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US Government Lurked On Silk Road For Over a Year

Posted by samzenpus on from the I-am-one-of-you dept.

angry tapir writes "In order to build a case against the notorious Silk Road underground marketplace, a team of U.S. law enforcement agencies spent well over a year casing the site: buying drugs, exchanging Bitcoins, visiting forums and even posing as a vendor, although they did stop short of selling any illicit goods. From March 2012 until September 2013, Federal agents closely tracked the site, making over 50 drug purchases, according to Jared DerYeghiayan, an agent with the Department of Homeland Security who was part of a special investigation unit looking into the site.

4 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. Slashdot messing up their UI? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Has someone been tweaking the Slashdot CSS? Because you've gone and fucked things up.

    The Newer/Older buttons on the front page shrank, so the background style doesn't cover all of the text. Also, the search bar in the header (site-wide) shrunk in height and is too small to display the text typed into it. In the screenshot I have "search term here" entered into the input. Screenshot 1

    There's a huge empty white block on the left side of each article page now. Screenshot 2

    The post/reply comment page now has a semi-visible "Archived Discussion" button, on every article, even brand new ones. Screenshot 3

    All in Firefox 34, Windows 7.

    1. Re:Slashdot messing up their UI? by The+Fifth+Man · · Score: 4, Informative

      They'll follow this course of action now -- subtle stuff.

      Back in 2006 they ran a CSS redesign contest. Slashdot users overwhelmingly preferred Peter Lada's redesign:
      http://web.archive.org/web/201...

      They picked a mobile-ready, stripped down design that left a lot to be desired. Then the beta fiasco with the Dice purchase ("fuck you, get ready to have this shoved down your throat for the sake of pointless redesign" ).

      To avoid a hue and cry, they'll be making unannounced changes like this. Why? Because fuck the slashdot community, that's why.

  2. Re:Bitcoins - Good Enough for Government Work! by jrumney · · Score: 4, Informative

    The US government holds that Bitcoin is property not legal tender.

    Legal tender has a very specific and limited meaning relating to payment of debts - if you owe a debt, then an offer of legal tender to settle it cannot be refused. Not being legal tender is not a barrier to something being used in commerce, even by the government. If both parties agree, they can use whatever payment system they want (as long as the IRS is kept happy by declaring a US$ equivalent where required).

  3. Re: Bitcoins - Good Enough for Government Work! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    If Bob's No-Cash-Allowed Hot Dog Stand doesn't present a bill to you until you finished eating the hot dog, then Bob has to accept cash as payment for your debt. However, if Bob makes you pay in full when you place the order, as most hot dog stands do, there is no debt to settle and he has the right to refuse business with anyone who doesn't have a credit card.