

FBI Says It's Busted The Web's Biggest Anonymous Drug Black Market - tjaerv
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/10/02/end-of-the-silk-road-fbi-busts-the-webs-biggest-anonymous-drug-black-market/

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spodek
> " _You can 't resist the FBI. We will find you._"

At last the drug war has been won!

No similar site will ever be created and all the resources formerly spent
fighting drugs will be returned to improving the lives of citizens.

This is as great a sign of success as when we victoriously proclaimed "Mission
Accomplished" in Iraq, and as assuredly as we have had peace since then in
Iraq, we can look forward to as peaceful and drug-free an existence as when we
enjoyed the peaceful, law-abiding, alcohol-free times of Prohibition.

Resources well-spent. We can finally sleep well tonight under the FBI's
benevolent watch.

~~~
conductor
> At last the drug war has been won!

They don't want to win, they want to continuously fight with it.

~~~
swombat
_woosh_

~~~
heyitsnick
If anything, the _woosh_ would be for you. I'm sure conductor understood the
irony of the statement.

~~~
vubuntu
You mean sarcasm , not irony, right?

Irony would be that there is a news tomorrow to the effect " Half a dozen new
web sites sprung up after Silk road bust and FBI is struggling this time to
catch the perpetrators. They wised up from Silk Road's mistakes described in
detail by FBI"

~~~
heyitsnick
Nope, I meant irony. The word has multiple definitions. In its most popular -
"the expression of one's meaning by using language that normally signifies the
opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect" \- sarcasm is given as a
synonym.

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pessimizer
More like "You can't make much more than 80MM resisting the FBI while living a
normal, above-ground life within the United States, unless you avoid
associating your real name with your criminal-conspiracy-in-development on a
public messageboard."

~~~
jonnathanson
Isn't $80MM the total amount Walter White made during the course of his meth
career on _Breaking Bad_? Fun coincidence.

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xradionut
"You can't resist the FBI. We will find you."

Unless you are a Wall Street insider and then we will gladly help the SEC
harass your detractors.

"Constitution? What constitution?"

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flatline
We will find you. If you are high enough profile, and your crime happens to
match the current set of prosecutorial priorities laid down by the
administration, justice dept., etc., then we will find you. With reasonably
high probability.

> users migrate to other, smaller but similar anonymous black markets

Not only will they find you, the FBI has clearly put an end to the online drug
trade.

~~~
gwern
> > users migrate to other, smaller but similar anonymous black markets

They're not going to be very happy about it, though. They were on SR for a
reason. With Atlantis shuttering the other week, that leaves just BMR (old,
but full of scammers) and Sheep (less than a year old and tiny).

~~~
OvidNaso
Nobody in California was happy when their favorite dispensery got raided 8
years ago and there weren't many alternatives. But there is 3 per block in Los
Angeles these days.

~~~
gwern
California legalized medical marijuana and has reduced overall penalties, so I
don't see how your comparison is remotely relevant.

~~~
OvidNaso
Despite the fact that raids were continuously happening, local governments
were enacting bans (meaning immediate financial ruin) and certain dispensary
owners were facing decades in prison...I'm not sure what the legality of the
situation has to do with either of our points. The size and scope of
alternatives is directly related to the success of the primary institution.
The users will certainly not be happy about the situation, but barring major
developments in the coming weeks, it is clear that operators and users have
decided the risks are acceptable comparable to the service. Pointing to the
landscape of alternative services at the present moment does not indicate how
users will migrate and how site owners will propagate in the face of
opportunity. The California industry is comparable as operators, while facing
smaller penal punishment, faced the same financial risk and zero anonymity.

------
MichaelGG
Every single high-level FBI bust is always about the operator doing something
really simple and dumb, then the FBI puffs its chest and acts all powerful.

Like that article about the guy trying to extort poker players. The FBI agent
admits she always wanted to be like they were on the TV show "CHiPS" and how
they've got the hardest cybersquad available and will break you so better just
'fess up. In reality? Guy logged into his Gmail account from his house, and
proceeded to blackmail via email. I mean, come on. Asking Google for an IP is
now badass? Yet from the reading, hoo boy do they like busting down doors with
guns out as if it was some criminal overload's lair.

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/how-the-fbi-
crack...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/how-the-fbi-cracked-a-
sextortion-plot-against-pro-poker-players/)

~~~
josefresco
You are wrongfully downplaying the (probably) years of hard work by multiple
people that goes into an investigation like this.

Also, the suspect only needs to slip up once to be caught. A perfect 100%
success rate in staying hidden is almost impossible.

~~~
MichaelGG
As far as DPR, there's most definitely more than what's in the complaint. They
got an image of the server but don't mention how. Now, it might have been
something super easy (external IP leak due to shitty PHP code or webserver
config followed by a subpoena), or it could have been Tor hidden service
analysis. Bottom line is that he reused a handle and linked it to his real ID,
didn't use Tor to access his box, etc.

On the story I linked, it was literally a case of "Hey Gmail, which IPs used
this account? Thanks. Hey Comcast, which subscriber is <IP>? Cool, locked and
loaded!"

I'm not sure how "hard" this work is when you're the federal government and
can compel everyone to cooperate with you.

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b6
It's one of my shortcomings that I just cannot get into the mindset of an FBI
agent who is happy about this. How do you keep wanting to go to work and
investigating this kind of thing?

~~~
8_hours_ago
Regardless of the pros/cons of the war on drugs, I can definitely see why this
would be super fun to work on as an investigator. It's an incredibly complex
problem to identify someone who is using all available technology to remain
anonymous. And once you actually found them, I imagine that you'd be pretty
excited about it.

~~~
waps
The part where he paid $40k to kill that person for knowing him seems less
fun.

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untog
Weird that the title includes a quote that isn't actually contained in the
article.

~~~
tjaerv
The article has been edited since it was originally posted. The paragraph in
question now reads:

> “This is supposed to be some invisible black market bazaar. We made it
> visible,” says an FBI spokesperson, who asked not to be named. “When you
> interviewed [Ulbricht], he said he would never be arrested. But no one is
> beyond the reach of the FBI. We will find you.”

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randyrand
TL;DR "Basically he made a simple mistake and we were able to find him."

I wonder what it was...

~~~
adrr
He posted about SR on the bitcoin forums, even going so far to using his real
email address on one of the postings.

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lectrick
It seems to me that the conversation out there is looking more and more like
the nerds (tech folks) vs. the jocks (FBI) all over again.

When will you learn that the nerds win in the end, jocks? :)

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alexeisadeski3
El Chapo to the FBI: "No you won't."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Guzm%C3%A1n_Loera](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joaqu%C3%ADn_Guzm%C3%A1n_Loera)

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astangl
Hmm, it makes you wonder if NSA help and parallel construction are in play
here.

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fennecfoxen
That's not ominous at all.

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vezzy-fnord
Of course the FBI have to be chauvinistic about it.

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LukeHoersten
Resistance is futile.

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swayvil
said every secret police since the beginning of time

~~~
jbigelow76
If the existence of the FBI is supposed to be a secret they're doing a poor
job on that front.

~~~
fleitz
The stasi are generally consider 'secret police' and they were also official
acknowledged by the state. I've always understood secret police to refer to
the methods rather than official acknowledgement of their existence.

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frank_boyd
> "You can't resist the FBI. We will find you."

I thought it was "If your number is up, we will find you."

The documentary:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOnQ8CD3v4g](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOnQ8CD3v4g)

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avty
Insider trading is legal for politicians and the fat cats, but if you dare do
it, FBI is onto you.

~~~
zackkitzmiller
It's pretty close.

