Silk Road
Silk-road was at one time the top Cyber-black market in the game. An educated college graduate, Ross Ulbricht is accused of creating Silk Road. The website sold everything from illegal drugs, guns, porn, driver’s licenses and other illegal services. It was estimated that the website generated amounts of 1.2 million in sales. An FBI agent was quoted saying “ Silk Road was the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplace on the internet today”. The website used an underground computer network know as “The onion router” or “TOR”, that relays computer messages through a minimum of three separate computer servers to disguise its users. Cyber-black markets are the future of illegal trade. Law enforcement will always be on their trail and criminals will always make a mistake leaving justice to prevail. The site Silk Road was Founded in February 2011. The name Silk-Road comes from a historical network of trades’ routes, which started in the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) between Europe, India, China and many other countries.1 Silk Road was operated by "Dread Pirate Roberts" (named after the fictional character from The Princess Bride), who was known for espousing libertarian ideals and criticizing regulation.2 It wasn’t until June 2011 that the websites traffic increased and the site really began to take off. Users were skeptic at first, because it seemed as if the website was too good to be true. Silk-Road was the drug market place equivalent to Amazon.com. Silk-Road sold heroin and marijuana where as Amazon sells watches and televisions. The cyber-underworld’s largest black market, with 1.2 billion in sales and nearly a million customer’s.3 “ The selection was endless; illicit drugs like heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine could be bought on Silk Road, alongside illegal firearms, hacking tools like key logging software, fireworks, forged documents and more. As of March 2013, the site had 10,000 products for sale by vendors
Bibliography: Leger, Donna . USA Today, "Feds seize 'Silk Road ' online drug site." Last modified October 3, 2013. Accessed December 9, 2013. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/02/fbi-shuts-down-silk-road-website/2909023/.
Love, Dylan
Jump up to: a b c Ars Technica, How the feds took down the Dread Pirate Roberts October 3, 2013
Mac, Ryan
theguardian, " Silk Road: the online drug marketplace that officials seem powerless to stop." Last modified March 25, 2013. Accessed December 6, 2013. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/22/silk-road-online-drug-marketplace.