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The Dark Web
So The Age surprised me this morning by pulling my latest feature forward because editorial staff were on strike and Management came in and just ran whatever they could find, adding any photos they...
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Why proposed internet security measures will do more harm than good
Last month I published a piece in The Age about the ‘dark web’ – sites that can only be accessed through anonymity software. The picture someone decided was totally appropriate and non-hysterical What...
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Is Silk Road’s owner jumping ship?
Is Silk Road’s owner – The Dread Pirate Roberts – sailing off into the sunset with wads of cash? Has he sold Silk Road as a going concern and included the goodwill of his name and reputation in the...
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Things you didn’t know you could buy online – shopping on the Dark Web
So, we all know you can buy drugs online, but Silk Road is not the only marketplace on the dark web. Here’s a few other things you might not have realised you can have for a price. Redecorating?...
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An identity crisis on the darkweb
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you would be aware that there are thriving underground black markets on the darkweb, offering everything from drugs to shrunken heads for sale. Many of these markets...
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Who’s got it in for the Silk Road?
Ever since the suspected DDoS attack in November, the admins at Silk Road have been combating a number of different scams and attacks on the site. The Quickbuy Scam (see below) – this vendor’s image...
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When a journo becomes the story
Last Wednesday I went along to sit in on the plea hearing of the first major Australian ‘Silk Road’ case, expecting to perhaps get a blog post out of it. I never expected what would come next. Where’s...
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A response to Vexnews
Last week, after one of my articles was unexpectedly submitted into evidence in court, an odd little online publication called Vexnews published a vicious, bizarre and inaccurate attack on me....
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Shadh1 – penalised for not propping up Aussie organised crime?
If small-time drug dealer shadh1 had purchased his drugs from Australians, his jail term would be less than half what he received. As a drug dealer, shadh1 was really really bad at his job. One of the...
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Are there modern-day Gladitorial fights on the Darkweb?
One of the most pervasive urban myths on the darkweb is that you can find underground rings of Django Unchained-style fights to the death. Some of the believers claim they give millionaire members the...
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Competition for (black) market share hotting up
With the media reporting that internet drug dealing is on the rise, it’s no great surprise that new marketplaces have started popping up wanting a piece of the action. Most of these seem to be...
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Interview with a (virtual) drug tsar
“We will be an adversary not to be trifled with. We have big plans for Atlantis, and we’re here to stay.”. As online drugs marketplace Silk Road sustains blows from an ongoing attack its owner says...
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The myth of the ‘Drug Pusher’
In Puberty Blues (the book, not the movie or TV show), there is a classic line where the protagonist’s mother warns her not to sit on the aisle at the movie theatre because “some pusher might come...
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Silk Road responds to competition with improvements of its own
Atlantis Marketplace has undertaken aggressive marketing of its site over the past few months, touting superior features to those offered by Silk Road. Its aim has been to both attract new customers...
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The Fall of Atlantis – a Moderator tells
“Atlantis admins shut down the site and ran away with the coins. It’s the truth.” - Cicero, Moderator of Atlantis Marketplace forum Image: bitcoinexaminer.org. A little under six months ago – not long...
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When drug dealers get all warm and fuzzy
Some Silk Road drug dealers are promising to donate a percentage of this week’s sales to charity Black markets are supposed to be dangerous places. Drug dealers are bad guys. Drug users are selfish...
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The beginning of the end?
And so timezones screwed me over and I’ve just woken up to the news that the Dread Pirate Roberts has been arrested. I haven’t even had my second coffee yet, nor have I been able to digest what’s...
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The Race to Create Silk Road 2.0
Whilst many vendors and buyers have migrated to Silk Road’s two remaining competitors, Black Market Reloaded and Sheep Marketplace, other members have been working around the clock to develop and...
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How many pirates are there? An update
If the Bitcointalk hackers are reading this, can you please let me know if I’m a lousy journo and missed the smoking gun, or if it was part of a deleted post? I originally wrote the below in response...
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The road’s closed to these drugs
Hey, if the person who emailed me an encrypted message headed “Scoop” and said they wouldn’t be going back to that email addy could re-send it, I got a Decryption Failed (no public key) error. I need...
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