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Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, aka the "Dread Pirate Roberts," has been sentenced to life in prison on multiple charges by a federal judge in Manhattan. The charges he faced carried a minimum sentence of 20 years, but he received the maximum sentence of life in prison for "engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise" (The Kingpin Statute):
Ross Ulbricht, the man behind illegal online drug emporium Silk Road, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday by Judge Katherine Forrest of Manhattan's US district court for the southern district of New York. Before the sentencing the parents of the victims of drug overdoses addressed the court. Ulbricht broke down in tears. "I never wanted that to happen," he said. "I wish I could go back and convince myself to take a different path." Ulbrict was handed five sentences one of 20 year, one of 15 years, one of five and two of life. All are to be served concurrently.
Ulbrict, 31, begged the judge to "leave a light at the end of the tunnel" ahead of his sentence. "I know you must take away my middle years, but please leave me my old age," he wrote to Forrest this week. Prosecutors wrote Forrest a 16-page letter requesting the opposite: "[A] lengthy sentence, one substantially above the mandatory minimum is appropriate in this case."
Forrest rejected arguments that Silk Road had reduced harm among drug users by taking illegal activities off the street. "No drug dealer from the Bronx has ever made this argument to the court. It's a privileged argument and it's an argument made by one of the privileged," she said.
Also at Ars Technica, Wired, and The Verge. Ulbricht faces additional charges in Maryland over an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
[Original Submission - Ed.]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by edIII on Friday May 29 2015, @10:59PM
Exactly. Kind of hard to level the entire responsibility for the kid's deaths at his feet, when the government can equally share the blame IMHO. Overdoses happen because it was made illegal, no Q&A during manufacturing, and no true accountability. Of course the government will retort, "But EdIII, it was illegal", and my response always is, "The elasticity clause in the Constitution would seem to make your laws and actions just as illegal".
When we look back now, does the government take no responsibility for the deaths during Prohibition? It created the marketplaces, provided the impetus for dangerous production practices (blinding/killing people), and undoubtedly gave rise to gangsters and organized crime we have today. I can't completely complain as Prohibition gave us John F. Kennedy and Las Vegas ;) If that's too much of a stretch for people, remember that a law is not inherently moral or correct. I used to be able to own black people legally and treat them like subhuman pieces of crap. We don't hold up any actions committed against black people of that era by government as correct at the time, so why extend government any leniency for the pain and misery of the drug war? Those people in government at the time were unethical, ignorant, and held accountable by history. Our current politicians, legislators, and law enforcement will be held just as accountable by history (assuming we even survive at all till 2200).
If they wish to put him in prison for life due to some overdoses, where exactly are all the C.I.A agents right now? It's not a myth that the C.I.A has in part funded itself from illegal activities, and those have been drugs. It's a terribly shitty situation all around, but I refuse to let the government off the hook completely.
While inconvenient, it's most certainly a fact that Silk Road reduced harm among drug users by taking illegal activities out of the marketplace. Some of it remained illegal of course, but it outright eliminated many other illegal activities, and then wholly precluded entire ranges of violent crimes.
Naturally, no drug dealer from the Bronx has made this claim. In part, because they are most often ignorant thugs operating on fear and intimidation, not the cold logic and sociopathic natures of white collar crime. Furthermore, every drug dealer in the Bronx being referenced to, conducts their activities physically, and none of that is rendered harmless by Internet communications. Where Dread Pirate Roberts differed from the ordinary Bronx drug dealer, was that he was actually correct in that he mitigated a metric shitload of crime by creating the anonymous buffers between his users.
Consider the most prevalent, and damaging crimes to U.S citizens (and by extension the rest of the world), are performed by registered U.S corporations against U.S citizens. When a small business operates out in the open (no Silk Road), it's trivially easy for a market giant to come in and take out the competition using the typically corrupt vehicles of legislation and litigation. The truly shitty U.S megacorps just perform outright crime, fraud, espionage, and other forms of 'legal' intimidation. Try and tell me that the Wallmart's of America don't abuse local communities, local businesses, and citizens (and the environment). At least drug dealers and gangsters tend to keep their crap in their own little arena most of the time.
On the Silk Road, how does a drug dealer construct his business plan and fill in those sections about the competition again? The Silk Road actually created a fair marketplace between drug dealers where all of the threats and intimidation were greatly reduced. I believe we were left with the quality of the customer service and product like most normal or ideal marketplaces. Let's face it, The Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory [penny-arcade.com], is factually correct :) As a drug dealer on Silk Road, I could have enjoyed anonymity from the other drug dealers making it difficult for them to come find me and have an impromptu "business meeting". On that I speak from experience, although my preferred drug of choice to sell is water. You can illegally sell water on Las Vegas Blvd in front of the casinos, which may sound funny, until you realize that you can make more money than a hooker on payday. Without "Silk Road", I needed to stand down other "drug dealers", one of them brandishing a knife and threatening me to leave "their corner". This was over the right to sell water. With "Silk Road", that little punk would have been staring at my automated kiosk accepting anonymous payments. What can he do? DDOS my kiosk on the street? In any case, I'm no longer physically threatened, and continue my business without intimidation and fear.
(For anyone curious, don't try and sell the water. The real risk is not the other punks (I'm huge and intimidating as hell), but Las Vegas Metro (more intimidating than myself). You'll need to keep the money for the fines, and it's not possible to become licensed.)
So, if I'm not completely mistaken, a drug selling platform that seemingly precludes all abilities for the drug dealers to interact with each other and the clients directly, actually does reduce the potential from crime between those parties. All that is left, is the crime of possession, and the crime of selling contraband. Both of which, are highly suspect as moral laws that we should continue with on the books.
All of that being said, Dread Pirate Roberts was involved with more crime then drugs IIRC, so he's not innocent enough to escape prison completely. Although, sentenced to life is just sending a message from the corrupt and privileged classes in America.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @12:42AM
Wow. I bet nothing is ever your fault.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by hash14 on Saturday May 30 2015, @02:01AM
Oh, to hell with your arguments of values and responsibility. The only thing that matters here is the massive military-prison-industrial complex is making a killing off this little anti-drug scheme. Who gives a damn about responsible social policy when there's money to be made here, dammit!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 30 2015, @02:43AM
I guess your frustration with life is that everyone and everything has held you back not allowing you to reach your full potential. It isn't that you have any deficiencies or lack of skill, it is "the other guy", "that other institution" that keeps you down. Nothing is ever your fault, and you have never been on the wrong side of an argument.
(Score: 2) by edIII on Saturday May 30 2015, @08:39AM
Your character attack is baseless and ineffective. I've not stated that Dread Pirate Roberts is without fault completely. Nor did I state, he shouldn't have any prison time. It's not a question of no fault, it's the proper sharing of fault.
All I have done, is to agree with Dread Pirate Robert's plea (of which he did account for his part in the ODs) that the court not take his old age. Punish him, but don't destroy him. On that, I agree and find it reasonable. If I were a heartless dick and trolling, I would remind the Republicans that it would cost several million dollars *less* to put him in prison for like 5-10 years. Which there is more than enough documentary proof that it is basically equivalent to sending his ass to Afghanistan to keep his cornhole clear of ISIS. That length of time is brutal on people.
So why ask for specifically "Life"? I seem to recall a fairly famous actor, who was also a drug dealer, not doing anything near life. Why Roberts and not nearly every other drug dealer in prison? Whether your statements are true about me or not, that sentence was to send a message, and it had nothing to do with the victims of the overdose. I felt the need to represent that the Silk Road did reduce violent crime, while greatly enabling the much softer crime of drug possession and sale. The arguments of the "privileged class making a privileged argument" are just ridiculous and intellectually offensive. He *did* commit crime, but he *did* reduce it at the same time. Otherwise those few drug overdoses would have been accompanied by much larger volumes of associated violent crimes. Roberts reduced part of the drug market to pure supply & demand only, and I suspect this greatly offended people that benefit from the missing "friction" in the marketplace. Like the private prison industry.....
Ohhh, and *anytime* the government feels the need to act morally superior when engaging in the drug war, I feel the need to point out their massive hypocrisy.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.