immense and near impossible to dismantle. We should find solace knowing that there are tools like TOR to keep our emails away from, say, the prying eyes of an oppressive regime. But this tool is powerful far beyond privacy. If even a single gun is shipped to a single person, we're living in a society in which things that kill people can be moved around the world with zero accountability. And then there might be the guy whose dream of a heavily armed third world coup d'état is more than just an experiment.

[koin]

i think i get how this works now.

on one day, someone buys up a lot of bitcoins causing the price to rally.  there was no news whatsoever but it rose nearly 10% (with average purchase price well under $8.50)

the next day comes the pump article from a conde nast publication which talks about the huge rally, which sucks in a lot more buyers (well over $9)

there is a little volatility, as the pumper unloads some of the bitcoins that had been bought.

then the next day from the exact same conde nast organization comes the dump article, how bitcoin is the grease that helps arm a guerrilla army

and once the price starts to dip, commence the huge selloff bringing things back to about where they were before (with average selling price well over $8.50)

someone at conde nast knowing in advance that the armory article would be coming out would probably not publish the "omfg itz $9" article.  but since it is two separate publications, there is plausible deniability.

[kiba]

i think i get how this works now.

on one day, someone buys up a lot of bitcoins causing the price to rally.  there was no news whatsoever but it rose nearly 10% (with average purchase price well under $8.50)

the next day comes the pump article from a conde nast publication which talks about the huge rally, which sucks in a lot more buyers (well over $9)

there is a little volatility, as the pumper unloads some of the bitcoins that had been bought.

then the next day from the exact same conde nast organization comes the dump article, how bitcoin is the grease that helps arm a guerrilla army

and once the price starts to dip, commence the huge selloff bringing things back to about where they were before (with average selling price well over $8.50)

someone at conde nast knowing in advance that the armory article would be coming out would probably not publish the "omfg itz $9" article.  but since it is two separate publications, there is plausible deniability.

Except the whole price increase is done before arstechnica reports on it.