Red Pill, Blue Pill or No Pill?
The most successful Australian vendor on Silk Road has conned their customers out of tens of thousands of dollars Aussie vendor EnterTheMatrix had a simple and effective business model. Purchase Australia’s most popular party drugs from overseas vendors on Silk Road, add a 400% markup and resell them to Aussie Silk Road customers. Although there were […]
Shadh1 – penalised for not propping up Aussie organised crime?
If small-time drug dealer shadh1 had purchased his drugs from Australians, his jail term would be less than half what he received. As a drug dealer, shadh1 was really really bad at his job. One of the key performance indicators is an ability to stay off the radar of law enforcement authorities, who are obliged […]
A response to Vexnews
Last week, after one of my articles was unexpectedly submitted into evidence in court, an odd little online publication called Vexnews published a vicious, bizarre and inaccurate attack on me. I said I wasn’t going to give it any oxygen in my last post, but I really think it should be pulled apart for the […]
When a journo becomes the story
Last Wednesday I went along to sit in on the plea hearing of the first major Australian ‘Silk Road’ case, expecting to perhaps get a blog post out of it. I never expected what would come next. The court heard evidence of 12 parcels containing drugs that had been intercepted between 27 March and 29 June 2012. […]
Who’s got it in for the Silk Road?
Ever since the suspected DDoS attack in November, the admins at Silk Road have been combating a number of different scams and attacks on the site. It’s hard to tell whether this is a concerted attack by one group determined to piss the website off or each one is separate. The most pervasive ones have […]
Agony over Ecstasy
I haven’t yet written a background blog to my latest Fairfax Feature, Dancing With Molly. If you happen to have come to my page as a result of that article, please have a quick look at a couple of relevant earlier posts: Crap analysis shows wee problem with tough ecstasy laws – what happens when […]
What the hell’s going on at Silk Road?
For two weeks, users of online drugs marketplace Silk Road have been unable to log in to the site more often than not, reporting timeouts, missing catchpas and other technical difficulties. Millions of dollars in Bitcoin has been inaccessible to the site’s thousands of members and trading has halted. The reactions of the community have […]
Is Aussie law enforcement using creative techniques on Silk Road?
Some time back a report, supposedly commissioned by Qld police, was leaked via the dark web. Of course, being the dark web, it was impossible to confirm its legitimacy. The discussion paper ‘Hidden in Plain Sight’ was called an extensive critique and response to Silk Road, the online drugs marketplace, well researched and referenced. The […]
Things you didn’t know you could buy online – shopping on the Dark Web
So, we all know you can buy drugs online, but Silk Road is not the only marketplace on the dark web. Here’s a few other things you might not have realised you can have for a price. Redecorating? For $1500 you can buy yourself a genuine shrunken human head. This, I am assured, is […]
Is Silk Road’s owner jumping ship?
Is Silk Road’s owner – The Dread Pirate Roberts – sailing off into the sunset with wads of cash? Has he sold Silk Road as a going concern and included the goodwill of his name and reputation in the price?