SILK ROAD / BLOG 7

         The subject of my blog post this week is more along the lines of Chapters 9 and 11. Chapter 10 not so much. But please, bear with me. After completing lab 7 (and slightly overlapping while completing it), I came across wired.com's "Story of Silk Road" Parts One and Two on Ross Ulbricht and everything prior, during and after the fall of the Silk Road.

         I cannot believe that I read the entire thing but I actually did. It was a page-turner. And by page-turner, I mean finger scroller. Since there weren't actual pages I don't know how long the two parts ended up being but it took about an hour to read leisurely. I was fascinated in myself for being so interested in this story. The author brings you on a trip through the rise and fall of the Silk Road, a Dark Web black market website focused on selling drugs and pornography. The story is told from many different angles between Ross Ulbricht, the creator and the different government agencies who were consecutively fighting to crack the case first such as the FBI, DEA and more. Mainly through Ross's journal that he kept on his computer, the reader is able to journey through Ross's life and how he changed internally as the success of Silk Road grew over time. At the peak of his empire, Ross was making $7 million a year. That was quite a substantial amount for the way that Ross was living (with a roommate with no lavish belongings).

         Prior to beginning lab 7 I had no idea about the Deep Web or how to access it. By completing the lab and reading this story I am confident that my base knowledge is set and now I can only begin to learn more. I was absolutely taken by how Agent Force in the story working for the FBI was able to con Ulbricht by chatting with him. Force was able to get onto Silk Road and begin conversing with Ulbricht, who favored community over anything. Force pretended to be a cartel head and over the course of a YEAR and A HALF gained his trust through (staged) assassinations, advice and simple friendship. Although Ross was intelligent and a good business man when it came to the Silk Road, he was not tech-savvy at all. That eventually led to his downfall and aided in his foolishness when he didn't realize or figure out that he was not talking to 'Nob' the cartel leader but instead Agent Force who was sitting in his family's living room on his laptop. The Rise and Fall of Silk Road was an incredible eye-opener that taught me so much about a topic I knew so little on; so little on that I didn't even know the subject itself before this week.

         If you are reading my blog and have never read the WIRED articles/stories on Ross Ulbricht, please do. It will be educational to any eye that reads it regardless of how little or much you know about the Deep Web or the Silk Road itself.