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Topic: 2013-08-14 Forbes: Dread Pirate Roberts, the Man Behind the Silk Road - page 2. (Read 2905 times)

legendary
Activity: 1400
Merit: 1013
Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.
So you're saying I shouldn't publish my illustrated step-by-step tutorial designed to teach people in the sex work industry how to use Bitcoin?
hero member
Activity: 715
Merit: 500
I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.

Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....

Just saying.
DPR probably thinks he is uncatchable, which may be true or not.  Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.  Wish he had just kept himself in the shadows...

Agreed. This attention is not good for bitcoin at the moment. Even if you don't care about using bitcoin "legitimately" within the existing financial paradigm, this still doesn't help anybody except for SR vendors.
legendary
Activity: 1834
Merit: 1019
government has power if you give it power. i think it's time for a paradigm shift
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1001
₪``Campaign Manager´´₪
I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.

Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....

Just saying.
DPR probably thinks he is uncatchable, which may be true or not.  Personally, I think this is a very bad time to start pissing governmental people off, since the regulatory framework is starting to be put in place.  Wish he had just kept himself in the shadows...
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
I don't know how smart this is for DPR to do.


Think about it....

We already know the "State" is freaking pissed that people can buy/sell anything through SR....now you throw this in a national magazine, its like spitting in their faces, kicking the hornets nest, etc....


Just saying.
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1001
₪``Campaign Manager´´₪
Mutter, mutter - it really is DPR but why the heck would he want to draw attention to BTC like that if it's his "secret ingredient"? Something still seems weird.
Free publicity for SR?
legendary
Activity: 1450
Merit: 1013
Cryptanalyst castrated by his government, 1952
Thanks, guys. I was even more clueless than I realized. So we're pretty sure that it really is DPR and that he gave the interview (mainly) for the publicity, right?

How about the Forbes part? What do you think they want from these recent BTC/drug articles? Why are they doing them, and why in the mid-August media lull?

I'm too chastened to float another hypothesis right now but maybe I can counter or endorse someone else's.         Smiley

Mutter, mutter - it really is DPR but why the heck would he want to draw attention to BTC like that if it's his "secret ingredient"? Something still seems weird.

sr. member
Activity: 454
Merit: 250
Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.

Good point - you're right.



He signed a warning before it was printed:

Quote from: DPR
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

I'd like forewarn everyone that in about 5 days an article will be published that is likely to generate a lot of buzz around Silk Road and attract new people to the site.  New information about me, the site and many things will be discussed and I have no doubt that it will produce some controversy.  I will be available to answer your questions here on the forums, and hopefully we'll have a fruitful discussion.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJSBXwLAAoJEAIiQjtnt/olXuwIAJE2zOrz3GBGPr7XBN+lgK7C
tBQvoEMi1ubkxL6XAAhYLhPrkLtSNSxZYll64bh8bGsgQVs2aLFGMsaOSfNYsWXL
qCJpGwsw3YBXmfxoLHnjBKSJsKrf58ibLTbT4zOoyCSvxg32fmddBUL+dHTgB1Ra
7TDmW/vFlDWRvHAM2vrIoawzzHlkQCVex9ksOuGRmEdKxOng1qbdXwTerNp3aY3I
9hZ38la/9CuX3MkNpb7zvn7/ojHMtXqcd43nusKoxzlA0ZAqqLisj9oTA7pViSzz
kgD/8S8AazOeXu/CiOXlITU1u1EDUpJM1bQa7HjeE6KlOrhS2BlXq/LxU2XFWoU=
=W3DF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
legendary
Activity: 1450
Merit: 1013
Cryptanalyst castrated by his government, 1952
Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.

Good point - you're right.

legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1001
₪``Campaign Manager´´₪
Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

Doesn't DPR communicate on SR?  Then he could call out their bullshit, no?  I think it is genuine.
hero member
Activity: 811
Merit: 1000
Web Developer
« When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. »

Unfuckingbelievable.   You gotta be seriously dumb to ask a drug dealer his name.



Whoa whoa, who you calling a drug dealer? If anything he's an enabler  Cheesy .
legendary
Activity: 1450
Merit: 1013
Cryptanalyst castrated by his government, 1952
Among the many weird possibilities with this weird story is that Forbes just made the whole thing up. I don't think there would be any letters to the editor from DPR pointing out errata, and if there were one could never know if they were genuine.

The situation gives Forbes the perfect opportunity to say anything at all and attribute it to DPR.

For whatever reason, they didn't use the situation to say SR is collapsing or is Under the Eagle Eye of The Authorities, quite the opposite memes in fact. The main agenda seems to have been to reinforce a link between BTC and SR in their readers' minds - but why? Is it "evil BTC is used only by evil druggies" or is it "you can get anything you want with BTC, even naughty things"?

Weird apparent digression about how people were persuaded to use something by forbidding its use:

"... the king gave Parmentier some acreage for the growing of potatoes. Walls were put up and a guard established to protect the garden. The air of mystery aroused people’s curiosity, which was doubled when guards accepted bribes to allow people to dig up potatoes. All of this staging encouraged people to look at the humble tuber from a new perspective."

https://nobility.org/2012/10/15/recipe-louis-xvi-marie-antoinette-potato/

Machiavellian or clumsy - time will tell. There is an art in stumbling gracelessly toward one's goals, in looking like a fool while shaping reality all the while.

What does Forbes want? At first thought, they want only the status quo where they have a perch near the top. Perhaps it is as simple as that, perhaps not.

I look forward to the next chapter. More clues needed - I'm clueless.            Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1288
Merit: 1080
« When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. »

Unfuckingbelievable.   You gotta be seriously dumb to ask a drug dealer his name.

legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1006
100 satoshis -> ISO code
"THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS isn’t shy about naming Silk Road’s active ingredient: The cryptographic digital currency known as Bitcoin. “We’ve won the State’s War on Drugs because of Bitcoin,” he writes."

Sigh. With friends like this who needs enemies? .. and right as the NY and Senate investigations start. I wish DPR had just lurked in the shadows for all time.
legendary
Activity: 1638
Merit: 1001
₪``Campaign Manager´´₪
" When I ask for his name and nationality, he’s so spooked that he refuses to answer any other questions and we lose contact for a month. "

Or maybe he just decided not to waste his time on a bunch of idiots....   Roll Eyes

What was the next question? "Can we meet at the nearest police station?"

Well-written though.
legendary
Activity: 2097
Merit: 1070
member
Activity: 83
Merit: 10
https://bitgo.com
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/08/14/meet-the-dread-pirate-roberts-the-man-behind-booming-black-market-drug-website-silk-road/

"“Meeting in person is out of the question,” he says. “I don’t meet in person even with my closest advisors.”"

"All my communications with Roberts are routed exclusively through the messaging system and forums of the website he owns and manages, the Silk Road."

"Roberts also has a political agenda: He sees himself not just as an enabler of street-corner pushers but also as a radical libertarian revolutionary carving out an anarchic digital space beyond the reach of the taxation and regulatory powers of the state"

"THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS isn’t shy about naming Silk Road’s active ingredient: The cryptographic digital currency known as Bitcoin. “We’ve won the State’s War on Drugs because of Bitcoin,” he writes."

"“We’re talking about the potential for a monumental shift in the power structure of the world,” Roberts writes. “The people now can control the flow and distribution of information and the flow of money. Sector by sector the State is being cut out of the equation and power is being returned to the individual.”"
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