Silk Road (marketplace): Difference between revisions

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-{{Infobox website
-| name            = Silk Road
-| logo            = [[File:Silk Road Logo.png|250px]]
-| logocaption     =
-| screenshot      = [[File:Silk Road Marketplace Item Screen.jpg|258px|alt=A user selling cookies]]
-| collapsible     =
-| collapsetext    =
-| caption         = Item description page
-| url             = [http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion]<ref>Formerly [http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/ http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/]; SR [http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=6235.msg53965#msg53965 announced a move] 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])
-| slogan          =
-| commercial      =
-| type            = Online marketplace
-| registration    =
-| language        = English
-| num_users       =
-| content_license =
-| owner           = "Dread Pirate Roberts"
-| 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 (anonymity network)#Hidden services|Tor hidden service]]. Visitors must use [[Tor (anonymity network)|Tor]] to access the marketplace.  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>
-==Description==
-Buyers and sellers conduct all transactions with [[bitcoin]]s, a crypto-currency that allows for strong anonymity. 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.<ref>"...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</ref><ref>"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. " http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=360.msg3574#msg3574</ref> The website launched in February 2011 with development having begun three months prior.<ref name=dbvc>{{cite news|title=Drugs bought with virtual cash|url=http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/drugs-bought-with-virtual-cash-20110611-1fy0a.html|accessdate=5 November 2011|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=12 June 2011|author=Justin Norrie|author2=Asher Moses|agency=[[Fairfax Media]]}}</ref><ref>[http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=3984.msg57086#msg57086 Public statement from a Silk Road spokesperson] 1 March 2011.</ref>  Most sellers are based in the UK and US, and offer products such as [[heroin]], [[LSD]], [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], and other drugs.<ref name="dbvc"/><ref name=TNYCrypto>{{cite news|last=Davis|first=Joshua|title=The Crypto-Currency|url=http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_davis|accessdate=5 November 2011|newspaper=[[The New Yorker]]|page=62|date=10 October 2011|agency=[[Condé Nast]]}}</ref> However, the site's operators prohibit goods or services intended to harm others.<ref name=SellersGuide>{{cite web|title=Restricted Items|url=http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/index.php/silkroad/sellers_guide|work=Sellers Guide, Silk Road|accessdate=23 October 2011|quote=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). ...}}</ref> 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."<ref>[http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=8397.0 "State of the Road Address"]</ref>
-==Notoriety==
-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.<ref name="GawkerChen"/><ref name=bthc>{{cite news|last=Whippman|first=Ruth|title=Bitcoin: the hacker currency that's taking over the web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/12/bitcoin-online-currency-us-government|accessdate=5 November 2011|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=12 June 2011|agency=[[Guardian News and Media]]}}</ref><ref name=openletter>{{cite web|title=Manchin Urges Federal Law Enforcement to Shut Down Online Black Market for Illegal Drugs|url=http://manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2011/6/manchin-urges-federal-law-enforcement-to-shut-down-online-black-market-for-illegal-drugs|work=Press Releases - Newsroom - Joe Manchin, United States Senator, West Virginia|accessdate=5 November 2011|author=[[Charles E. Schumer]]|coauthors=[[Joe Manchin]]|format=Press release|date=6 June 2011|month=June|year=2011}}</ref> In a [[press conference]] Schumer described Silk Road as follows:
-{{quote|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.|<ref name="SecNarc">{{Cite news |url=http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/123187958.html |title=Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace|accessdate=15 June 2011 |date=5 June 2011 |work=[[Associated Press]]|publisher=[[NBC New York]]}}</ref>}}
-Subsequently, Silk Road's administrators posted on the Silk Road forums the following statement:
-{{quote|[[Alea iacta est|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.|<ref>http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/index.php/forums/thread/894{{dead link|date=May 2012}}</ref>}}
-After this attention, traffic to the website increased dramatically and the [[bitcoin]] saw a corresponding rise in value.<ref name="dbvc"/>
-The site was also used during the [[Markup (legislation)|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]] [[Internet censorship|filtering]] such as proposed in SOPA.<ref>SOPA markup hearing, 15 December 2011, official proceedings, entered into committee record at approx. 17:40 - 17:47 and [http://www.justin.tv/unearthed365/b/302702510? 1:28:10 - 1:31:55 (video timing, not recorded time)] EST.{{dead link|date=May 2012}}</ref>
-==See also==
-*[[War on Drugs]]
-*[[The Hidden Wiki]]
-*[[Crypto-anarchism]]
-==References==
-{{Reflist}}
-==External links==
-*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmDN42NkkIM ABC Action News report]
-*[http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/06/libertarian-dream-a-site-where-you-buy-drugs-with-digital-dollars/239776/ ''The Atlantic'']
-*[http://www.pcworld.com/article/230084/us_senators_want_to_shut_down_bitcoins_currency_of_internet_drug_trade.html ''PC World'']
-*[http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-financial-bitcoins-idUSTRE7573T320110608 Reuters]
-*[http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-financial-bitcoitre7573t3-20110608,0,6328122.story ''The Chicago Tribune'']
-* [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03709.x/full "Silk Road: eBay For Drugs"], ''Addiction''
-* http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/the-drugs-in-the-mail-20120426-1xnth.html
-* [http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-new-underbelly-20120531-1zktt.html "The new underbelly"]
-* [http://arxiv.org/abs/1207.7139 "Traveling the Silk Road: A measurement analysis of a large anonymous online marketplace"]
-{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2011}}
-[[Category:Informal economy]]
-[[Category:Underground culture]]
-[[Category:Commerce websites]]
-[[Category:Internet properties established in 2011]]
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