After 13 short days of trial, Ross Ulbricht has been convicted of running the unprecedented, anonymous online black market known as the Silk Road. In terms of drama, those days included everything: a hidden drug empire, a secret journal, lofty ideals, friendship and betrayal, deception, threats of violence, and in the end, a highly coordinated law enforcement sting operation.
The jury in Ulbrichts case deliberated for only three and a half hours before convicting him on all counts, including conspiring to sell narcotics, hacking software and counterfeit documents, and a kingpin charge usually reserved for organized crime bosses. But despite that quick outcome, the case will be remembered for delving into issues as varied as bitcoins legal status as money, the FBIs right to warrantlessly hack into foreign servers used by Americans, and the power and limits of anonymity on the internet.
American law enforcement has used the case as a chance to make an example of the Silk Road for anyone seeking to replicate its anonymous marketplace. Ulbrichts arrest and convictionand our seizure of millions of dollars of Silk Road Bitcoinsshould send a clear message to anyone else attempting to operate an online criminal enterprise, wrote U.S. attorney Preet Bharara in a press release Wednesday. The supposed anonymity of the dark web is not a protective shield from arrest and prosecution.
But the trials real lessons, for the burgeoning online drug trade that now dwarfs the Silk Road, will be how not to get caught. For a new generation of online drug lords inspired by Ulbrichts creation, the transcript of his trial will be required reading. For everyone else, its a fascinating tale of dark web intrigue.
Heres WIREDs gavel-to-gavel coverage, starting with the pre-trial hearings after Ulbrichts arrest:
November 21, 2013 Alleged Silk Road Owner Denied Bail; Prosecutors Say He Ordered 6 Murders Despite Ulbrichts family raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for bail, a judge cites his potential for violence to keep him in a Brooklyn jail.
July 9, 2014 Judge Shoots Down Bitcoin Isnt Money Argument in Silk Road Case Ulbrichts first defense was that he couldnt have been guilty of money laundering if bitcoin isnt money. The judge doesnt buy it.
August 2, 2014 Feds Silk Road Investigation Broke Privacy Laws, Defendant Tells Court Ulbrichts defense team attacks the murky surveillance techniques that tracked down the Silk Roads server in Iceland.
September 5, 2014 The FBI Finally Says How It Legally Pinpointed Silk Roads Server The prosecution responds to Ulbrichts defense with an explanation from the FBI: The Silk Roads security was unraveled by a leaky captcha.
September 8, 2014 FBIs Story of Finding Silk Roads Server Sounds a Lot Like Hacking Security experts weigh in, pointing out that the FBIs leaky captcha story doesnt hold water. Ulbricht defense will take the same argument to court.
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