History of Computers - The Silk Road
Introduction
The Silk Road was part of the dark web, functioning as an online black market. Using an anonymity software called Tor, users were free to browse and buy items completely anonymously. The Silk Road was one of the first Darknet Markets and became notorious for the illegal drugs they sold. [1]
Overview
The Silk Road was launched in February 2011 by Ross Ulbricht, who was using the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts."[3] The website used Tor, an anonymity software that relays web traffic across thousands of worldwide locations, making it nearly impossible to track the identity or location of both the users and the websites server. Furthermore, transactions over The Silk Road were done through bitcoin, a digital currency that further protected the anonymity of users and made it more difficult for the Government to track or regulate sales over the website [4]. The ability to perform transactions anonymously made The Silk Road an ideal place to sell all types of illegal drugs such as opioids and ecstasy. However, Ross prohibited the sales of certain items. He only allowed the sales of "victimless contraband" which did not items such as child pornography and stolen goods [5]. Illegal drugs that could be detected through smell were vacuum sealed and sent through normal mail. These illegal transactions were nearly impossible to trace. However, The government was eventually able to seize the website and track down the creator, Ross Ulbricht, arresting him on October 2, 2013 [6]. They also seized 144,000 bitcoins worth 28.5 million US dollars at the time, all of which belonged to Ulbricht[7]. He was found guilty of 7 charges, three of which were drug related [8]. Later on, Ulbricht's staff relaunched the website, naming it The Silk Road 2.0, but this version was quickly shut down[9].
Significance
The Silk Road was one of the first online black market's that operated on the dark web. The use of Tor to provide users with anonymity quickly made the silk road an extremely popular market for illegal drugs. It's seizure by the FBI was followed by the creation of many similar sites that used the same Tor Software to maintain anonymity. However, the FBI seizure of the website also proved that although onion routing was difficult to break, it was still very possible for the government to do [11].
References
- ↑ https://www.wired.com/2016/01/the-silk-roads-dark-web-dream-is-dead/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/meet-the-dread-pirate-roberts-the-man-behind-booming-black-market-drug-website-silk-road/#32593e748b73
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/meet-the-dread-pirate-roberts-the-man-behind-booming-black-market-drug-website-silk-road/#32593e748b73
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/10/25/fbi-says-its-seized-20-million-in-bitcoins-from-ross-ulbricht-alleged-owner-of-silk-road/#507b9d712765
- ↑ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/ulbricht-guilty-in-silk-road-online-drug-trafficking-trial/
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)
- ↑ https://www.engadget.com/2015/02/08/silk-road-trial-lessons/
