Assignment #2: Teens Arrested for Cyberstalking after Threatening Violence Against Juvenile on Twitter (Brian Chan)

In this virtual crime, two female teenagers have been arresting for cyber bullying another girl. Specifically, these two teens were threatening to assault and/or possibly kill their classmate. Originally these three teenagers were friends but had a falling out, when the boyfriend of one of the perpetrators expressed interest in the victim. Threats continued against the girl even when she moved away to another district. Things took a turn for the worse when they started to target the victim’s younger sister.

Link: http://www.ketknbc.com/news/crimewatch/teens-arrested-for-cyberstalking-after-threatening

I believe this particular online crime was motivated by “disinhibition on the internet” mainly Dissociative Anonymity. The defendants felt like they had a cloak of anonymity to do whatever they wanted. They didn’t feel like their online crimes would ever have real word consequences such as a misdemeanor and/or felony and jail time. Suler calls this type of disinhibition “toxic disinhibition”. Without real world interactions, these teens felt free to do whatever they wanted. In this case, it was to explore their darker personalities and say things they wouldn’t have done so to the victim face-to-face. 

Assignment #2: FBI Shuts Alleged Online Drug Marketplace, Silk Road (Cory Mohn)

“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.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/02/us-crime-silkroad-raid-idUSBRE9910TR20131002

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. 

Assignment #2: End of Silk Road for Drug Users as FBI Shuts Down Illicit Website (Alicia Fong)

“End of “Silk Road”- The FBI has shut down the alleged online marketplace known as Silk Road. Silk Road is an anonymous Internet marketplace for illegal drugs and criminal activities like murder for hire. Silk Road was used by several thousands of drug dealers to sell hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs. The site has been running since 2011, with more than 900,000 registered users. The site used the digital currency Bitcoin. The owner of the site used computers at Internet cafes and other public places in order to hide the location of its servers and identities of the administrators.

Link: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-silk-road-bitcoin-20131003,0,7857459.story?page=1

The owner of the website was Ross William Ulbricht, a 29-year-old former physics student from San Francisco. After graduation, he adopted an “anti-government” attitude and the Internet allowed him to attempt his goals to “end "coercion and aggression" by creating "a world without the systemic use of force."” In Ulbricht’s case, disinhibition allowed him to carry out a virtual crime. John Suler discusses several different forms, and I believe dissociative anonymity and invisibility apply to this particular case, as well as minimization of status. Dissociative anonymity allows for a disconnect from the consequences of the virtual transactions because of the anonymity the Internet provides. Invisibility because all transactions took place over the Internet, and all under avatars. And finally, minimization of status because on Ulbricht’s website, everyone was equal. They paid to have something done; it was a business transaction whether it was drug trafficking or murder for hire. The disinhibition brought on by the Internet made the Silk Road a “safe” place for illegal transactions to take place.

Assignment #2: Craigslist Crime Isn't All Cyber Crime (Yesenia Escobar)

In “Craigslist Crime Isn’t All Cyber Crime” by Paul Muschick readers are exposed to recent cases of a new form of crime that is being facilitated by the well known website, Craigslist. Since the formation of the website scammers have been utilizing it by fooling people into transferring money to their bank accounts in return for cars that do not exist or renting apartments for leases they have no control over. However, the fooling has gone beyond the possible cash thefts that occur online and the shame that the people who are being scammed might feel is incomparable to the new crime that is being committed. Robberies are now being aided. People are lured with exceptional prices on phones and other items but once they set to meet the crooks they are robbed for everything they are carrying. Muschich says, “last April a man was robbed of $400 at gunpoint in Bangor when he was lured into a park after dark to supposedly look at an iPhone for sale on Craigslist” (Muschick, 2013). Fraud on Craigslist has become far too common however this new extent on the crime that is being committed has really placed into perspective just how far some people will go in order to scam others for money and goods.

Link: http://articles.mcall.com/2013-01-30/news/mc-craigslist-robberies-watchdog-20130130_1_craigslist-crime-cyber-crime-series-of-recent-robberies

In order to really analyze this phenomenon and have some sort of understanding as to why scammers find it so easy to do this to people I will utilize John Suler’s “The Online Disinhibition Effect.” Suler categorizes several of the behaviors displayed online which might make it easier for a person do be dishonest, act out or self disclose. The first category analyzed in his article is “dissociative anonymity” which evaluates the way in which users have the ability to utilize another person’s identity or flat out hide their own. In the Craigslist cases reported above, this form of disinhibition might have been the main proponent in the reason why the crooks found it so easy to rob the people they were scamming. Without any traces of who these people are, what their names are, or where they live. The people were easily robbed and had very small chance of gaining justice for the crime.

Assignment #2: Feds Say They've Arrested 'Dread Pirate Roberts,' Shut Down His Black Market 'The Silk Road' (Giselle Beltran)

29 year-old investment advisor, Ross W. Ulbricht, was arrested on Tuesday (Oct. 1^st) for creating and hosting an online black market, known as Silk Road website most commonly used for the buying and selling of illegal drugs. More commonly known as the infamous, Captain “Dread Pirate Roberts”, Ulbricht reached an economical gain of approximately $3.6 million worth Bitcoin currency and reached a worth $1.2 billion in transactions, which was ultimately seized by the FBI. Among the distribution of illegal drugs such as LSD, cocaine, heroine, etc., the website also offered illegal services such as hiring “hitmen” and hacking services for fraud purposes. Ulbricht was charged with several counts, including narcotics trafficking, laundering money and computer hacking conspiracies.

Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2013/10/02/feds-shut-down-silk-road-owner-known-as-dread-pirate-roberts-arrested/

After reading John Suler’s, “The Online Disinhibition Effect”, it can be concluded that Ulbricht’s crime was motivated by the disinhibition of dissasociative anonymity. Ulbricht’s use of his online identity, “Dread Pirate Roberts”, allowed him to create a person outside of his personal and professional life. His well-known identity as a Pennsylvania State University graduate and an overall intellectual, smart and well-presented man made room for the ability to be an anonymous count online and was easily hidden since his online actions were not an impression of how he carried his personal and professional self. According to Suler, the use of a pseudonym, or fake name, gives people the “opportunity to separate their actions online from their in-person lifestyle and identity” and thus, creating a disassociating of their online behavior to that of their offline lifestyle. According to an online news blog, Ulbricht was caught due to his own “carelessness”, after he unintentionally revealed his real identity on a website used to ask online questions. It can be argued that because Ulbricht had been the mastermind behind the Silk Road “drug empire” for nearly two years, he had become so well acquainted to what he was doing and dissociated due to his well-used anonymity, his simple mistake led to his arrest.