Silk Road 2.0 + many more 'Dark web' websites shut down. What's the real reason?

Sunbed · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:13

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29950946

What I conclude from that is that many governments, primarily the USA are putting a lot of effort and money into shutting down these marketplaces. Why?

The amount of effort that seems to be put into shutting these places down seems disproportionate compared to the harm resulting from them.

What is the real motive here?

leaskovski · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:15

Stopping criminal activity?

Dj_Jestar · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:16

Since when do we put a price on justice?

NexusK · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:17

Surely they don't need tin foil hat reasons to shut sites down that let you order the likes of ecstasy through the post.

Ayahuasca · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:17

Lets let people buy drugs with bitcoins.

Haggisman · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:19

"sites believed to be selling illegal items including drugs and weapons"

&

"home to thousands of illegal marketplaces, trading in drugs, child abuse images as well as sites for extremist groups."

Yeah, totally not causing any harm at all...

Sunbed · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:19

leaskovski said:
Stopping criminal activity?

Stopping people buying sex toys anonymously, prescription drugs, hacked porn accounts, weed, pills, shrooms?

Not exactly international terrorism, which seems to be the level of attention it has attracted from government agencies.

tom_e · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:20

People can order hitmen, guns, drugs and children from the comfort of their PC and you can't see why shutting them down seems like a sensible way to spend money?

Haggisman · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:21

You're very naive if you think it's only used for tame things like that

Xordium · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:21

Sunbed said:
Not exactly international terrorism, which seems to be the level of attention it has attracted from government agencies.

And I wonder where a lot of terrorist organisations make their money from - well the ones not directly funded Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

Mynight · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:21

They're not paying tax on transactions big no no.

I give it a month before 3.0 is up and running. Third time lucky.

$7million a month at 5% cut is too much for any enterprising criminal to pass up.

Burnsy2023 · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:22

Sunbed said:
Stopping people buying sex toys anonymously, prescription drugs, hacked porn accounts, weed, pills, shrooms?

Not exactly international terrorism, which seems to be the level of attention it has attracted from government agencies.

I see you missed the other illegal drugs and weapons from that list.

Devlish · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:23

Its all a bit silly really. So soon after states in the US voted to legalise, the FBI are still stuck in their failed drug war mentality against non-entities like Silk Road, whilst all the time letting banks like HSBC siphon billions for drug cartels propogating the absolute murderous chaos in border states and Mexico, where tens of thousands have died in drug wars.

But hey, they got the industry worth a couple of million bucks a year. Low hanging fruit, go FBI! Plus totally pointless of course, many darknet marketplaces back up and running the day after.

Dj_Jestar · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:23

Sunbed said:
Stopping people buying sex toys anonymously, prescription drugs, hacked porn accounts, weed, pills, shrooms?

Not exactly international terrorism, which seems to be the level of attention it has attracted from government agencies.

No, not terrorism. You're right. Except for the part where these sites are also being used for terrorism though.

Sunbed · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:24

Burnsy2023 said:
I see you missed the other illegal drugs and weapons from that list.

I deliberately picked the stuff that comprises 90% of the sales on these places. Yes, I made that figure up but from a bit of reading, I'd guess I'm not too far off.

Devlish · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:25

Dj_Jestar said:
No, not terrorism. You're right. Except for the part where these sites are also being used for terrorism though.

Yeah, give me a call when you go after Facebook and Yahoo.

Burnsy2023 · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:32

Sunbed said:
I deliberately picked the stuff that comprises 90% of the sales on these places. Yes, I made that figure up but from a bit of reading, I'd guess I'm not too far off.

That's irrelevant. If they sell weapons and illegal drugs, of course they're going to be targeted. What planet are you on?

McGray · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:36

Complete waste of time. Was replaced by better alternatives ages ago.

Also SR wasn't like a browsable shop of drugs and guns lol.

Devlish · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:37

Burnsy2023 said:
That's irrelevant. If they sell weapons and illegal drugs, of course they're going to be targeted. What planet are you on?

Realistically the sites that specialise in weapons and many more that sell many more drugs have been left alone as 'too hard'. The Silk Road 2 guy was a bit of a numbnut when it came to security, using his personal email and giving an FBI plant admin access. What they've succeeded in doing is showing how Silk Road 3 should be setup.

Sunbed · 7 Nov 2014 at 16:37

Burnsy2023 said:
That's irrelevant. If they sell weapons and illegal drugs, of course they're going to be targeted. What planet are you on?

Before we continue this debate, have you ever actually been on any of these websites?