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The Drug's in the Mail - The Silk Road and our very own Tronica!

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Looks like the very people trying to stop people importing drugs from SR are getting in on the act...

A Customs officer has been found to be a member of a secretive online marketplace which offers global delivery of illegal drugs, pornography, firearms and fake passports.

The officer, who has name suppression, has already appeared in Waitakere District Court on several methamphetamine-related offences, including supply of the class-A drug.

But the Herald understands that when police seized his personal computer, he told them they would find software and electronic history showing access to a hidden site called Silk Road.

Authorities worldwide have struggled to combat the site's growing popularity because encrypting software makes it difficult to trace or identify its users.

Silk Road claims to be an anonymous online marketplace where electronic currency is used to sell and buy illegal drugs and contraband - from cocaine or LSD to fake passports.

A sister site called The Armory offers weapons and ammunition.

They function just like legitimate online shopping sites and feature sellers' profiles detailing their trading history and customer feedback.

Sellers offer to vacuum-seal and post orders internationally, with a false return-to-sender address.

Yesterday, a NZ Customs spokeswoman - when asked if the site had affected attempts to import drugs - said there had generally been a significant increase in interceptions.

But the volume of drugs found on each occasion was often less than normal, meaning the total seized had not grown significantly, she said.

In a post on Silk Road's forum this week, an "official New Zealand thread" warned fellow Kiwis to keep a low profile.

"The more we boast about it, the easier our mail becomes to profile and target and we would be stupid to think that law enforcement doesn't browse these forums."

This year, a Dunedin university student and his associate used the site to arrange for 165 Ecstasy pills to be mailed from the Netherlands.

The drugs were intercepted by Customs and the Herald understands they were found to be pure MDMA - a rarity for Ecstasy in New Zealand.

The 18-year-old told police that he agreed to let the pills be sent to his address to help fund a 12-month exchange trip to Canada.

The extent of the Customs officer's use of Silk Road is unclear.

The Herald has been told that he claimed he used the site as research for his work. However, it is understood the Customs Service decided this explanation was unlikely.

Yesterday, the officer told the Herald he "wasn't using" Silk Road.

When asked why it was on his home computer, he said: "I knew about it, because I worked for Customs. But since I have name suppression, I'd like to make no comment".

The Herald accessed Silk Road and found a sidebar showing categories of listings.

There were more than 2000 listings for drugs such as cocaine and cannabis, with accompanying pictures, price-tags and product descriptions.

Forged drivers' licences and passports were among other offerings.

One US-based trader was selling custom-made John Key blotters - preprinted sheets of blotting paper that can be dipped in an LSD solution - "for all you Kiwi bastards".

Increased media attention has led to the site's community growing and, with that, a rise in scammers.

Last month, the Customs officer appeared in court on a total of 11 methamphetamine-related charges.

It is understood the man's alleged offending was uncovered during police inquiries into another crime.

The alleged offending was not directly related to the man's work.

Although the amounts of methamphetamine involved were small, a decision was made to press charges because of the nature of the man's employment.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10819029

pornography
I didnt think SR peddled in porn?
 
Hmm do people actually buy porn? Its free to download but then again id rather spend that money in a nice brothel hahaha You get more bang for ya buck (pun intended) hahaha
 
Fuckn LOL at the 'nice' brothel comment. Wrong descriptive word there sus ;)

nothing in my eyes could ever make a dwelling used for the sole purpose of women selling their bodys for unreasonable amount of cash 'nice'... havin this said, I got nothin against em or the people that work at em (or my mates that have only ever fucked prostitutes) but there is not one thing morally nice about them

Nah man, sex is something I will never pay for.

Fuckin oath! Especially when's there's a good chance of recieving a (lifelong) STD ontop of the fact you paid for it. Then there's that little thought that would constantly be in the back of your (well at least my) head that the bitch has been with one or several blokes within a few hours of you rootin her...

I might hit up langtrees (sp?) when I'm on my deathbed 8)
 
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The drugs were intercepted by Customs and the Herald understands they were found to be pure MDMA - a rarity for Ecstasy in New Zealand.

Good advertising for TSR right there =D
 
Fuckin oath! Especially when's there's a good chance of recieving a (lifelong) STD ontop of the fact you paid for it.

Australian Sex workers are regularly tested for STI's. You have more chance of catching something with someone who isn't regularly tested.
 
Yeah I was going to post the exact same thing except I wanted to neglect this subject LOL Its funny, Im sure a lot of you like me have had a number of sexual partners and it is possible to carry some form of STD's without even noticing as there are no side effects present.

Lets be honest I mean how many of you guys or anyone have STD tests done on a regular basis for people who have had countless partners before? I bet u not many at all. A girl u pick up in a club for a one nighter is no less clean from STD's than a girl working in a brothel. You will never know how many partners they have already had.

A lot of the girls do this not for a living but for a small fortune financial gain, you can see how many new girls arrive to replace the older ones all the time. By the way you can catch STD's via oral and other similar ways. By the way the ones I have been to were very very hygienic, its annoying when they wipe you every 2 minutes even though you are clean as, they use a lot of mouth wash too.
 
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^ that's fuckin' romantic, that is.

anyway, before the Australian Drug Discussion Boys' Club gets too far off track, maybe we should get back to discussing the topic at hand?
 
yeah keep on topic you perverts :p

anyway back to the drug porn.......

We live in a modern society where I can admit that, like the president of the United States of America, I have tried and enjoyed marijuana at some point in my life. I can admit it without it affecting my business or my reputation to any great extent because at least 30% of Australian’s can say the same thing(1). Perhaps I’ll regret that later in life when I run for office, but if a female atheist can be Prime Minister, surely I haven’t completely ruled myself out.

Recently mainstream Australian media have been reporting about the “dark web”. In particular a website called “Silk Road” where people can buy and sell drugs online. I wondered how easy this would be, and how it compares to a real life drug deal. Since I graduated from the lofty academic halls of tertiary education, I have to confess I lack the street cred or the “connections” to pull that sort of thing off anymore. I have visited Nimbin however, where the openness of drug trade is, well, cultural.

If you’ve ever been to Nimbin you know what I’m talking about: Being asked openly whether you’d like to buy marijuana, being taken mere meters away from the main street to view and purchase said marijuana in your chosen quantities, smokey fragrance throughout the town, and nobody is surprised if someone blazes up at the local beer garden or street cafe. Nimbin may indeed be an example of the easiest place in Australian, if not the world, to buy marijuana.

And yet even there the threat of persecution exists with local police executing random searches of outbound tourists which can put many potential buyers off. A drug conviction seriously threatens future job prospects and international travel in a way my casual admission of prior use does not. I tried to buy in Nimbin once but lost my nerve after talking to the “street” dealers, and bought some hash cookies at a cafe instead. They were lovely.

After hearing about “Silk Road” I decided to investigate. “The Amazon.com of illegal drugs” the media were calling it. I fired up Google and typed in “TOR”. This is “The Onion Router”, an anonymising, encrypted peer-to-peer networking program and browser that is required to get onto the “dark web”. I’d never used it before so wasn’t sure what to expect. I downloaded the TOR Bundle, double-clicked the install and within about 30 seconds I was connected. So far, this was so easy, my grandmother could do it.

Once I was connected to the TOR network I didn’t know where “Silk Road” would be. I did a search for “Silk Road” and then clicked the wikipedia article for the “Silk Road (Marketplace)”. The secret link was listed right there in the article! I clicked and within seconds I was staring at the login / registration page for this gateway to the world of online drug dealing. I gulped.

I’d already come this far down the rabbit hole. I may as well register. As I chose a username, password and PIN number I half expected the front door to burst open and a swarm of Federal police to pin me to the wall with machine guns. This didn’t happen though, and within seconds the screen filled with an array of contraband. LSD, cocaine, some lengthy named prescription drugs and a few new drugs I’ve never heard of but are apparently popular with the kids nowadays.

At this point, my mind is blown. The news reports are true. The anonymity afforded by the TOR network, and the legal logistics of detecting and tracing drugs sent by Australia Post have created the perfect arrangement for buyers and sellers. The sellers never have to meet the buyers, or even know their name as the parcels are never addressed to the actual recipient. The buyers don’t have to expose themselves by physically meeting drug dealers. For both parties the risks, both legal and physical, seem diminished here.

The site shows statistics and feedback about sellers so buyers can have confidence about what they are buying. It really is just like eBay in this regard, and although some transactions may ultimately fail, most active sellers have ratings between 95-100%. There are a handful of dedicated Australian sellers who only post domestically seem to be well regarded in the Silk Road forums.

I don’t know whether to be deeply impressed or shocked. Reading the forums is like being a fly on the wall on some very privileged conversations between drug users, sellers and testers. The last point is important. Many of the users have drug testing kits and publish detailed analysis and discussion of the sold products. Sellers also regulate their supply, and when bad or substandard drug batches are detected they are removed, or the prices lowed, with full disclosure. Surprisingly, this seems safer than real life.

Rifling through the categories in the marketplace my eyes widened. Cocaine (from columbia), marijuana, speed, LSD, ecstasy, MDMA, Valium, Xanax, and even Viagra. The menu is certainly more diverse than Nimbin.

Before I could buy anything I had to get some “Bitcoins”. This is a peer-to-peer network that manages an anonymous currency. It’s the only currency Silk Road accepts, as it makes the transaction and the people involved untraceable. Again I went to Google and typed “Bitcoin”. The official site came up first and I downloaded and double clicked the Bitcoin software. Within about 20 seconds I had a wallet on screen, albeit an empty one.

I had to find an exchange to convert some AUD into BTC (bitcoins). At the time of writing this article the exchange rate is 6.7 bicoins for 1 AUD, and the currency has been increasing in value recently. The drug dealers at Silk Road try to set the prices to be roughly in line or cheaper than street prices, so are constantly adjusting their listed drugs for sale depending on the exchange rate. I chose Mt Gox as it seemed to be the biggest. I transferred some AUD to a bank account in Japan at about 10am. 2 hours later, I received an email saying the funds were available in the Mt Gox account. With a few clicks in the “Trade” section of their website, I converted this to Bitcoins.

This was all much easier than I expected it to be. I hadn’t left the house, and the software involved wasn’t as technical as I’d assumed. For an underground “dark web”, it’s very well organized. At this point I have .5 grams of cocaine sitting in the online shopping cart, and the bitcoins ready to buy it. All I have to do is finalise the order and tell the sender the name & address I’d like it posted to.

I lost my nerve! Again. This is what having a family and approaching middle age will do to you. What happened to the subversive young man I was at university, railing against “the system”? The risk, however small simply, isn’t worth it for me. I’d still like to travel internationally and I’m sure future customs checkpoints wouldn’t take too kindly to a cocaine importation charge on my criminal record.

I emptied my shopping cart and put in 2 generic Viagra pills instead. I don’t need any help down there, but I’m much less frightened of a love letter from the boner police than pissing off any Columbian drug cartels and associated drug units.

In many ways, Silk Road definitely seems easier than having to drive to Nimbin and shuffle nervously with shady dealers and unknown products. It appears to be safer for both the buyer and the seller and it’s easy to see why it’s so popular. I can see many middle-class couples who are long out of “the scene” being able to order pills, or a bit of marijuana or even prescription meds at their own leisure. At the time of writing this article there are over 50 Australian drug trades listed on the site, all trading happily even after the intense media attention and police scrutiny.

If I didn’t know better, I would say they are getting away with it.

https://www.dnadigital.com.au/is-it-easier-to-buy-drugs-from-silk-road-online-or-nimbin/
 
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And another one......YAWN!!!

A SINISTER online black market is emerging as a one-stop shop for criminals wanting guns, drugs, hitmen, hackers and passports.

Street deals down dark alleys and risks of police stings are becoming a thing of the past as crooks turn to their own secret underground internet the "Dark Web".

Just as on eBay, users can browse and buy within minutes.

But in this anonymous world, hidden from regular web searches, criminals can mask their identity and location using special software and pay with a virtual anonymous currency.

Websites are "plain" text, with pictures. Marketing and advertising is non-existent. Anything can be bought for a price, with user reviews rating deals and dealers. Hitmen offer their services for $20,000, European Union passports are flogged off from $3000.

South American cocaine, pure Dutch amphetamines (speed), ecstasy, LSD, hallucinogenic mushrooms, marijuana, psychedelics and prescription drugs are among 100 drugs sold on the notorious "Silk Road".

The site has become a haven for pill heads and pot smokers looking for the latest designer drug.

Handguns, rifles, shotguns, Tasers, explosives and ammunition are also a click away on the "Armory" forum with prices from $700 for a pistol to $4500 for an AK-47 assault rifle.

"These sites are an Aladdin's cave of criminality," State Fraud and Corporate Crime Group head Detective Superintendent Brian Hay said.

The director of Computer Zen, Toby Hazlett, who guided The Sunday Mail through the criminals' paradise, said: "It's like an eBay for illegal stuff and pretty much anything goes."

Users connect to the Dark Web with software that hides their identity, the most common known as TOR The Onion Router that connects to hidden onion domains.

Internet traffic is supposedly anonymous because encrypted data is channelled through a network of servers across the world to hide locations and usage, bouncing through relays and proxies with Internet Protocol addresses constantly changing.

"If you use this program on a distribution CD, in a free wireless zone like McDonald's ... the only risk you have is picking the item up," Mr Hazlett said.

Virtual, anonymous, currency "Bitcoins" are used to buy items. The exchange rate was $688.13 for 100 bitcoins late last week.

One hit-man site viewed by The Sunday Mail had price tags ranging from $20,000 to $200,000 to kill officials, police, photographers and journalists.

Another man, in Australia, offered to "hide" a member of the public for $1000 to $5000 a week.

Supt Hay said Dark Web sites were the "industrialisation of cyber crime" and a significant threat.

"Just like any marketplace, you have demand and supply and that's what this does," he said.

"It's a battlefield. It's very, very difficult to police, very difficult to combat.

"They are highly mobile, highly sophisticated, very technical, they have very good skills."

Viruses and sophisticated hackers were rampant on the Dark Web and data was traded and sold. "If you go in there playing around, expect to get stung," Supt Hay said.

"They are dangerous as far as vulnerability of your own computer; you've got some very highly skilled technical people there. They have greater skill sets than we have, they have better equipment - these people are driving the innovation."

Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann, the director of IT business A Technology, said TOR was not a stand-alone protection of anonymity if data sent was not encrypted and if technology such as javascript was used.

She said online poker and games such as World of Warcraft were other methods used to launder money. "I think it would definitely be achievable to virtually be anonymous from the police but you would have to know what you were doing at each layer of technology," she said.

"Any sort of software that you were installing such as The Onion Router or data-scrubbing software you are exposing yourself to further risks if you don't understand who is providing the technology."

While having its critics TOR, created and used by the US Navy and still funded by the US Government, has been touted as a vehicle of free speech.

"Like most tools, they can be used for good or evil - it's just a question of how the individual puts it to use," Ms Peterschlingmann said.

The Federal Government has flagged laws for authorities to secure web histories for up to two years.

But experts said it would have little or no effect on people using anonymous software.

Supt Hay said the dark marketplaces were on law enforcement radar, with some sites taken down.

Several operations are continuing internationally, but authorities refuse to discuss them. In a joint operation with the US in 2007, a Malaysian man studying computer security at a Brisbane university was arrested over the production and distribution of counterfeit credit cards.

Information security expert Asha Rao, from RMIT University in Melbourne, told The Sunday Mail many of the sites could be phony and scammers needed only "one in a million" to make money.

Dr Rao questioned the Dark Web's anonymity and said: "If the police have not caught you it's because you are not big enough to fry yet.

"If you are going to do something like this, you really don't have anyone to complain to."

The hacking group Anonymous last year published IP addresses of people who had allegedly accessed child porn on hidden websites.

Mr Hazlett warned: "What I mainly see as a concern for teenagers if they end up looking up this kind of stuff, (is) there will be criminal charges.

"Next thing you know, you will have police kicking down some 16-year-old's door."

Late last month the Australian Federal Police issued six cautions to young people in Brisbane, Sydney and Perth suspected of being engaged in cybercrime-related activities after detecting suspicious online use.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/technology/weapons-drugs-and-hit-men-a-click-away-on-the-dark-web/story-fn7cejkh-1226426129510
 
Almost every conspiracy theory on Silk Road ends with a similar qualification: "Perhaps it's my imagination... It's probably nothing... I'm probably just being paranoid..."

and with good reason. who the fuck knows whether they're buying from an undercover or their ISP is already on their ass about the unusual routing.
 
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