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IPFS News Link • Justice and Judges

The Silk Road Trial: WIRED's Gavel-to-Gavel Coverage

• http://www.wired.com,BY ANDY GREENBERG

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 Ulbricht's 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 bitcoin's legal status as money, the FBI's 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. "Ulbricht's arrest and conviction—and our seizure of millions of dollars of Silk Road Bitcoins—should 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."


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