“When you couple the eBay-style reputation engine with the relative anonymity of a black market, you get what we might call a ‘gray market.’ And that gray market allowed those determined to buy certain items — illegal drugs, etc. — to do so in a far, far safer way than ever before. Silk Road and dark websites like it remove commercial activity from the hands of violent cartels fighting over territory, from the gangland districts of US cities, and from dodgy dealings behind shady buildings. Second, in a pragmatic sense, the apprehension and sentencing of Ulbricht has not deterred these grey market entrepreneurs.”
http://fee.org/anythingpeaceful/detail/ross-ulbricht-fool-martyr-or-trailblazer
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