Study: Silk Road May Have Reduced Drug Violence
A new study argues that online black marketplaces, such as the infamous Silk Road, can actually reduce the number of drug related-violent crimes. The researchers' argument is simple: online drug traffickers act more like wholesalers, and since online markets limit the scope of direct interaction between the traffickers - blurring or removing territorial boundaries, there is less of a chance for violent confrontation. The research was conducted by University of Lausanne criminologist David Décary-Hétu and University of Manchester law professor Judith Aldridge. Entitled "Not an 'Ebay for....
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City A. M., London's first free daily business newspaper, reports that a study by researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of Montreal concluded that Silk Road prevented violence associated with the illegal drug trade and represented a breakthrough in criminal innovation. The study is open access and can be downloaded from the Social Science Research Network. The researchers found that many (between 31% and 45%) drug-related transactions on Silk Road were not business-to-consumer (B2C) but business-to-business (B2B), in other words, transactions between drug dealers.....
Two years after the FBI shut down Silk Road, online drug markets are alive and growing, thanks to the Tor browser and virtual currency, reports US News & World Report. Darknet markets offer greater product reliability and less risk of violence than physical encounters with drug dealers. Darknets average $300,000 to $500,000 in sales per day according to one study. Johns Hopkins University computer science professor Matthew Green says Silk Road provided a proof of concept for darknet markets. He says it's an idea that someone doesn't think about until it happens. Some Silk Road successors....
According to research done by the Digital Citizen’s Alliance, The shutdown of the Silk Road marketplace only temporarily reduced online drug sales. When the Silk Road was shutdown in October of 2013, it looked like a crushing blow against online drug-dealing. At the time, Silk Road accounted for more than 70% of the online drug market, giving users access to basically any illegal items, such ash drugs, weapons, and fake documents. Within months of the Silk Road’s closure, Silk Road 2.0 popped up and was subsequently busted. Two smaller sites — Evolution and Agora — then took up the slack....
Drug sales on the dark web actually increased after the closure of bitcoin-only marketplace Silk Road, a new survey has shown. Established by addiction specialist Dr Adam Winstock in 2011, the Global Drug Survey is a harm reduction initiative that seeks to provide accurate statistics on substance use worldwide. Analysing over 100,000 responses from 50 countries, the survey found the number of users buying drugs from dark marketplaces rose by 1.2% in 2014. The UK led this surge in demand, with 15.1% of British drug users buying from the dark web, a near-3% rise from the year before.....
If reports are to be believed, a new version of the online drug marketplace Silk Road - "Silk Road Reloaded" - has been launched recently. It is only a coincidence that the new Silk Road's introduction arrived only after the death of its predecessor Silk Road 2. In fact, our research revealed that Silk Road Reloaded was in development for over a year. This somewhat indicates that the makers of previous versions may not be backing this new project after all. And it reflects in the outcome as well. Silk Road Reloaded apparently uses "I2P" instead of the Fed's favorite Tor. I2P stands for....