JON STOSSEL: Ross Ulbricht is just one more casualty of the drug war

X ^ | Jan 21 | Stossel

[RandFan]

@nofiltersnick

JUST IN: President Trump has pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of Silk Road. After over a decade behind bars, Ulbricht is now free. This marks a significant moment in the conversation about digital privacy and government overreach. What's your take?

[RandFan]

5 min Stossel video @ Link and it's a very good one from my perspective.

Bill O'Reilly cheering his life sentence what an....

[RandFan]

They shut down Silk road but copycats popped up and are 10x bigger and worse stuff available

A lesson there

[RandFan]

The video is a few years old but full of facts

He says the dark websites are 10 x bigger than Silk road ever was

It’s probably more like 50x now. Locking Ross up did nothing as a deterrent

[RandFan]

Even if Ross was found guilty of a murder for hire - which he wasn’t - such convictions bring with it a 10 year sentence

Not 40 years without parole

[PGR88]

Ulbricht created a site where people could communicate and trade and not be tracked

This is against the entire DNA of Fed.gov. The NSA, CIA, IRS, FBI, DOJ, Treasury, etc. etc. will NEVER allow such a thing

[Drago]

I believe it was “Life” (x2) + 40 years. Massively over sentenced/charged.

That being said, the problem with the Libertarian take on drugs is that the federal government is massively involved in “healthcare”/health “insurance”, treatment, etc.. Having Libertarian freedom means that you don’t get to use taxpayer dollars for drug treatment, pot smoking COPD, or any other “lifestyle choice” related disease/illness or injury. Like other “nanny state laws” (i.e. helmet laws), if the government pays they get a say it what risks you take that costs them $$$.

[dayglored]

> Having Libertarian freedom means that you don’t get to use taxpayer dollars for drug treatment, pot smoking COPD, or any other “lifestyle choice” related disease/illness or injury. Like other “nanny state laws” (i.e. helmet laws), if the government pays they get a say it what risks you take that costs them $$$.

Ronald Reagan - A Time For Choosing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBswFfh6AY

[Drago]

Thanks for the classic RR link! Definitely “bookmark worthy”.

[Openurmind]

“It’s probably more like 50x now. Locking Ross up did nothing as a deterrent.”

It is... But something ironic has happened to the dark web. Authorities now have the ability to hack all the nodes, content, and origin. But I honestly think since TOR was a product of Navy Intelligence from the beginning they always had a backdoor. So because of this it has quieted down quite a bit because it is compromised and suppressed. They know they are being tracked. And they know the authorities have set up servers to trap folks. And as for using the TOR browser on the clear web a lot of servers now will not accept domain access from TOR exit nodes.

[Openurmind]

“Ulbricht created a site where people could communicate and trade and not be tracked.

This is against the entire DNA of Fed.gov. The NSA, CIA, IRS, FBI, DOJ, Treasury, etc. etc. will NEVER allow such a thing”

I agree. But I think since the TOR protocol was designed by Naval Intelligence they have always had a backdoor anyhow. I can’t see them creating a top level security communication system that they themselves could not monitor for possible infiltration. I think they have a master decryption key incorporated.

I think the only reason it took so long to catch Ulbricht was because they wanted to pile up evidence as long as they could before putting the hammer down. They might have even been using his site as a training tool for awhile before they busted him.

[nathanbedford]

Like other “nanny state laws” (i.e. helmet laws), if the government pays they get a say it what risks you take that costs them $$$.

I once observed arguments before the New Jersey appellate court in which helmet laws for motorcyclists which unsuccessfully challenged. Your point is well taken, when the nanny state perceives that it will have to pay the bill, it will not hesitate to regulate and libertarians be damned.

It is not surprising, however, that the opposite held true when the issue was the spread of AIDS in San Francisco bathhouses. Those costs of treatment were resolutely assumed by San Francisco leftists and the bathhouses were left unrestrained.

[montag813]

Dude served 11 YEARS in jail and Deep Staters whining about him “getting off.”

[aMorePerfectUnion]

@bensig
……………

“ Ross Ulbricht (@RealRossU) didn’t sell drugs—he built an anonymous, free, and open platform on Tor called Silk Road.

Silk Road sold apparel, art, books, collectibles, computer equipment, electronics, herbs, and yeah—drugs. But according to friends who used it, Silk Road was arguably the safest way drugs were ever sold: no street violence, no shady deals, and zero fentanyl. Everything was tested and peer-reviewed, like an Amazon for substances.

For this, the government gave him two life sentences without parole for nonviolent charges, including money laundering—just for using Bitcoin. They relied on questionable evidence and made him an example. Two FBI agents who investigated Ross? Well, a few years went to jail themselves for fraud and stealing Bitcoin from the Silk Road investigation...

So, even if you think Silk Road was problematic, you have to admit that the punishment was wildly disproportionate. This isn’t just about Ross or a marketplace—it’s about government overreach and the state’s power to crush individuals with vague laws.

Today, I’m so happy to hear Ross is free. I’ve met his mom several times—her fight for Ross’s life is an incredible story of a mother’s love. Over the past few months, I’ve been emailing with his wife, Caroline, to ensure he was fairly represented in The Big Bitcoin Book and that they got a copy.

As a developer who has worked with Bitcoin for years, this always felt personal. I didn’t build a marketplace, but it could have been me—or any of my friends—targeted by the government. Ross’s case was a warning shot at innovation, and I’ve always felt connected to him because of that.

Justice came far too late, but today I’m grateful Ross is finally free.

[Fiji Hill]

Is Ross any relation to Walter?

[PGR88]

But I think since the TOR protocol was designed by Naval Intelligence they have always had a backdoor anyhow.

I'm not aware of this. It's beyond my knowledge.

But I believe what you say, as this is back in 2011-13. This is pre-Snowden, and covered the period of the rise of social media, the rise of google, bitcoin and crypto networks. At that time, everyone was blown-away by Snowden's revelations, while now everyone assumes such surveillance is normal. Ulbricht was doing something new and interesting - and government was also learning, didn't know what formats would be adopted, and still in the process of waiting for their coopted industry leaders (ie google and Facebook) to rise to public dominance.

[Openurmind]

Yes, that was an important time. Just before and after Obama was elected for a second term. It all started to ramp up in 2008 when Obama opened the door even further to surveillance of citizens after the Patriot act.