Possible pardon for the Dread Pirate Roberts?

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Perhaps Ulbricht paid more for his pardon than those others?

a reply to: chr0naut

I'm sure Snowden has a GoFundMe set up, just like Ulbricht, if you're inclined to donate.

If you're referring to the ill gotten proceeds from the Silk Road, nope, sorry, that was either stolen by rogue DEA agents or went into the DEA's confiscation 'black hole'.

Besides, it Ulbricht's supporters are inclined to try a 'pay to play' route to access for pardoning from POTUS, they're about a month early in that respect.

For those interested in reading up on Ulbricht and his misadventures...

The Untold Story of Silk Road Part 1
The Untold Story of Silk Road Part 2

This guy is no saint, and has no arguable path to patriotic consideration a la Snowden. Nevertheless, the sentence meted out, considering the conduct of the DEA in the investigation, does not fit the crime IMHO.

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Considering the pay for pardon scandal that’s barely news right now for some reason, I’d say he contributed a good amount of money to be considered for a pardon.

That’s really the only thing that makes sense.

originally posted by: SleeperHasAwakened
a reply to: chr0naut

I'm sure Snowden has a GoFundMe set up, just like Ulbricht, if you're inclined to donate.

If you're referring to the ill gotten proceeds from the Silk Road, nope, sorry, that was either stolen by rogue DEA agents or went into the DEA's confiscation 'black hole'.

Besides, it Ulbricht's supporters are inclined to try a 'pay to play' route to access for pardoning from POTUS, they're about a month early in that respect.

I was referring to this:

Subject of Trump pardon-for-pay scheme has apparently been revealed, but more mysteries remain

Yes crazy if true. Agree with Assange and Snowden did the public a service and should be pardoned for being concerned citizens who disobeyed unlawful orders. Forgiven. Screw the Silk Road, LOVE the princess bride quote. Andre owns that movie lol.
a reply to: CIAGypsy

I'm not responding to any political hackjobs against Trump. That is not the point of this thread. If that's why you are here, don't waste your time.

As for the case against Ulbricht, let me say that many of you know that I work in cyber security (among other things). I also am involved with the intelligence community. That being said, I was NOT involved in the DPR case but I am VERY familiar with details in the case. About a year ago, I asked for my ABC agency counterparts about doing a presentation on the DPR case because there was a lot of "after action" details that I felt would be helpful to the community. I was a bit surprised when the reaction I got was "who is that?" Granted, I was not at HQ when I asked the question....but I still felt that any agent worth their salt in cybersecurity SHOULD have known who DPR was and the details of the case.

This is your government at work, folks....

Obviously there are pockets of people within the intelligence community who are intimately familiar with the DPR case, but, by and large, it is my belief that this case did not operate under any standard operating procedures.

a reply to: CIAGypsy

I'm sure you're privy to much more info than myself or the general public about the particulars of the case. All I know is that what I read in the public domain about how the DEA handled the investigation made me want to puke in my garbage bucket.

The "good guys" should be able and willing to claim the moral high ground in relation to the "bad guys".

A lot of unsavory and awful transactions were likely executed on the Silk Road (I never accessed it; it was dead and gone before my time). IIUC the sale of illegal drugs were peanuts compared to the illicit materials that changed hands there, weapons, poisonous chemicals, assassins for sale, human trafficking, forged documents, counterfeit money, faked IDs, on and on and on. Once an operation has any aroma of drug activity, though, the DEA slithers their way into the mix, and then the real criminality starts happening.

If those types of vile merchandise were changing hands on the Silk Road, what gives the DEA authority to spearhead this? If weapons are for sale, where's the ATF? If terrorists are linked, then CIA should be owning the operation. I would say that the FBI would've been better placed to handle DPR investigation, but 1) it was international in scope and 2) probably if the FBI de-anonymized say Hunter Biden in their investigations of SR, the entire thing would get swept into a briefcase that was buried in 2' of fresh concrete outside the J. Edgar Hoover Building.

The DEA is not an ally of the American people in my opinion. It goes beyond their ruthless execution of the American "War on Drugs" on US citizens, as they are well-known agents provocateurs in other sovereign nations. It'll be a good day if/when that organization is disbanded, but their "seizures and forfeitures" gig is such a lucrative business for those involved, I doubt that day will ever come.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Let's just say that I don't want to criticize particular people involved with the case, but I do agree that there were things that happened within the case by law enforcement that I don't agree with. It's kind of like OJ.... Yes, Mark Fuhrman was a PoS but does that mean that OJ should have gotten away with murder? No way....

I've seen some pretty sick things on the Dark web. Not just your typical "hitman for hire" but sick twisted stuff like paying for the rape and murder of a political opponent's very young toddler type of stuff. This stuff did not start with Ulbricht but he certain put it on the mainstream (from the Dark web perspective). I do believe he should be in jail for several lifetimes because of the kind of stuff he assisted in being carried out through his platform. That may not be what you want to hear, but it is my professional opinion.

Btw, the Wired article on Ulbricht is a great article...imho.

a reply to: CIAGypsy

Being placed where you are and having the contacts you claim (I'll presume your CV and credentials check out as you state), then I'll trust your opinion that DPR should remain behind bars. I read that, supposedly, moderators on Silk Road filtered out disgusting, twisted content, but anyone that read up on the story knows that irredeemable, vile listings were posted there and were not taken down by admins, so ultimately if Ulbricht didn't have the moral fiber to flush that $hit, then responsibility for that content rests with him, and he should "pay the piper".

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

There are a lot of things I don't think Ulbricht truly "intended." Believe it or not, I think he started out with a good heart and plenty of "good intentions," at least from his famed "Libertarian freedom" perspective. I think it just got too big and a bit out of hand beyond what he could really control, no matter how hard he tried. I think there are many things he would do much differently today....but then most of us could say that, eh?

originally posted by: CIAGypsy
Btw, the Wired article on Ulbricht is a great article...imho.

The description of the sting operation presented in that story (IIRC it happened in a library) always fascinated me.

Supposedly Ulbricht had a single laptop from which he ran the entire site, emailed his co-conspirators, had all of the data for his operation.

The authorities knew that his laptop ran on an encrypted drive, either something like an anonymous TailsOS with built-in encryption, a protected USB drive or he rolled his own via LUKS, which is my method of choice, can't recall which.

They knew that if Ulbricht managed to close the lid of his laptop, it'd enter sleep mode, and would require the decryption key to access the information on that drive.

As the authorities were closing in, and as Ulbricht realized it, he tried (in vain?) to close the screen and cryptographically lock his laptop, but was tackled/restrained in the nick of time, before he could do so. Hence, all of his data "are belong to us".

That sounded like a script out of a James Bond movie.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Yes, that takedown is one for the record books, for sure. I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a movie made about the whole story.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
Assange and Snowden....pardon for sure. This other dude? Why? Why would you pardon someone who was plotting murder?

He was also making money off all that is illegal....