Journalism question: what is the future for darknet markets?

I am a writer for the Guardian, looking to get people's opinions on what the future holds for the darknet marketplace as DPR's sentencing happens today. Would love to hear some commets from users and vendors about what you think the future holds.


Comments


[25 Points] GrandWizardsLair:

Before there were darknet markets people bought and sold drugs through e-mail, chat, IRC and various other Internet forums. Now that Silk Road is gone and the surviving markets have grown increasingly unstable, people are returning to those decentralized models of commerce. And if the DEA thought it was tough taking down a dozen big markets what are they going to do about thousands of dealers selling their product via mailing list? Especially now that Silk Road has shown the world that you can get drugs online?

In America we have a popular Halloween prank: you gather fresh poop (canine or otherwise) in a brown paper bag, put that bag on someone's porch, set it afire and ring the doorbell. They come out and proceed to spray themselves and their house with flaming feces stomping out the fire. Silk Road, my friends, was that burning bag of dogshit... and right now law enforcement is facing a big and very stinky conflagration.


[12 Points] None:

It's the same situation as P2P file sharing, law enforcement can't prevent it. Look at the recent take down of pirate bay URLs. Take down a major host and it's like chopping the head off a hydra; multiple replacements pop up. Silk Road went and now there's 30 markets instead.

Prohibition doesn't work and it is what creates a black market in the first place. Alcohol prohibition created gangsters. By comparison the DNMs are a far more civilized way of doing things and there is much less collateral damage to society. There's no violent turf wars here. The availability of firearms makes it seem like a dark and dangerous place... but it wasn't DNMs that created street gangs.

Lets talk about Ketamine. It's only just recently been shown in medical trials that this drug is extremely effective in treating depression (something like 75% success rate treating even previously unresponsive clinical depression). But many drug users have know this for decades. That knowledge was pushed underground along with the drug, the users, and the potential revenues. Prohibition removes all benefit to society.

DNMs are a sophisticated solution. Ross Ulbricht a revolutionary thinker. You want to know what the future holds? Well i received my order this morning so i'll leave it to your imagination.


[12 Points] RosyPalm:

Half a dozen new markets just went online in the time it took me to reply. I would say 99% of the jackasses responsible have no idea what you're talking about.

....what you think the future holds.

Hm, let me shake this infallible magic 8-ball.

"Holy fuck boys, girls, etc.! Hang on to your respective junk, because we're in for a bumpy fucking ride!"


[12 Points] None:

[deleted]


[9 Points] sobulbous:

The future is the DPRK market. I think you should do a story on that.


[6 Points] None:

We move on. We always do. You can not keep drugs away from us.


[5 Points] damn-right:

So it seems there's two schools of thought here - one, that the markets are becoming increasingly unstable and we'll move to a more peer-to-peer model, and two that the instability will slowly right itself and more reliable markets will emerge with more robust security (and perhaps more careful administrators?) Quick poll - which do you think is more likely? By the way, as has been pointed out, I should have identified myself; my name is Nicky Woolf, I'm a writer for the Guardian based in New York (though currently in London).


[4 Points] PIXEL_MACHT_FREI:

This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect my privacy.

If you would like to do the same, add the browser extension TamperMonkey for Chrome (or GreaseMonkey for Firefox) and add this open source script.

Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.


[3 Points] DoctrZoidberg:

The Future of the Darknet is extremely bright!

As long as our customers understand that purchasing their drugs through a DNM is WAY safer then doing it in person, this will continue forever. People aren't afraid of being robbed, beaten or killed because they went to their corner drug dealer when they can go to a DNM instead.

On the flip side, when vendors can sell to their customers without fear of being caught up in a narcotics sting they will continue to do it.

People need their medications as well. Many people can buy their legally scripted medications from a darknet market cheaper then their local pharmacy. Often other customers will test these meds and verify that they aren't counterfeit.

The future is bright, and the world's governments are wasting their time on the War on Drugs. Money would be better spent treating addicts that are having problems, rather then locking them all up.


[2 Points] None:

The future is extremely bright for the darknet markets. Silk Road was the seed which gave birth to an entire field of darknet market oak trees, if you will, that will only grow and strengthen every time another is cut down.

You can't unring the bell that is being able to buy drugs online. It's like telling porn fans they can't watch porn online anymore - they'd find a way. And the governments trying to stop people from buying and selling drugs online are like King Canute trying to hold back the tide.

The war on drugs has been a ghastly and epic failure, and prohibition - as was the case with alcohol - does not work.

I'd go so far as to bet that when the UK government finally decides to cave in and legalise and tax drugs they will sell them using a website that is very similar in nature to the Silk Road model.

I'm sure that members of the Tory party enjoy a spot of secret cocaine with their champagne and even Obama has admitted that he's used illicit drugs in the past.

No-one's going to be deterred by the sentence Ulbricht's handed today, they will learn from it and build better and safer markets - far from the grasp of America's mucky paws.

They took three years to take down Silk Road even allowing for Ulbricht's glaring OPSEC failures. I doubt very much that market owners will do anything but be taking notes and learning from the Silk Road trial and the ways in which law enforcement finally tracked down Ulbricht.

His sentence, whatever they hand him, is too much - he should be set free and handed a Noble Peace prize.


[2 Points] UDNM:

Silk road created a demand for an online drug trade. That demand will only continue to grow and it can't be stopped. Prohibition doesn't work, if there is one thing we have learnt from the war on drugs it's that you cannot fight economics. LE can only fight the supply of drugs, markets are created by demand. And as long as that demand exists there will always be someone willing to supply it.

We may have a bumpy road ahead of us, but this is only the beginning.


[2 Points] fnnuts:

more markets, more users, more vendors, more scams........... If there is any message from the darknet, in light of DPR's sentencing, it's that the markets have moved on without him just fine.


[1 Points] damn-right:

So it seems there's two schools of thought here - one, that the markets are becoming increasingly unstable and we'll move to a more peer-to-peer model, and two that the instability will slowly right itself and more reliable markets will emerge with more robust security (and perhaps more careful administrators?)

Quick poll - which do you think is more likely?

By the way, as has been pointed out in a message, I should have identified myself; my name is Nicky Woolf, I'm a writer for the Guardian based in New York (though currently in London). My email address is nicky.woolf@guardian.co.uk if anyone wants to contact me directly, and my author page is here: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nicky-woolf


[1 Points] damn-right:

So it seems there's two schools of thought here - one, that the markets are becoming increasingly unstable and we'll move to a more peer-to-peer model, and two that the instability will slowly right itself and more reliable markets will emerge with more robust security (and perhaps more careful administrators?) Quick poll - which do you think is more likely? By the way, as has been pointed out, I should have identified myself; my name is Nicky Woolf, I'm a writer for the Guardian based in New York (though currently in London). My author page is here: http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nicky-woolf


[1 Points] kangashep:

It seems that one of the biggest problems right now is the need to place trust in centralised vendors that CONSISTENTLY prove themselves to be untrustworthy. I would like to see a decentralized market place developed that allows for orders directly between customers and vendors without the need for funds to leave their control in between. The technology exists. But I'm not sure there is enough financial motivation for people who are smart enough at implementing the technology to implement it for this cause... Time will tell!


[1 Points] Jaymacmac:

Yo momma


[1 Points] auto587643:

I think the DNMs will persist, the balance of power will just shift towards markets hosted in more lax nations like Russia by organized crime guys, with Putin and his ilk likely receiving a cut. The mostly Western market hosts like DPR, who were mostly harmless idealists in comparison, will be replaced by market admins in the East who run tough gangs that also commit crimes offline. I'm not even going to talk about fucking DPRK Deep Market either, but their rise wouldn't have been possible without DPR and the other Western idealistic market heads going down.

Think about it like what happened to groups like the American Mafia. Sure they were bad guys, but at least they were American citizens who supported our country with their money. We took them out of the picture and now the dominant organized crime groups in the US are almost all foreign, comprised of members who have no loyalty to the country, are more violent, and send their money back home, where their corrupt governments get a cut in many cases.


[1 Points] pohoko:

I think Project Shadow may be the future for dark net markets. It will be a decentralized market and therefore can't be shut down or exit scammed. Sauce: aboutshadow.com


[1 Points] DoctrZoidberg:

Great article Nicky!

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/31/silk-road-sentencing-darknet-drugs


[0 Points] dilirio25:

[deleted]

What is this?