Ross Ulbricht - free him or na?

[jimmy jazz]

For those who don't know who he is, he created the website Silk Road on the Dark Web, which was basically eBay for drugs.

Currently serving a life sentence after the FBI caught him at his laptop while logged in to Silk Road.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Ulbricht

If you are bored and want to be gripped by something give this a listen, parts two and three are in the related videos, use your initiative because I can't be arsed posted all three videos. Absolutely crazy story and everything that happened to catch him.

Donald Trump is sympathetic to his case apparently.

In May 2024, candidate Donald Trump said that if re-elected President, he would commute Ulbricht's sentence on his first day in office.

Anyway, should he be freed?

[Trollheart]

Without watching that, I'd say it depends a) on what drugs he was selling (class A, B, C etc) and more importantly b) were they verified, which is to say, as we all know, any drug bought on the net without a prescription can contain all sorts of things. So was he peddling possible poison or adding to the problem of drug addiction? Or was it just "softer" drugs (cannabis, ecstasy etc)? I'd have to say, on general principles, if Trump is for it then I'm agin it. But I'd have to know more.

When you say "Ebay for drugs", do I take that to mean he was providing a platform where people could buy and sell drugs illicitly? If so, then personally I think he should stay where he is as he's a danger to people's health otherwise. Oh, was it called D-Bay? Guess if it was MDMA it might be E-Bay? All right, I'll stop now.

[jimmy jazz]

It was for creating and running the site. He wasn't selling the drugs himself, although I think he did make the first sale. Anyone buying would have known the risks involved, the reason he got into it is because he was big on libertarianism and didn't think the state should be able to decide what you put into your own body. Silk Road also allowed substances used in suicides and also the sale of organs (livers etc, not musical instruments). At one point they allowed guns too but then stopped.

And ecstasy is a class A drug mate, not sure I'd call that 'softer' 

[Shhon]

i am extremely familiar with this case/story....

i think it's wild to make his story political but sometimes that works out for the criminal too

i am voting no, should not be free

he may have had the razzlekhan option to work with the government since billions in crypto is involved but i dont know how that ended up

[jimmy jazz]

i am extremely familiar with this case/story....

i think it's wild to make his story political but sometimes that works out for the criminal too

i am voting no, should not be free

he may have had the razzlekhan option to work with the government since billions in crypto is involved but i dont know how that ended up

The story itself is political, if it weren't for his political ideas there's a good chance none of this would have happened anyway.

Also why no?

[Shhon]

The story itself is political, if it weren't for his political ideas there's a good chance none of this would have happened anyway.

Also why no?

I wasnt taking a jab at you fren, i meant like the idea of it being political here in the US


i say no because of my what was all possible with silk road and the dark web as a whole

most people thought the place was for drugs only but it was way deeper into very bad stuff

[jimmy jazz]

I wasnt taking a jab at you fren, i meant like the idea of it being political here in the US


i say no because of my what was all possible with silk road and the dark web as a whole

most people thought the place was for drugs only but it was way deeper into very bad stuff

Na I know, I just meant the question itself is political.

Silk Road as far as I know sold drugs and software. Firearms were removed and noncing was never allowed on there. I know nonces use the Dark Web for that sort of thing but Silk Road wasn't a part of it (correct me if I'm wrong).

The issue for me is when he paid too have two people killed. If it was just the running of Silk Road and the drugs then I would free him.

[SGR]

The issue for me is when he paid too have two people killed. 

Did he actually do that though? I thought that was never proven - it certainly wasn't proven in court and wasn't part of his charges, was it? I haven't dug into his case in a while.

[jimmy jazz]

Did he actually do that though? I thought that was never proven - it certainly wasn't proven in court and wasn't part of his charges, was it? I haven't dug into his case in a while.

It was covered in the Casefile podcast, pretty sure law enforcement received the money and faked the murders. Maybe they dropped the charges for some reason. If it's not a part of his charges feel free to ignore it.

[SGR]

It was covered in the Casefile podcast, pretty sure law enforcement received the money and faked the murders. Maybe they dropped the charges for some reason. If it's not a part of his charges feel free to ignore it.

I'll look into it and get back to you. I haven't made up my mind on whether or not Ulbricht should be pardoned (or sentence commuted), and not to derail the topic too much, but I think I'd be much more sympathetic to pardoning Edward Snowden. I think what he did took a lot more personal courage than what Ulbricht did, and the cause seemed more selfless and more noble. But I'll dig into the Ulbricht case again and circle back with my thoughts.

[Trollheart]

Thread derailment ahoy! Mind the gap!

With you on Snowden. Watched the Stone movie a few days ago, and if it's mostly or all truth, Snowden did what he did because he thought people should know. He didn't sell his story (and he could have), he didn't make anything from his whistleblowing, in fact his entire life was upended because of it. I'm guessing this guy made a stack of money, so given that even if he didn't sell the drugs he knew what was happening, he's responsible and should not be released in my opinion.

Also, if ecstasy is not a soft drug why do they print happy faces on the tablets? 

[Lucem Ferre]

I know nonces use the Dark Web for that sort of thing

It's very very important to point out that most nonces are actually doing business on the surface web rather than the dark web. Pedo shit on the dark web is comparatively rare. They were advertising CP on Twitter, they stalk the comment sections on YT videos with children, they infamously prey very heavily on TikTok & Discord is probably the worst.

[SGR]

Thread derailment ahoy! Mind the gap!

With you on Snowden. Watched the Stone movie a few days ago, and if it's mostly or all truth, Snowden did what he did because he thought people should know. He didn't sell his story (and he could have), he didn't make anything from his whistleblowing, in fact his entire life was upended because of it. I'm guessing this guy made a stack of money, so given that even if he didn't sell the drugs he knew what was happening, he's responsible and should not be released in my opinion.

Also, if ecstasy is not a soft drug why do they print happy faces on the tablets? 

I forget there was an Oliver Stone movie about him.  I'll have to watch that at some point.

I did however read his autobiography that came out in 2019. A really good insightful read, particularly about his background and thought processes about all the stuff that eventually led him to infamy.