Silk Road (marketplace): Difference between revisions

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| collapsetext =
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| caption = Item description page
| caption = Item description page
| url = [http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/ http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion]<!--Link is NOT dead. It must be accessed via TOR.--><ref>Formerly [http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/ http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/]{{dead link|date=September 2012}}; SR [http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=6235.msg53965#msg53965 announced a move]{{dead link|date=September 2012}} on 1 December 2011</ref> (requires [[Tor (anonymity network)|tor]]) (requires registration) ([http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page wiki] / [http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php forum]{{dead link|date=September 2012}})
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| url =
| slogan =
| commercial =
| type = Online marketplace
| registration =
| language = English
| num_users =
| content_license =
| owner = "Dread Pirate Roberts"
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| author =
| editor =
| launch_date = February 2011
| alexa =
| revenue =
| current_status = Online
| footnotes =
}}

'''Silk Road''' is an online [[marketplace]] whose operators run it as a [[Tor hidden service]]. The majority of products that sellers list on Silk Road qualify as [[contraband]] in most jurisdictions.<ref name="GawkerChen">{{Cite news |url=http://gawker.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable |title=The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable |author=[[Adrian Chen]] |accessdate=15 June 2011 |date=1 June 2011 |work=[[Gawker]]}}</ref> [[NPR]] has referred to the site as the "Amazon.com of illegal drugs";<ref name=npr1>{{cite news|title=Silk Road: Not Your Father's Amazon.com|url=http://www.npr.org/2011/06/12/137138008/silk-road-not-your-fathers-amazon-com|accessdate=5 November 2011|newspaper=[[All Things Considered]]|date=12 June 2011|author=NPR Staff|format=Broadcast radio segment|agency=[[NPR]]|quote=The e-commerce website Silk Road is being called the Amazon.com of illegal drugs.}}</ref> [[The Economist]] has likewise described it, in an article on [[Bitcoin]], as "a sort of eBay for drugs hidden in a dark corner of the web known as [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/21563752 |title=Monetarists Anonymous |date=September 29, 2012 |work=The Economist}}</ref>. Annual sales are estimated to be $22 million<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales/ Black Market Drug Site 'Silk Road' Booming: $22 Million In Annual Sales - Forbes]</ref>
'''Silk Road''' is an online [[marketplace]] whose operators run it as a [[Tor hidden service]]. The majority of products that sellers list on Silk Road qualify as [[contraband]] in most jurisdictions.<ref name="GawkerChen">{{Cite news |url=http://gawker.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable |title=The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable |author=[[Adrian Chen]] |accessdate=15 June 2011 |date=1 June 2011 |work=[[Gawker]]}}</ref> [[NPR]] has referred to the site as the "Amazon.com of illegal drugs";<ref name=npr1>{{cite news|title=Silk Road: Not Your Father's Amazon.com|url=http://www.npr.org/2011/06/12/137138008/silk-road-not-your-fathers-amazon-com|accessdate=5 November 2011|newspaper=[[All Things Considered]]|date=12 June 2011|author=NPR Staff|format=Broadcast radio segment|agency=[[NPR]]|quote=The e-commerce website Silk Road is being called the Amazon.com of illegal drugs.}}</ref> [[The Economist]] has likewise described it, in an article on [[Bitcoin]], as "a sort of eBay for drugs hidden in a dark corner of the web known as [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/21563752 |title=Monetarists Anonymous |date=September 29, 2012 |work=The Economist}}</ref>. Annual sales are estimated to be $22 million<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales/ Black Market Drug Site 'Silk Road' Booming: $22 Million In Annual Sales - Forbes]</ref>


Revision as of 02:45, 4 November 2012

Silk Road
File:Silk Road Logo.png
A user selling cookies
Item description page
Type of site
Online marketplace
Available inEnglish
Owner"Dread Pirate Roberts"
URLhttp://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion[1] (requires tor) (requires registration) (wiki / forum[dead link])
LaunchedFebruary 2011
Current statusOnline

Silk Road is an online marketplace whose operators run it as a Tor hidden service. The majority of products that sellers list on Silk Road qualify as contraband in most jurisdictions.[2] NPR has referred to the site as the "Amazon.com of illegal drugs";[3] The Economist has likewise described it, in an article on Bitcoin, as "a sort of eBay for drugs hidden in a dark corner of the web known as Tor[4]. Annual sales are estimated to be $22 million[5]

Description

Buyers and sellers conduct all transactions with Bitcoin, a crypto-currency that provides strong anonymity if used correctly.[6] Although the Bitcoin's exchange rate may fluctuate greatly in short periods of time, most of the prices on Silk Road are bound to United States dollar to prevent too drastic inflation or deflation. Buyers can register on Silk Road for free, but sellers must purchase new accounts through auctions to mitigate the possibility of malicious individuals distributing tainted goods.[7][8] The website launched in February 2011 with development having begun three months prior.[9][10]

Most sellers are based in the UK and US, and offer products such as heroin[11], LSD, cannabis, and other drugs.[9][12] However, the site's operators prohibit goods or services intended to harm others, such as stolen credit card numbers, counterfeit currency, personal info, assassinations, weapons of mass destruction, and materials used to make such weapons..[13] An administrator claims "over 99% of all transactions conducted within the escrow system are completed to the satisfaction of both buyer and seller, or a mutually agreed upon resolution is found."[14]

Reception

In reaction to a Gawker article on the marketplace, US Senators Charles Schumer and Joe Manchin sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder and DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart insisting that the agency shut down the marketplace.[2][15][16] In a press conference Schumer described Silk Road as follows:

It's a certifiable one-stop shop for illegal drugs that represents the most brazen attempt to peddle drugs online that we have ever seen. It's more brazen than anything else by lightyears.

— [17]

Subsequently, Silk Road's administrators posted on the Silk Road forums the following statement:

The die have been cast [sic] and now we will see how they land. We will be diverting even more effort into countering their attacks and making the site as resilient as possible, which means we may not be as responsive to messages for a while. I'm sure this news will scare some off, but should we win the fight, a new era will be born. Even if we lose, the genie is out of the bottle and they are fighting a losing War already.

— [18]

After this attention, traffic to the website increased dramatically, resulting in record sales[citation needed] and the bitcoin saw a corresponding rise in value.[9] The site was also used during the markup hearing for the 2011 Stop Online Piracy Act as an exemplar of the evolution of some websites to distributed networking and computer systems which by design are not blockable by domain name filtering such as proposed in SOPA.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ Formerly http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/[dead link]; SR announced a move[dead link] on 1 December 2011
  2. ^ a b Adrian Chen (1 June 2011). "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable". Gawker. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  3. ^ NPR Staff (12 June 2011). "Silk Road: Not Your Father's Amazon.com" (Broadcast radio segment). All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved 5 November 2011. The e-commerce website Silk Road is being called the Amazon.com of illegal drugs.
  4. ^ "Monetarists Anonymous". The Economist. 29 September 2012.
  5. ^ Black Market Drug Site 'Silk Road' Booming: $22 Million In Annual Sales - Forbes
  6. ^ Bitcoin Anonymity
  7. ^ "...we shut down new seller accounts briefly, but have now opened them up again. This time, we are limiting the supply of new seller accounts and auctioning them off to the highest bidders. Our hope is that by doing this, only the most professional and committed sellers will have access to seller accounts. For the time being, we will be releasing one new seller account every 48 hours, though this is subject to change. If you want to become a seller on Silk Road, click "become a seller" at the bottom of the homepage, read the seller contract and the Seller's Guide, click "I agree" at the bottom, and then you'll be taken to the bidding page. Here, you should enter the maximum bid you are willing to make for your account upgrade. The system will automatically outbid the next highest bidder up to this amount." Silk Road admin account, http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=360.0
  8. ^ "We received a threat from a very disturbed individual who said they would pose as a legitimate vendor, but send carcinogenic and poisonous substances instead of real products and because seller registration is open, they would just create a new account as soon as they got bad feedback. This was shocking and horrifying to us and we immediately closed new seller registration. Of course we need new sellers, though, so we figured that charging for new seller accounts would deter this kind of behavior. " [1][dead link]
  9. ^ a b c Justin Norrie; Asher Moses (12 June 2011). "Drugs bought with virtual cash". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  10. ^ Public statement from a Silk Road spokesperson 1 March 2011.
  11. ^ Anonymous (01 January 2012). "Silk Road: A Vicious Blow to the War on Drugs". The Austin Cut. Retrieved 30 Oct 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  12. ^ Davis, Joshua (10 October 2011). "The Crypto-Currency". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. p. 62. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Restricted Items". Sellers Guide, Silk Road. Retrieved 23 October 2011. Please do not list anything who's purpose is to harm or defraud, such as stolen credit cards, counterfeit currency, personal info, assassinations, and weapons of mass destruction (chemical/bio weaponry, nukes, and anything used to make them). ...
  14. ^ "State of the Road Address"
  15. ^ Whippman, Ruth (12 June 2011). "Bitcoin: the hacker currency that's taking over the web". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  16. ^ Charles E. Schumer (6 June 2011). "Manchin Urges Federal Law Enforcement to Shut Down Online Black Market for Illegal Drugs" (Press release). Press Releases - Newsroom - Joe Manchin, United States Senator, West Virginia. Retrieved 5 November 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ^ "Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace". NBC New York. Associated Press. 5 June 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  18. ^ http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/index.php/forums/thread/894[dead link]
  19. ^ SOPA markup hearing, 15 December 2011, official proceedings, entered into committee record at approx. 17:40 - 17:47 and 1:28:10 - 1:31:55 (video timing, not recorded time) EST.[dead link]

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Silk_Road_(marketplace)&oldid=521298102"