“Silk
Road”, a website which allows users to anonymously purchase illegal drugs and
criminal services, was shut down, along with the arrest of the creator and
owner of the website – Ross Ulbricht.
The site has been running for about five years now and has provided the
service of shipping drugs to countries all around the world. It is estimated
that the site has 900,000 users and sold drugs through the use of the virtual
currency called bitcoin. While it has been discovered that the site was
established and operated out of San Francisco, the FBI has tracked his digital
footprint in various Internet cafes using a variety of methods to conceal his
identity and location of servers, etc. The net gain of transactions found on
the site is 9.5 million bitcoin, which is equal to an approximate 1.2 billion
dollars. The site has been under surveillance since 2011 when there was
attention given to the correlation between digital currency and this site.
In
terms of this case, Dissociative anonymity played a role in disinhibiting
Ulbricht. This is the simple fact that being anonymous on the Internet gave
Ulbricht the protection and security he needed to run this drug marketplace.
The whole concept of the site is based off of dissociative anonymity because it
is anonymous for the users, as well. Both Ulbricht and the users felt secure
and free to exchange drugs and criminal activities in anonymous space, where
such dealings is difficult and dangerous in public settings, and the real world
in general. This website is a “safe space” for people to engage in illicit
transactions, not to mention being connected to a network of people that they
may otherwise not have connections with if they were not apart of the site.
Another
disinhibiting effect that Ulbricht took on was Invisibility – he was known on
the site under the pseudonym of “Dread Pirate Roberts”. This disinhibiting
effect of taking on a new identity adds to the notion of dissociative anonymity
because he was able to partake, and run a website, in which illicit activities
were taking place in. Had he identified his real name on the site, anonymity
would be broken and the FBI, along with users, would have a much easier way to
find Ulbricht; and the whole point of the website was to be anonymous so that
he could conceal his entire identity.
Even asynchronicity could be applied to this
situation; that is – the site connected a vast network of users to drugs that
probably did not have access to in their immediate locations. This website
allowed users to engage in transactions that they may not feel comfortable
making in person. Making an educated guess, buying heroin or meth on the
streets would be a scary and dangerous situation – police can catch you, not to
mention scary drug dealers might steal your money, etc. – the site allowed
users to speak and participate in activities that which they may not actually
do in real life. Likewise for Ulbricht, it would be extremely difficult to run
such an operation “under the radar” on the streets. Doing so on this website
allowed him to engage and talk with individuals that which he may not have been
comfortable in doing in real life.
No comments:
Post a Comment