Silk Road: Online can of worms. Er, drugs.

Getting a connection refused - are there other less publicized sites like this?

I've seen it reported that TOR was developed by the u.s. government. So it may contain a backdoor for them. I find these ideas of crypto-currency very provocative but my mind can't get around how it differs from a credit card transaction, if only more difficult to trace. It will be interesting to see what the advent of quantum computers will add to this discussion, particularly the poster here calling himself Anonymous. Is it just a matter of a tech upgrade in cryptography?

Bitcoins aside - at 15 bucks a tab, it better be some ass-kickin-cid!

@omgoleus

I'm not saying that Bitcoin isn't interesting or doesn't offer some interesting privacy features: it is, and it does. But I think the linked article (and most of the articles I've seen recently), are just a little too pie-in-the-sky, and I think that people who are considering experimenting with the currency needs to at least consider some of the technological implications.

Calling bitcoin transactions "untraceable" is glossing over some of those important considerations. Yes, bitcoin transactions are less traceable than other forms of electronic exchange, but they're still more traceable than cash, or even the old standby of a 7-11 money order.

Every bitcoin you spend is forever and indelibly marked with your fingerprint, which is uniquely tied to the software wallet you have on your computer. I understand the technological reasons for this, but in some ways it's a bit creepy.

Going back to the original article, some guy is selling Acid on the Internet. It's not too hard to believe that he'll end up getting busted and his computer confiscated. Any bitcoins you paid him will have your fingerprint on it. Depending upon how you arranged the transaction it may be very hard for them to tie that fingerprint to you, perhaps very hard. But if you're not careful, not so much. This is the kind of issue users of bitcoin should be thinking about.

Here's another interesting scenario. Let's say that some government agency wants to start tracking bitcoins. Probably the easiest way to do this is to just start using them -- getting a lot, spending a lot. Every bitcoin has a transaction history associate with it, so they can see where it's been. Then, later, let's say that Looser A gets busted for selling drugs on the Internet. They look through their records (that they generated by looking at all of the bitcoins that passed through their hands), and all of the sudden they see that Looser B and Looser C have paid A some money in the past. Now, if Looser B gets in trouble at some point and they look though his computer, they now know he's the same Looser B that paid A money.

They may have otherwise not known that A and B were associated. But now they know. This is very important: once you're in trouble and they have your wallet, that will provide them with a lot of information they couldn't have otherwise known! Let's say they got your for bitorrenting a CD, and all of the sudden they now know that you're also been buying acid on the Internet. Now, I have no idea how such evidence would work out in a court of law, but they would definitely use it to pressure you into unraveling that whole little neighborhood of the "web of trust!"

This would all be useful and interesting information for LEO as they go about trying to destroy people's lives.

Again, these are just the kinds of issues that users of bitcoin should be considering. I'm not saying anyone should or shouldn't use it. But I am saying it would be foolish to use it without thinking about these things.

Really, I guess that's really my main discomfort with bitcoin. It's based upon some mathematical principles that some people may have a hard time understanding and reasoning about, but the folks behind it are putting out some pretty heavy-handed marketing material ("this will change everything!"), so I fear that some unsophisticated people will decide to use it without really understanding the implications.

At this point, if you really want to be anonymous, a money order and a postage stamp are still the way to go. Yes, bitcoin would be better than, say, PayPal if you wanted privacy. But potential users should be very wary of the claims now being made.

@Anonymous: The point of bitcoin is that like physical money, possession is absolute; so if you put "a bitcoin" on a USB memory stick and then bury it in the desert, then that's it... no one can take it away from you, no one can subpoena it from the bank or whatever. But unlike physical money, it can be transacted electronically. So it is sort of a cross between cash and ordinary banking which combines what the creator believed to be the best features of both (although maybe other people disagree about what the best features should be, of course.)

In order to do this, there has to be an irreversible embedding in a trust network, which is what makes the individual bitcoins traceable. But the distributed nature of it means that there is no way to know where that bitcoin is! So, sure, the transaction can be traced to a particular number, but then what? If you keep it someplace stupid, then yes the authorities could find it with a warrant... but the same is true with cash, and as for bank accounts, they don't even need a warrant, they can just ask the bank whose money it is. So there is definitely a new kind of security here, even though the transaction history is entirely public.

This forum has still a lot more users than the Silk Road: [link]
400 online at one time, while the Silk Road has "only" 3500 users. If the powers want ammo, they could use that. Or the legal high guide forum. Or craigslist.

Yeah I`m going to buy lsd from some unkknown douche across the world.
But mark is a software developer(cubicle trash), Cultivating hookups and not treating things like a "drug supermarket" is beyond him! ofcourse!

The best part about bitcoin is, honestly, their marketing hype.

Don't get me wrong: it's an interesting experiment in alternative currencies. But it doesn't live up to its hype.

As an example: far from being "untraceable," each bitcoin has a crytologically secure transaction key associate with it, and it can't be repudiated. Imagine a piece of paper currency that maintains the fingerprint of everyone who ever used it, and that's what you have with bitcoin.

The "fingerprint" is associated with the user's public/private key, so it isn't a normal identity per se, but there is nothing stopping a law enforcement agency from getting a court order to examine your computer. And if they find the key on your computer, good luck refuting it!

In essence, everyone using bitcoin has a precise transaction history of every bitcoin.

That doesn't sound very untraceable, does it?

I can't say I like the fact that this little 'secret' is being reported on now by lots of media, but I guess it's okay if you believe that people will do what people do REGARDLESS :)

That aside, I'm sure the 'powers that be' will surely use this as ammo for their arguments to censor/control the internet. Scared moms all over will be begging for an end to this -- but is it possible? Once this ball gets rolling, it's hard to imagine it stopping. I mean look how bit torrents took off -- and the foundation of the architecture, the core of that system makes it VERY difficult for anyone to control.

That said, I love that this BitCoin was developed by libertarian/anarchist-minded folks. Folks who really value privacy and freedom and look down upon your benevolent overlords trying to watch over you and control everything you say, think, ingest, and do.

Let's just hope this takes off because baby this train's now in motion. No telling where it will lead :) Buckle up!!

@james You have to use the anonymizer .TOR (https://www.torproject.org/) to access the website. Then that little link of yours will work ;)

Want!

Silk Road looks like it is down right now. [link]