A week on the darknet markets – the good, the bad and the ugly
Last week saw an unusual amount of activity on the dark web’s black markets. We saw generosity, compassion and friendship. We saw thievery and deception. And we saw something that went against everything the original darknet market (DNM) stood for.
Is this the darknet markets’ biggest scam yet?
It’s probably the biggest exit scam of the darknet markets so far. Evolution marketplace has closed down and bitcoin is moving through the blockchain as I write. it’s hard to tell just yet how much of the $12 million that’s gone through that account the administrators have made off with. In a move reminiscent of […]
Did Silk Road plagiarise Landmark’s charter?
Last month a friend who had just started reading my book rang me almost hyperventilating. “It’s Landmark!” she said. “It’s fucking Landmark!” She had noticed some startling similarities between the Landmark Forum’s 2020 Charter (which seems to have been superseded since it was written in the 90’s) and the Silk Road Charter, which is quoted […]
A message from Silk Road’s SSBD
It is a year to the day since three alleged moderators/administrators of Silk Road were arrested. I posted an update on where the three were here. Little has changed as they face another Christmas break in limbo. In particular, the one who got the rawest deal, Aussie Peter Nash (accused of being forum moderator Samesamebutdifferent), […]
Silk Road Book and Bitcoin Doco launch
ALL WELCOME Thursday 11 December 6.30 pm Come and enjoy complimentary nibbles (drinks at bar prices) at one of St Kilda’s coolest secret venues for the launch of “Silk Road” by Eileen Ormsby and screening of acclaimed documentary #TheBitcoinDoco by Dale Dickins. Be at The George Lane bar, 1 George Lane (enter from Grey Street […]
Meet Jess, the escort who takes Bitcoin
Warning: all links in this article are NSFW! Open at your peril When clients book a good time with Jess, they get more than their pick of her available services. For the past couple of months, they have also been receiving a lesson in Bitcoin. ‘I am the only escort who takes Bitcoin’ Jess claims […]
Silk Road 2 taken down a year to the day after it opened
A year to the day after it opened, Silk Road 2 has been seized and San Francisco man Lake Benthall, alleged to be owner administrator “Defcon,” arrested. Yesterday, Silk Road member and administrator of The Hub forums, “Alfred” posted a warning to Silk Road users:
What Me and DoctorX did Next
My latest mainstream piece is a feature in The Age profiling Silk Road’s much-respected DoctorX. The only SR user, as far as I can remember, to be quoted by Dread Pirate Roberts in his sig, with the memorable: ‘All drugs are absolutely harmless. If you leave cocaine, MDMA, meth or DMT on a table, they won’t try to […]
The truth behind 60 Minutes hyperbole of the dark web
After last night’s 60 Minutes, any parent could be forgiven for barging into their teen’s bedroom and confiscating their computer, terrified that their offspring is accessing the 90% of the hidden internet filled with hitmen, weapons and drugs. Teens everywhere are doing it apparently. The 60 Minutes report is available here: 60 Minutes report on The Dark […]
Defcon speaks about the state of Silk Road
For the first time since its original incarnation’s launch in January 2011, Silk Road has been knocked off as the dark market’s leader. It now comes in third. According to Vault 43, Evolution has 15,851 listings, Agora 15,522 and Silk Road a mere 11,025 listings. “While our staff is the largest and most experienced in […]