The beginning of the end?
And so timezones screwed me over and I’ve just woken up to the news that the Dread Pirate Roberts has been arrested. I haven’t even had my second coffee yet, nor have I been able to digest what’s happened, but I’m pretty sure my blog is well on its way to most hits ever for […]
When drug dealers get all warm and fuzzy
Some Silk Road drug dealers are promising to donate a percentage of this week’s sales to charity Black markets are supposed to be dangerous places. Drug dealers are bad guys. Drug users are selfish hedonists who would steal from their Grandma for a fix. Except when they’re not.
The Fall of Atlantis – a Moderator tells
“Atlantis admins shut down the site and ran away with the coins. It’s the truth.” – Cicero, Moderator of Atlantis Marketplace forum A little under six months ago – not long after they opened shop – I conducted the first in-depth interview with online drug barons Loera and Vladimir, founders of Atlantis Marketplace. The two […]
Silk Road Wiki Wars
Should Wikipedia draw a line at including links to illegal marketplaces or websites hosting objectionable content? And does it have a duty to prevent its readers from becoming victims of phishing if they visit those links? For such a short Wikipedia entry, Silk Road has been responsible for a lot of behind-the-scenes drama. It started […]
Which Pirate is that?
Last week, Silk Road spokesman Dread Pirate Roberts broke a longstanding silence, granting an interview to Andy Greenberg of Forbes magazine. In it, he finally admitted Silk Road’s worst-kept secret – the person posting as Dread Pirate Roberts and steering the ship was not the same person who founded Silk Road. Who’s holding the keys […]
The Outlaw Cult
My latest Fairfax feature appears in tomorrow’s edition of The Age, but is already up online. I briefly mention the Rialto BASE jumpers and D.B. Cooper, but the article mostly focuses on father of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto and Dread Pirate Roberts of Silk Road fame. Banksy also gets a look-in, but I was originally going […]
(Info)war declared
Silk Road users have been shocked twice in the past two days when a forum member released names, addresses and order details of dozens of purported customers. The user – first calling themselves ‘Info Wars’ and, once that account was banned, ‘Infowars’ – pounded the forums with repeats of the same post – a list […]
Silk Road responds to competition with improvements of its own
Atlantis Marketplace has undertaken aggressive marketing of its site over the past few months, touting superior features to those offered by Silk Road. Its aim has been to both attract new customers and lure clients away from the incumbent giant, but so far they must be underwhelmed by the response. Attracting sellers has not been […]
Interview with the creator of THAT video
So, the past couple of days have been awash with stories about Atlantis Market’s aggressive marketing campaign, complete with ‘cutesy’ Youtube video advertisement. At the time of writing this, the video was closing in on 30,000 views. Here it is, in case you missed it: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXGlpI7W4Fg] Atlantis did contact me to let me know this […]
The myth of the ‘Drug Pusher’
In Puberty Blues (the book, not the movie or TV show), there is a classic line where the protagonist’s mother warns her not to sit on the aisle at the movie theatre because “some pusher might come along and jab god-knows-what into your arm”. Growing up I was always being warned about malevolent people who […]