DarkMarket, the Decentralized Answer To Silk Road, Is About More Than Just Drugs

Daniel_Stuckey (2647775) writes "If you were anywhere near the internet last week, you would have come across reports of 'DarkMarket', a new system being touted as a Silk Road the FBI could never seize. Although running in a similar fashion on the face of things — some users buy drugs, other sell them — DarkMarket works in a fundamentally different way to Silk Road or any other online marketplace. Instead of being hosted off a server like a normal website, it runs in a decentralized manner: Users download a piece of software onto their device, which allows them to access the DarkMarket site. The really clever part is how the system incorporates data with the blockchain, the part of Bitcoin that everybody can see. Rather than just carrying the currency from buyer to seller, data such as user names are added to the blockchain by including it in very small transactions, meaning that its impossible to impersonate someone else because their pseudonymous identity is preserved in the ledger. Andy Greenberg has a good explanation of how it works over at Wired. The prototype includes nearly everything needed for a working marketplace: private communications between buyers and sellers, Bitcoin transfers to make purchases, and an escrow system that protects the cash until it is confirmed that the buyer has received their product. Theoretically, being a decentralized and thus autonomous network, it would still run without any assistance from site administrators, and would certainly make seizing a central server, as was the case with the original Silk Road, impossible."

Comments

Eeeehhhhhh

[Ralph Wiggam]

"Is About More Than Just Drugs"

But really...it's about drugs. You don't need to sell Beanie Babies anonymously.

Re:Eeeehhhhhh

[pla]

But really...it's about drugs. You don't need to sell Beanie Babies anonymously.

And showering in a public bathhouse takes fewer resources than doing it in your own bathroom. You don't need to shower privately.

I would also point out that cash has more anonymity than any digital currency ever created. Why do you need cash, you goddamned drug-dealing terrorist?

/ tldr: "Need" has nothing to do with it. Uncle Sam has no business in my business.

Re:Eeeehhhhhh

[Ralph Wiggam]

Your public bathhouse example is terrible.

Most people use cash because it's fast and convenient, not because it's anonymous. When people use cash specifically for it's anonymity, it's usually to buy drugs.

But you can't use cash online. So for non-drug purchases, most people use regular web sites and credit cards.

Re:Eeeehhhhhh

[pla]

Your public bathhouse example is terrible.

So, you didn't make it all the way down to my "tldr" summary, eh?

"Need" has nothing to do with it. But you've already stopped reading.

People are willing to trust some random software?

[gweihir]

Well, if the FBI were smart, then it would have been them writing that software. Or asked the NSA to do it for them. As a bonus, they get all other information on the participant's computers.

All the cool kids are doing it!

[artor3]

If you were anywhere near the internet last week, you would have come across reports of 'DarkMarket'

Can we get some editors to remove this crap? It's just a stupid marketing gimmick -- "What, you haven't heard of [PRODUCT_NAME]? You must be living under a rock! Everyone who's anyone knows about [PRODUCT_NAME]!"

Re:So go ahead - what are the legitimate uses of t

[amosh]

You disagree with a law doesn't give you a moral right to break it.

I like that you're not even bothering to argue that the law is unjust or unfair - just that you don't like it. While I appreciate the honestly, I don't think this counts as a legitimate use.

Plus, it's not like either of those things are even vaguely difficult to get.

Also, I seriously doubt you actually like either Cuban rum or cigars.

Re:So go ahead - what are the legitimate uses of t

[Anonymous Coward]

If the law is wrong - and the Embargo is - you sure as fuck bet you have a moral right to break it!

Like a note in the blockchain: 'dodgy stuff here'

[gnoshi]

Maybe I'm confused, but it sounds to me like what 'DarkMarket' is doing is irrevocably marking some transactions as being associated with DarkMarket. That strikes me as much like writing 'I was used to buy drugs' on a $50 note except that someone can check the entire transaction history of the $50 note back to the beginning of time.

I guess it will be interesting for researchers assess the proportion of BC that is being used for dubious purposes (unless you actually believe things like 'banned books' are going to be traded on DarkMarket except at the very margins), and feds who want to find people selling drugs (because BC itself is not anonymous).

Re:So go ahead - what are the legitimate uses of t

[Concerned Onlooker]

A law has to be very, very wrong to have a moral mandate to break it. Most people breaking laws out of "principle" are just doing it because they find the law inconvenient. Laws and rules are the oil of social machinery. Don't be the sand in the crankcase.