Though how could the blackmailer be sure that DPR would contact a specific hitman?
Also: the hitman could have contacted the target to arrange a deal and fake the whole thing. Well worth it.
If I recall correctly, DPR posted a thread requesting the services on the SR forums.
Well, such homicides are a somewhat regular occurrence in White Rock, BC nowadays, so they might be needing a bit more specificity. Not daily, but certainly often enough as the small gangs kill each other vying for the Hells Angels beneficence (Angels run everything, but the little guys fight constantly).
Looks like the guy made some really simple mistakes rooted in (probably) overconfidence and/or thinking he is smarter than everyone else - just like most criminals. Once the authorities are paying attention, all they have to do is wait for that one mistake that pulls the whole thing apart. One of the big reasons I will never take up a life of crime - too stressful (also, too evil).
Still a risky move considering an actual hitman could have responded! Still possible youâre right though, of course.
2nd mouse gets the cheese
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Thatâs the thing, the indictment says that the person in white rock never existed. If an actual hitman responded, who would that actual hitman kill?
bitcoin WILL crashâŚ
Actually, this is the best thing that could happen for BC. The market will recover from this minor drop quite fast, and likely go even higher. Getting some of the ânefariousnessâ out of BC and improving its reputation is just whatâs needed to secure its place as a solid global currency. I bet the Bitcoin Foundation is elated at the news.
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You remember Atlantis? Featured here on BB back in August? It vanished two weeks ago, apparently with the admins shutting down the site and absconding with the coins. Thereâs also Black Market Reloaded and Sheep Marketplace, but their reputations seem to be somewhat variable.
Reading through the account of the investigation, what I see operating beneath it all is an ability to crunch through massive amounts of data and connect disparate points in that data - some as insignificant as a username on a Stack Overflow account - to establish a pattern.
Which is exactly what weâve been hearing leaky things about all year.
So yeah, DPR mightâve made some dumb mistakesâŚbut itâs likely that hundreds of not thousands of buyers and sellers did as well.
This is the State saying: If you know about it, we know about it. So this particular way of doing things is dead. Any purported âheirâ to SR will need to convince sellers and buyers alike of its non-honeypot status, require - not just recommend - the use of PGP, and other things.
And then there are the questions about TOR itself.
Given this yearâs data-gathering revelations, it seems to me that the State security apparatus doesnât have as much incentive to conceal the broad scope of its capabilities any longer. Yep, we can do that. And hereâs us doing it.
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Eh. Maybe when they all return from furloughâŚ
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but mostly too stressful.
Nah, heâs done. Thatâs enough circumstantial evidence to connect him to silk road, and since Silk Road was doing illegal acts with the knowledge of its owner (heck, the encouragement even), it cannot get safe harbor, which means heâs a co-conspirator many, many times over.
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This is the key point. Law enforcement and NSA/CIA essentially hoover up all the data they can get their hands on; then perform searches/set triggers to cross reference and make connections.
It was mentioned elsewhere that while it might be reported as a lucky break; the customs interception of the fake IDâs that provided justification of the raid on Ross Ulbrichtâs residence (and discovery of the SR server) may likely have been arranged as a result of connecting him to SR using possibly illegal/unwarranted data searches and then arranging for his mail to be monitored. The mail grab could then be used as a cover to create a âparallel constructionâ of evidence, in order to launder the fact that the FBI had hacked its way into identifying him.
The best analysis Iâve seen, which included the details on parallel construction is here: FBIâs Case Against Silk Road Boss Is A Fascinating Read on TechDirt
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Did DPR request false IDâs on Silk Road as DPR? And if so, wouldnât that be an obvious opportunity for law enforcement to respond as a supplier, or at least work with an ID supplier to obtain DPRâs mailing address? In a bust of this magnitude, âroutine searchâ is typically used to obscure the poison tree that yields valuable fruit.
Edit: NM, just read the FBIâs Case Against the Silk Road Boss. Either a poison tree, or surveillance capacity they were not prepared to reveal.
I donât know if Iâd characterize it as dumb mistakes. With that kind of ability to gather data and cross reference; if they choose to put significant resources to it, they are likely to make the connections to find you.
In this case the bread crumb was pretty small but the resources they brought to bare on finding it were likely extraordinary. The take-away is that you need a separate identity for every service you access that even remotely touches on the activity you are looking to keep private; starting from when you first think âwouldnât it be coolâ.
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Gotta stand up for my old hometownâŚ
Not sure about the claim âsuch homicides are a somewhat regular occurrence in White Rock, BC nowadaysâ. No homicides for the last 4 years in White Rock. Even if you were to include the nebulous area of âSouth Surreyâ youâd find only 1 from this year and 3 in 2010. CBC Map
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Sloppy of me, in my head I intended âmightâ to modify the âdumbâ - as in, mistakes were made, but they might have been more of a failure to anticipate just how carefully and precisely paranoid he needed to be.
Sure, mostly too stressful. Around these parts one of the primary industries is the production of marijuana (mostly for export to the US, though I suspect that is changing with Washingtonâs legal shift). I donât smoke or produce it myself, but have no issue with other adults doing so if they wish. If there was no risk of arrest then I might consider getting into the business. I donât see pot production itself as inherently evil, though certainly the major players in that market seem to have some familiarity with breaking the golden rule.
But of course if there was no risk of arrest it wouldnât be profitable enough for criminals and it would just be another industry. I already have a job, so why would I bother? And if it were just another industry theyâd have to wrap up the codependent and massive enforcement industry - so thatâs not going to happen. Better to spend zillions and wreck innumerable lives than to act rationally.
I wonder if this sort of highly publicized bust, using the obvious tools of the NSA, is part of a behind the scenes defense of said NSA power abuses.
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By the way, hereâs the point at which the jig was up, once he was put under the microscope:
Another screw up came with postings on two forums under the user name âAltoidsâ in early 2011 advertising the Silk Road, before posting several months later under the âAltoidsâ username on a Bitcoin forum asking for âIT pro in the bitcoin communityâ to help out on a âventure-backed company,â then advising them to contact the email address rossulbricht at gmail dot com.
I think it unlikely that they got his private keys unless heâs very reckless. I keep my private keys under encryption to prevent just that sort of thing. They may just have seized the hard drives containing the private keys, assuming heâs protected them they wonât be able to actually spend them or prevent them from being spent if there is a backup they donât have access to.
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Itâs more like: âThe feds will never win the war on drugs.â
