(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 […]
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 […]
Interview with a (virtual) drug tsar
“We will be an adversary not to be trifled with. We have big plans for Atlantis, and we’re here to stay.”. As online drugs marketplace Silk Road sustains blows from an ongoing attack its owner says “appears to be DoS in nature,” the forums are awash with queries, rumours and speculation about newcomer, Atlantis Marketplace. […]
Competition for (black) market share hotting up
With the media reporting that internet drug dealing is on the rise, it’s no great surprise that new marketplaces have started popping up wanting a piece of the action. Most of these seem to be wannabes with no real hope of making a dent into the big boy’s market share. But a couple seem determined […]
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 […]