How The Dark Net Is Making Drug Purchases Safer By Eliminating Associated Violence And Improving Quality

from the hidden-virtues dept

Despite a few daring experiments in the space, the dark net (or dark web, if you prefer) is generally seen as a dangerous, frightening place inhabited by terrorists, pornographers and general ne'er-do-wells. That makes a report in The Guardian about drug dealers moving online unusual, because it shows how the dark net can also be beneficial to society:

Research into internet drug markets by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) suggested the self-regulation of online markets such as Silk Road provide a safer environment for users and dealers of illicit substances.

Feedback mechanisms similar to eBay mean customers are able to hold dealers to account for the service they provide, the report said, while remote access to the market almost eliminates the risk of violence that has long been an integral part of the black economy.

Moving online not only safeguards drug users from violence and theft when they buy drugs in the physical world, it provides a natural way for customers to provide feedback on the quality of the drugs provided. Just as with traditional e-commerce companies, drug dealers who go digital can no longer risk bad customer reviews by providing inferior or dangerous products, since their future sales are likely to suffer. As a result:

Drugs available through darknet markets tend to be of a higher purity than those available on the streets.

The new report comes from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, which is funded by the European Union, and, as usual, is accompanied by an official comment from the relevant EU commissioner. Unfortunately, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, trots out the usual unthinking reaction to drug sales that has made the long-running and totally futile "war on drugs" one of the most destructive and counterproductive policies ever devised:

We should stop the abuse of the internet by those wanting to turn it into a drug market. Technology is offering fresh opportunities for law enforcement to tackle online drug markets and reduce threats to public health. Let us seize these opportunities to attack the problem head-on and reduce drug supply online.

That blinkered attitude ignores the important advantages moving drug sales from the physical world to the digital one brings not just for for users and dealers, but also for society as a whole, which does not have to deal with the social and economic consequences of violence on the streets, or with the long-term damage caused by poor-quality products. Along the way, his remarks inevitably and unhelpfully reinforce the view that the dark net is evil, and thus is something to be destroyed.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+

Filed Under: crime, dark markets, dark net, quality, safety, trust

Dark Markets Continue To Grow, Despite Silk Road Trial

from the anyone-think-that's-going-to-stop dept

With Ross Ulbricht sentenced to life in prison to make an example of him in the new online version of our nation's drug wars, it raises a similar question to the one in the offline world: does this kind of thing have any impact at all? The Economist has a chart suggesting that nothing at all is changing and demand creates supply, as the number of drug listings in dark markets continue to grow, even as some of the players are shut down via law enforcement (Silk Road, Silk Road 2) or scams (Evolution): Of course, there's one caveat on this, which is that the data is from Digital Citizens Alliance, a known MPAA front, whose role is to undermine online internet markets of all kinds. But the general point shown in the chart is likely to be fairly accurate. As soon as one of these sites disappears, others quickly step in to fill the need. That's generally how markets work. If there's demand, supply will follow. In fact, data from other sources seems to support this basic point. Lots of these markets close (and very few of their operators are ever arrested), but plenty more step in to fill the void.

And, of course, the standard response to all of this is that law enforcement has to keep playing this game of whacking moles because they'd like to think that this at least puts some sort of limit on the activity by making it marginally more "expensive" for suppliers in terms of risk. Still, it seems like lots of other things online, this law enforcement/mole whacking approach isn't particularly productive, and only serves to make the issue more diverse, more underground, less regulated and less safe.

Perhaps, rather than continue down that path, it's time to look at alternative approaches.

Filed Under: dark markets, demand, silk road, supply
Companies: silk road

Was It The Same Corrupt Team That Investigated/Stole From Silk Road That Now Subpoenaed Reddit?

from the questions,-questions dept

On Monday, Andy Greenberg over at Wired published a story about how a Homeland Security ICE agent, based in Baltimore, had sent a subpoena to Reddit, demanding info on five users who had been posting to the subreddit r/darkmarkets, which (you guessed it!) is where lots of people discuss dark markets like Silk Road and the recently shut down (and all money taken) Evolution. It appears that the subpoenas were trying to track down more information about who was behind Evolution:

Earlier this month, a Baltimore Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent sent a subpoena to Reddit demanding that the site turn over a collection of personal data about five users of the r/darknetmarkets forum. The subpoena appears to be the first hint of a federal investigation of the recently defunct massive online market known as Evolution, which sold drugs, weapons, and stolen financial details. All five targets of the subpoena were involved, to varying degrees, in the Reddit discussion of that black market’s abrupt disappearance two weeks ago, in which two top administrators apparently absconded with millions of dollars worth of bitcoin belonging to Evolution’s buyers and sellers.

According to a copy of the subpoena shared with WIRED by one of the forum’s moderators who was named in the document, the DHS seeks information that includes the names, IP addresses, dates and times of site visits as well as other data that Reddit likely doesn’t possess, including the users’ phone numbers and financial data. (Reddit doesn’t even require an email address to sign up.)

For what it's worth, Reddit's privacy policy notes that it does collect IP addresses and holds them and other info for 90 days -- meaning that if any of the users weren't careful, they may have revealed some information about themselves. Though, seriously, if you're deeply involved in a dark market doing illegal things, and then posting publicly to a subreddit without covering your tracks, you're basically asking to be caught.

That said, what struck me most was the fact that this request came from Baltimore. Because right about the same time that Greenberg's story came out, the Justice Department was revealing its criminal complaint against two of the key federal agents involved in the investigation of Silk Road, who (according to the complaint) stole a bunch of money from Silk Road, extorted Silk Road's administrator and also engaged in a bunch of other nefarious actions, including issuing a fake subpoena to Venmo, engaging in civil asset forfeiture against Mt. Gox accounts and discussing other similar activities.

And both of those guys were... based in Baltimore. It's not entirely clear if the two allegedly corrupt federal agents -- Carl Force of the DEA and Shaun Bridges of the Secret Service -- were part of this same Homeland Security investigations team, but it wouldn't be entirely surprising to find out that it was the same team. One hopes that whoever is involved in that investigations team now, isn't doing similar corrupt activities as mentioned in the criminal complaint against Force and Bridges. However, given how those two appeared to abuse their position, and given that there's a high likelihood of the subpoena coming from the same team, it certainly raises some additional questions. And that's not even mentioning the concerns about other corrupt individuals in these investigations, including a Homeland Security agent who went by the name "mr. wonderful."

That's not to say that the subpoena to Reddit is problematic. It may be perfectly legit (though it does appear that at least one of the people that the subpoena was digging into is just Gwern Branwen, a well-known security researcher who insists he has never sold any illegal products on dark market sites). Still, the criminal complaint from earlier this week certainly raises serious questions about any of these fishing expeditions, especially by a team coming out of Baltimore.

Filed Under: baltimore, dark markets, dea, dhs, investigation, secret service, silk road, subpoenas, subreddits
Companies: evolution, reddit, silk road

Silk Road Sellers Around The Globe Getting Arrested

from the as-expected dept

This is hardly a huge surprise, but following last week's arrest of the alleged mastermind behind the hidden online market Silk Road, law enforcement agents across the globe have been arresting various Silk Road users (mainly drug dealers). As summarized by Gawker:

• In Seattle, the FBI arrested 40-year-old Steven Lloyd Sadler in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue. Under the name Nod, Sadler was allegedly one of the Silk Road's favorite dealers of cocaine, heroin and meth. Sadler was busted after one of his customers in Alaska was busted and started cooperating, according to Brian Krebs.
• In the UK, authorities arrested three men in their 20s and one man in his 50s on drug offenses related to the Silk Road. "More arrests are expected in the coming weeks," according to the BBC.
• In Sweden, two Helsingborg men were arrested for allegedly selling cannabis on the Silk Road.

And, of course, many more are expected as well. It's clear from the legal filings (and just generally what you'd expect) that law enforcement has been investigating Silk Road since at least early 2012. You had to expect that it would also be going after those who used the platform to break the law. In fact, in many ways, it seems much more reasonable to be going after those who broke the law using the platform than the creator of the platform itself (though, it also appears that he may have committed other crimes as well).

Either way, expect many more such arrests, though it's doubtful that this will slow down such hidden markets. In fact, I wonder if the publicity around the Silk Road crackdowns will actually end up attracting even greater interest in this arena -- in part from more organized crime operations that can more effectively hide their actions.

Filed Under: arrests, dark markets, drug dealing
Companies: silk road