Online 'underground' marketplaces for illicit drugs: the prototype case of the dark web website 'Silk Road
This article contextualises the internet usage by the prototype of underground online marketplaces selling illicit drugs to users over the internet called Silk Road. The establishment of this website in January 2011 was facilitated specifically by the existence of the so-called ‘Dark Net’, of the ‘D...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
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| In: |
Acta criminologica
Year: 2017, Volume: 30, Issue: 1, Pages: 23-47 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Keywords: |
| Summary: | This article contextualises the internet usage by the prototype of underground online marketplaces selling illicit drugs to users over the internet called Silk Road. The establishment of this website in January 2011 was facilitated specifically by the existence of the so-called ‘Dark Net’, of the ‘Dark Web’ (a portion of the Deep Web) utilising the so-called ‘The Onion Router’ (TOR) system of anonymous network connections in order to facilitate the drug purchase and transaction payment by means of the cryptocurrency called ‘Bitcoin’. This article also traces how the US authorities stopped the operations of Silk Road (October 2013) and convicted its operator/web administrator (in 2015), Ross Ulbricht (aka ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ also known under the acronym of ‘DPR’), on charges of money laundering, drug trafficking (and a charge of attempted murder). In less than two-years Ulbricht had managed to build a multimillion-dollar drug operation. But while the ‘taking down’ of the Silk Road web-marketplace for illicit drugs was the first of its kind internationally, this did not stop ‘copycat’ ‘pop-up’ sites that continued to sell all kinds of drugs online. The US Federal Task Team set up to ‘take down’ Silk Road with Operation Marco Polo, in investigating Silk Road’s illicit drug operations, had implemented classic cyberforensic, as well as traditional crime investigation techniques, in an effort to build a strong ‘evidence’ case against Ulbricht. They had also drawn on ‘hacking’ tactics in exploiting computer vulnerabilities to ‘break’ into the Silk Road servers and download all user transactions for the sale of the illicit drugs - all assumed to be ‘anonymous’ and untraceable. But Ulbricht had made a number of fundamental ‘errors’ which allowed the US authorities to track him down and to penetrate the Silk Road servers. These mistakes allowed the FBI to ultimately build a ‘watertight’ case against him as the Silk Road operator and enabled them to secure a conviction against him. |
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| ISSN: | 1012-8093 |