Bitcoin, Encryption, Drug Use, and the FBI’s Own Bitcoin Wallet

“One of the alleged reasons for the war on drugs is to prevent money from getting into the hands of terrorists. But if drugs were legal, prices would crash,  theft would plunge (drugs are expensive and addicts don’t have the money),  and terrorists would not make anything off drugs. Millions in prisons would not be there, and the pension problem of states would be far less.  Clothes would be made out of hemp, which has fiber softer than cotton. Hemp plants and seeds can be converted into biofuel far better than corn (which requires high quantities of fertilizer and water, and needs to be replanted every year).  Yet the extremely costly war and economically asinine war on drugs continues. Why?”

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2013/10/bitcoin-encryption-drug-use-and-fbis_8.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Goodbye Silk Road, Hello Sheep Marketplace

“The war on drugs is a costly game of cops and robbers. One illicit business is shut down, and a dozen more spring up. Instead of chasing after the administrators of online marketplaces, the authorities should check out the business model with a view to drug decriminalization. A rating system for buyers and sellers, similar to that operating on eBay, and the sterile, anonymous way in which goods and money change hands, would serve nicely to bring down street crime and the use of contaminated substances.  It is a fact of life that these substances are readily available anyway, only without any kind of quality assurance system and often in dangerous settings.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-04/goodbye-silk-road-hello-sheep-marketplace.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

How the Silk Road Shutdown Makes Everyone Less Safe

“It took someone named Dread Pirate Roberts to create a way for people to buy and sell illegal drugs without the threat of getting hurt and with little threat of getting ripped off. His deep website, Silk Road, was the eBay of the underworld until it was seized by the FBI last week. When the government shut down Silk Road, it kicked all its users back onto the streets, locking users out of the safest way anyone has ever devised for acquiring an illicit substance—whether a mind-altering substance or a not-yet-FDA-approved food or medication.”

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/how-the-silk-road-shutdown-makes-everyone-less-safe

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Silk Road closure reportedly cuts off supply of drug for assisted suicides

“Euthanasia is illegal in many countries, but there are still doctors and advocates who will help distressed patients seeking voluntary death. Usually these patients are in so much pain, or their quality of life is so diminished, that they no longer want to live and prefer to exit on their own terms. Such patients were using Silk Road to purchase the lethal drug Nembutal and download copies of an ebook called The Peaceful Pill Handbook, says Australian right-to-die advocate Philip Nitschke. A search of the Silk Road forums confirmed that vendors were advertising Nembutal, which also has recreational uses.”

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/7/4811920/silk-road-shutdown-cut-off-crucial-source-for-euthanasia-drug-nembutal

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Feds Arrest Alleged Top Silk Road Drug Seller; Copycat Sites ‘Key Priority’

“Federal authorities last week arrested a Washington state man accused of being one of the most active and sought-after drug dealers on the online black market known as the ‘Silk Road.’ Meanwhile, new details about the recent coordinated takedown of the Silk Road became public, as other former buyers and sellers on the fraud bazaar pondered who might be next and whether competing online drug markets will move in to fill the void.  Update, Oct. 8, 2013: The BBC is reporting that four men have been arrested in the U.K. for alleged drug offenses on the Silk Road, and that more arrests are expected in the coming weeks.”

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/10/feds-arrest-alleged-top-silk-road-drug-seller/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

The FBI’s Plan For The Millions Worth Of Bitcoins Seized From Silk Road

“The spokesperson says the approximately 26,000 Bitcoins seized are just the ones that were held in Silk Road accounts. In other words, it’s Silk Road users’ Bitcoin. The FBI has not been able to get to Ulbricht’s personal Bitcoin yet. ‘That’s like another $80 million worth,’ she said, explaining that it was held separately and is encrypted. If that is indeed what he’s holding, that’s close to 600,000 Bitcoin all together or about 5% of all Bitcoin currently in existence.  Thanks to the transparency of the Bitcoin block chain, Reddit has located what looks to be the FBI’s Bitcoin wallet; there’s an influx of 27,000 Bitcoins into it starting on Wednesday, October 2.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/10/04/fbi-silk-road-bitcoin-seizure/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Silk Road fallout: Two sites rise to become the next ‘eBay of drugs’

“Many others – despite the clear and present danger of going to jail staring them right in the face – have simply moved on to other sites to buy drugs, fake IDs, firearms, and a slew of other illicit items once available on Silk Road. And it seems that two such online outlets are competing to fill the void.  Like the Silk Road, both sites are only accessible through the Tor network, not the regular Internet. Add in the illicit nature of these sites, and you can surely understand why I’m not linking to either. If you want to check them out yourself, it’s not particularly difficult to do so – and signing up for both is as easy as creating any new online account.”

http://www.digitaltrends.com/web/silk-road-fbi-ulbricht-sheep-marketplace-bmr/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Silk Road and the potential to disrupt a truly evil industry

“The FBI admitted that Silk Road vendors provided high quality drugs. And the prices were far below the street.  Based on advanced Internet technologies, it was able to create a protected market that kept money out of the hands of violent street gangs and international criminal syndicates. It also protected buyers (lots of US citizens) from the poisons that adulterate street drugs.  If it had grown large enough, Silk Road, or a collection of similar online services, would have begun to seriously challenge the revenues of local and international mobsters on a scale that the war on drugs has consistently failed to do.”

http://www.zdnet.com/silk-road-and-the-potential-to-disrupt-a-truly-evil-industry-7000021498/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

Cop resigns after being charged with selling marijuana from his home

“A Sunrise police officer resigned his position after he and his live-in girlfriend were accused of selling marijuana from their home.  The officer, Joseph Rodriguez-Santiago, 27, was cited last week for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and quit his job of six years after he was placed on administrative leave.  His girlfriend, Paige Nicole Merritt, 21, is facing two felony charges after she allegedly sold marijuana to a confidential informant on two different occasions, including once in front of Rodriguez-Santiago.”

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/crime/fl-sunrise-cop-marijuana-resignation-20130930,0,7832112.story

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin

International ‘war’ on illegal drugs is failing to curb supply

“The international war on illegal drugs is failing to curb supply, despite the increasing amounts of resource being ploughed into law enforcement activities, finds research published in the online journal BMJ Open.  Since 1990, the street price of  has fallen in real terms while the purity/potency of what’s on offer has generally increased, both of which are indicators of availability.  Three major trends emerged from the data analysis: the purity/potency of illegal drugs either generally remained stable or increased between 1990 and 2010; with few exceptions, the street price generally fell; and seizures of drugs increased in both the countries of major supply and demand.”

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-09-international-war-illegal-drugs-curb.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin