NY Senator Calls for Renewed Crackdown on Dark Web Drug Sales

I found this article, I thought it may be of interest to our fellow /r/DNM redditors.

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/schumer-crackdown-on-dark-web-drug-sales/

For those who can't be arsed to click the link.

Three years ago, New York Senator Chuck Schumer held a press conference to pressure federal law enforcement to crack down on the Silk Road, the anonymous online drug market that had only just come to light. Now, over a year since that contraband bazaar was seized by the FBI, Schumer seems to have discovered that the dark web drug trade didn't simply end with Silk Road's demise--and he's not happy about it.

In an open letter published Monday, Schumer called on Attorney General Eric Holder to renew the Justice Department's pursuit of illegal drug sellers whose business has thrived on the anonymous Internet. He cited a report from his local Long Island newspaper Newsday that counted 40,000 listings for illegal drugs on the dark web--the anonymous portion of the Internet obscured by software like Tor and I2p--compared with just 20,000 a year earlier. (In fact, a report two months ago from the non-profit Digital Citizens Alliance puts the number even higher, at 47,000.) In his letter, Schumer asks Holder to "conduct a comprehensive review of federal efforts to address the expansion of narcotics trafficking on the internet." "Over the last several years, we have seen a treacherous and rapidly growing avenue develop for criminals to carry out illicit activities," Schumer's letter reads. "Though the internet has become essential to many Americans' day-to-day lives, it has also helped to facilitate an illegal market for dangerous narcotics including prescription drugs, cocaine, and even heroin. The 'dark web' has assisted in shielding these criminals from law enforcement."

Schumer's letter could signal renewed federal attention to dark net markets that have only diversified and flourished since October of last year, when 29-year-old Ross Ulbricht was arrested and later charged with creating and managing the Silk Road's billion-dollar-plus drug trade. Only a month after that bust, a new "Silk Road 2″ launched to replace the original site. At last check, it offered more than 13,000 drug listings, according to the Digital Citizens Alliance.

More than a dozen other sites have since launched to compete with Silk Road 2, and many have matched or surpassed the Silk Road and its sequel in popularity among anonymous drug traders. One, called Agora, now offers more total product listings than Silk Road 2. Another, called Evolution, is on track to outpace the Silk Road 2 in total listings in the coming months. Both offer more drug listings than the original Silk Road ever did, as well as other illicit products that the Silk Road didn't permit, including firearms. Evolution also sells stolen credit card information, a sort of fencing that wouldn't have been allowed under Silk Road's strict adherence to supporting only victimless crime. In a press statement included with his letter to Holder, Schumer said that the splintering of the dark web drug trade has only made it harder to control. In fact, none of the major drug sites that have appeared since the original Silk Road arrests have been successfully shut down by law enforcement, though Dutch police did seize a one dark web market called Utopia shortly after its creation in February. Three Silk Road 2 administrators were arrested late last year, but they had been tracked in the original Silk Road investigation, and their identifying information was likely obtained from Ross Ulbricht's seized laptop.

Schumer's statement also mentions Tor and bitcoin as software used by the dark web sites, references that will no doubt raise fears of regulation among those tools' users for both legal and illegal activities.

Ulbricht, who has been charged with crimes that include narcotics and money laundering conspiracy, faces trial in January. The judge in his case ruled earlier this month against arguments that the FBI had violated his privacy rights by hacking into the Silk Road server without a warrant.

"With your help, the Silk Road was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2013, and I am pleased that DOJ is currently prosecuting its operator and holding him accountable. ‎Regrettably, however, new sites have recently sprung up in Silk Road's place," Schumer writes in his letter to Holder. "I look forward to working with you and the Department of Justice to stem the growth of this dangerous and unregulated marketplace, and I eagerly await your response."


Comments


[63 Points] _-________________-_:

Chuck Schumer pines for the days when drug deals were done on the streets, when confidential informants could easily blend in with a drug gang, and when police officers and the DEA's jobs were pretty damned easy... compared to the PGP, bitcoin tracking, package profiling, etc of today.

Oh well. This is what happens when you act like jackbooted thugs against non-violent drug users, and moreover don't just leave drug users the fuck alone in the first place.

Welcome to the 21st century, Chuck. Guess what, it only gets worse (from your P.O.V.) from here. Run along to the old-folks home now, you sad, fucking moron.


[34 Points] OrdinaryToaster:

I don't know why he is mad, we are keeping the dealers off the streets. YOU'RE WELCOME


[18 Points] earthmoonsun:

So after the next crackdown there will be even 80,000 listings of drugs.


[10 Points] JoatMasterofNun:

Although I don't use the DNM, I follow it enough. And my question is this: Who has it really hurt?

I could see some of the stuff being... not so good, but overall, in the majority, people avoid the streets, the bad end of the dealer life, people want to recreate in their own way in life.

Ohhh wait, it's hurting their pocketbooks, their crime numbers, other nonsense things that should be scaling down anyways.

NY is turning into a shithole along with a few other states. Let's see what comes of this. They going to take more of our liberties to "save the children?"


[9 Points] illegaltorrents:

What a pitiful, hypocritical lot the Baby Boomers have become.

"You kids with your onions and your bitcoins. Your technology frightens and confuses me. Get off my lawn!"


[5 Points] GrandWizardsLair:

In a later conference with the Grand Wizard Senator Schumer clarified his position.


[5 Points] creamynebula:

one of the markets should use "prescription drugs, cocaine, and even heroin" as a slogan, just to upset him further.


[3 Points] gerundive:

What's significant is that Chuck Schumer is a big fish in the Democratic Party (its third-ranking member in the Senate) with a solid electoral power base, and he's been active in discussions about the internet for nearly 25 years. Among many other legislative duties, he's also a member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs, and he's actively opposed to a free bitcoin market. He's smart, he's powerful, and he gets things done. If he's writing open letters to the Attorney General then it sounds like the opening shot of a campaign.

What we don't know yet is the response of the Attorney General. If he goes along with it, then I expect within two years most if not all of the following - 1) legislation making it illegal to advertise, condone or link to sites knowingly selling illegal goods, 2) increased penalties for facilitating or taking part in DNM vending, 3) extra powers for LE to enable them to infiltrate online criminal activities, 4) sufficient Tor exit nodes compromised to be able to close down darknet markets hosted in North America, Europe and Australasia, 5) sophisticated cyber attacks on non-Western markets selling to the US.

In war there is no greater danger than underestimating the enemy.


[2 Points] reject9:

How about focusing on more pressing matters you fuckhead (NY senator not you)


[2 Points] pscifi:

He mentions drug trafficking of "even heroin" occurring on the DNMs because New York is trying to crack down on heroin moving in and through the state. Those traffickers are in the streets. No one is buying amounts of heroin (on public markets) to qualify a trafficking charge. That shit's too expensive online. The real criminals are in the streets Chuck! I will downvote this guy next election


[2 Points] Marag:

You want to eliminate darknet websites selling drugs? Legalize and tax ALL drugs.


[1 Points] twigburst:

Good luck with that... Like the DEA doesn't already know about this DNMs. If they could, they would.


[1 Points] SecondChanceUsername:

The more they whine about DN > the more it ends up in the media> the more people become drawn to it.


[1 Points] Insipid_Pedantry:

Schumer is one of the worst senators around. Dude is anything BUT a democrat but the retards keep re-electing him.


[1 Points] AdrienChen2004:

I think we should all order some cocaine and even heroin to Schumer's offices. A bit of a waste though...