The Silk Road basically sells insurance and financial products, not drugs - Polidicks

[quote] Forbes reporter Andy Greenberg secured the interview of the year this week, with Dread Pirate Roberts, the pseudonymous owner/CEO/"center of trust" of Silk Road, "the Web’s busiest bazaar for heroin, methamphetamines, crack, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy and enough strains of marijuana to put an Amsterdam coffee shop to shame". The interview is an insight into the political motivations behind the site, as well as the levels of paranoia you need to have to run a multimillion dollar drug empire online. But for this blog, perhaps the most insightful quote didn't come from Roberts (who takes his pseudonym from cult 80s film The Princess Bride) at all. Instead, it's this take: “Silk Road doesn’t really sell drugs. It sells insurance and financial products,” says Carnegie Mellon computer engineering professor Nicolas Christin. “It doesn’t really matter whether you’re selling T-shirts or cocaine. The business model is to commoditize security.” Silk Road is a marketplace; it's far closer to the eBay of drugs than the Amazon of them. And so its main purpose is merely connecting buyers and sellers. But even more than with eBay, there are major trust issues involved in doing so. No-one wants to actually share any information which could be used to track them down (although the buyer has to give the seller at least somewhere to post too), and if you do get scammed, you've got even less chance of using the law to get your money back, on account of what you buy being really illegal. [/quote] [url]http://www.newstatesman.com/economics/2013/08/why-silk-road-basically-sells-insurance-and-financial-products-not-drugs[/url]

No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] technically they just LET people sell drugs but it's still mostly drugs so yeah

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] Just read the article, what they say is simple truth. They don't sell drugs, they are the middleman.

fuck yeah inject insurance and financial products every day

smoke finance erryday straight edge dont do insurance kids

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] By that logic, ebay sells cars, computers, chemicals and god knows whatelse. But they don't, they connect people who wish to sell these things with people who wish to buy them.

you mean that home insurance WASN'T a hallicunate?

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] They don't sell drugs in the same manner that ebay doesn't sell vintage Smurfs memorabilia. They facilitate it for others. I'll probably buy from one of their sellers one day w00t

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".

They're basically The Pirate Bay but with drugs.

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. [B]Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/B][/QUOTE] Sounds so fucking legit

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/QUOTE] "delicious honey candy" is probably a codename for some really strong shit that nobody else sells or even mentions

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/QUOTE] I'd be tempted to buy it and then take bets on if I trip or get sick after eating them.

I don't see why people would buy stuff like food on a site as shady as Silk Road. It would be like buying toys for your kids on Alibaba.com :v:

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/QUOTE] probrably weed edibles

[QUOTE=Turing;41916265]probrably weed edibles[/QUOTE] There was immense amounts of those on there, from candy and cakes to butter.

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/QUOTE] "Prepare from Halloween by purchasing 'delicious honey candy' from The Silk Road! The neighborhood kids will appreciate the high quality and sweet taste of 'delicious honey candy.'"

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;41915866]No I'm pretty sure they sell drugs.[/QUOTE] They sell drugs in the same way eBay sells Care Bear toys.

i'll take a half ounce of progressive and a quarter ounce of good hands

[QUOTE=zombini;41915999]There's legal stuff up for sale on there too, so it's not just drugs. I went on once out of curiosity and they had things like gun safes and candy. Which was odd as hell, because there was a listing for candy, and it didn't mention if there were any drugs in it, just that it was "delicious honey candy".[/QUOTE] You know what's really good is their Hard Candy.

I heard the items on the SR that look legit are specific products that the sellers don't want to advertise to everyone that visits for security reasons, just certain people that have been informed of the sale.

I don't think there's one single drug dealer/buyer on Silk Road that gives a shit about DPR's anarchocapitalist agenda.

[QUOTE=leontodd;41916649]I heard the items on the SR that look legit are specific products that the sellers don't want to advertise to everyone that visits for security reasons, just certain people that have been informed of the sale.[/QUOTE] no

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;41916527]You know what's really good is their Hard Candy.[/QUOTE] Nah man, I've read that the amount of high potent sugar in their hard candy can really fuck you up, give you diabetes or some shit.

[QUOTE=leontodd;41916649]I heard the items on the SR that look legit are specific products that the sellers don't want to advertise to everyone that visits for security reasons, just certain people that have been informed of the sale.[/QUOTE] I'd say about 90% of the stuff that looks legit is stolen.

We need to protect children from dirty insurance needles!

[QUOTE=Scot;41916003]They're basically The Pirate Bay but with drugs.[/QUOTE] iirc you can't download illegal copies of weed or crystal etc.

[QUOTE=a dumb bear;41918009]iirc you can't download weed or crystal etc.[/QUOTE] No shit. I mean they're alike in that they share the "we don't actually do anything illegal it's everyone else that does" mentality.

Oh right, yeah you are right in that sense then