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all 27 comments

[–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (7 children)

Great publicity for Gwern. He earned it.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm glad he's getting some recognition

[–]neovngr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great publicity for Gwern. He earned it.

Yup, 100%!

[–]hog_master -3 points-2 points  (4 children)

Who is gwern and what has he accomplished?

[–]hog_master 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would agree. And yes, I've been hiding under a rock ;)

[–]Dr_Zhivago_[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the gold buddy! I feel honored. Wonderful thing to wake up to ;)

[–]DareToHope 2 points3 points  (0 children)

one of the greatest most helpful and knowledgeable mods when it comes to DNM's...

[–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (4 children)

52GB (~1.6TB)

wut..?

[–]Trashhhhhhman 4 points5 points  (0 children)

1.6tb gross 52 gb net

Dude left the deep net, now he be posting taxes....

[–]Spoogly 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Maybe it's a 52gb tarball?

[–]sobulbous 3 points4 points  (1 child)

52gb Tarbell?

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

tarball as in the archive .tar container. tar -xvf filename.tar

[–]-El_Presidente- 5 points6 points  (3 children)

even dark web personalities such as the vendor known as “El Presidente,”

Vendor? Seriously? Which orifice did Joseph Cox pull that from?

[–]lemonbreak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Was El Presidente not a vendor? I'm not familiar with the name, so I'm not sure who it is.

[–]hog_master 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would safely say his asshole.

[–]Vendor_BBMC 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Another darknet vendor sent a link to this post today, with a comment (and I quote) "Why would anybody think this is a good idea?"

I had to explain that Gwern likes to joke around. "Click the link. Do you think everybody would be wishing him bon voyage if he had really cracked up and dumped gigabytes of evidence where LE can access it? He was still asking for "marketplace scrapes" as recently as yesterday"

I have to admit, it gave me pause for thought. Everybody is congratulating him, for being so fastidious in his documentation of their online criminal activity. Maybe this is the best thing ever, because his research will enable us all to improve our OPSEC, and get away with all of our guilty history - totally scot-free. Somehow, the slate will be wiped clean, there will be no evidence of our drug buying and selling, and Gwern Branwen will go down in darknet history as a great hero.

I tried to picture this in the real world, because sometimes things are difficult to picture if they are "online". So here we go:-

Imagine Gwern standing outside a crack dealer's house, noting what was on offer every day, seeing who goes in and out, how long the place operated for, and taking the dealer's fingerprints / PGP key (to link him to crack dens in other cities).

Try to picture Gwern in an Italian restaurant, wearing a wire and doing a "scrape" of every bit of crime-related gossip, knowing that the made-guys use the restaurant as a kind of venue (or "forum" if you will) for narcotic-trade discussion.

If Gwern were technically-minded, he could place a microphone in every forum, and keep a tally of how much of each drug was sold by every drug dealer, along with 2 lines of testimony from every one of their customers that the drugs crossed borders, or didn't arrive, or "FE for trusted vendor. Will update"

Offline, the crack dealer might tap on Gwern's car window, and politely ask him what he was writing. "Oh, just calculating how much crack you've sold, anywhere. Since 2009. Its for my thesis"

"Don't worry. I would never talk to a reporter"

"Reporter? Ha ha ha! Its a good job I know you are joking. Otherwise, I would kill you"

That's OK then. Good luck with your degree. But not a word of this must ever get out. You know what happens to grasses"

"Of course not. This will go to the grave with me. I would never talk to the police. They could get a subpoena for all I care, they will never see a megabyte of the dirt I have on you and your customers"

"Can you imagine if I ever released my portfolio of criminal evidence publically? It would be used in every drug trial in every country, putting people behind bars for thousands of extra years, and earning the feds millions in asset forfeiture. It would be the biggest disaster in darknet history, worse than the seizure of the Silk Road server"

"If there was ever a movie about the darknet, I would be played by John Malkovich"

Good luck to Gwern Branwen - still cracking those April fools jokes right to the end. But don't forget how you all shat yourself when you thought the police had subpoena'd his "research"? I thought he was starting to crack up the last couple of weeks. I can always tell when I'm being lied to, and I was afraid he was going to do something stupid.

The fact you're all wishing him well rather than threatening to kill him reassures me that everything is alright, and the evidence is safe. (I don't like to click on links in Reddit). Gwern didn't become the darknet's first international supergrass. But I admit I panicked there for a moment. I nearly clicked on the link, half expecting to see it all there in black and white. But remember this:- Do you know for sure that Gwern is a great guy? What if he started asking for bitcoin contributions from our community? He could land every vendor and customer who ever used a darknet marketplace in the shit if he wasn't such a stand-up guy. It would only take one stolen copy to get out and he will have bombed darknet markets back to the stone age.

Just out of interest, has anybody clicked the link to see what's Gwern REALLY made public? I bet it was a single pdf file containing the words "Fuck you, police! Find another stool pigeon, suckers!"

[–]Hank_Vendor 1 point2 points  (2 children)

I want to understand . . . Please. Someone tell me why this is a good idea?

[–]kefnar 0 points1 point  (1 child)

its not. its sickening when people say "gwern has helped this community so much" noo he has exploited it for his own personal gains. he doesn't give a shit about DNM, tor, anything. Ulbricht got life the "buzz" is dying so he does this shit and onto his next project. maybe he should run for president he seems to have what it takes to fuck over the masses while they remain oblivious to it

[–]Hank_Vendor -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Well said.

Pretty much what I am thinking.

[–]Vendor_BBMC 1 point2 points  (1 child)

If he really DID crack up and dump evidence of everything we ever said, bought or sold since the early days of Silk Road where they can be used as evidence in criminal trials, it would certainly put vendors who don't delete your shipping details into perspective!

Gwern was publicly questioning my judgement recently, like he's the DNM professional and I'm the amateur. Talking about banning me for asking him questions.

I've seen the way some men act when they suffer "TOR fatigue", and I was worrying that gwern was displaying all the symptoms. He was clearly suffering under the burden of the vast archive of potential evidence he had accumulated on every one of us. Its a heavy load for one man's shoulders.

I admit I was worried that he was cracking under the strain, but couldn't quite bring himself to keep it safe until the statute of limitations renders it inadmissible (in the US at least. In the UK, it could be used to prove what I sold, and how much, for how long, even if I'm 90 when they kick my door in).

Sometimes I think I'm a better judge of character than I really am. I thought gwern was losing it and about to do something stupid without thinking it through.

Somebody has to document history, and it should be preserved for future generations. I tried to discourage gwern from retiring. But the more I think about it, the more I understand why gwern had to get out. Now, while he still can.

If his data ever leaked, it could set the darknet marketplace community back 5 years. He's worked so hard on it that it must be killing him knowing that he can never show it off without severely endangering current marketplace users. But in particular, vendors.

At least I could hand his marketplace scrapes to my accountant so he can calculate my back taxes if drugs are ever legalized!

[–]XeroxSnowman -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If it was too much pressure, my first thought was just wipe away the archive, but I am not gwern so I don't know what went through his head

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice. Applause all around.

[–]CocaineNose 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Gwern is his first name?! Mind blown

[–]The_Grid_Is_Up 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Gwern Branwen is an online alias he uses. They're characters from Welsh tradition; Gwern being the son of Matholwch the king of Ireland, and Branwen. I doubt it's his actual name though it would be interesting if it was.

[–]CocaineNose 0 points1 point  (0 children)

interesting. thanks

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