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In July, Yasha Levine reported on a number of apparent conflicts of interest concerning the Tor project and those who promote it as a means of protecting one's anonymity online. In addition, evidence is presented that Tor users are actively being surveiled by the NSA, including a leaked NSA document noting the opportunity presented by this "critical mass" of targets. A follow up article reveals the hostile response from some Tor advocates.
Recently we saw law enforcement exercise their capability to identify and shutdown sites hidden via Tor.
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poverty, n.:
An unfortunate state that persists as long
as anyone lacks anything he would like to have.
(Score: 2) by gallondr00nk on Monday November 17 2014, @05:42PM
We'll never actually know the truth. It's like the NSA revelations - there is no way to determine just how deep the surveillance goes. They sure as hell aren't going to tell us.
It also wouldn't be unlike a government agency to deliberately inflate their capabilities. There is an optimistic part of me that thinks that they're completely incapAre the NSA capable? I don't know. able of half the things the Snowden revelations said they were.
I still suspect that Tor is for the most part an uncompromised service. If they're so fucking smart, how come the original Silk Road operated for so long, despite a seemingly inept administrator?
On the other hand, history teaches us just how far three letter agencies will actually go - CIA LSD experiments and cocaine smuggling, FBI wiretaps etc.
(Score: 2) by metamonkey on Monday November 17 2014, @06:14PM
Because they don't give a shit about online drug deals. Same reason they didn't stop the Boston bombers. Unless you're a threat to the MIC, you're likely to avoid notice. However, once you are noticed, everything illicit you were doing on the internet (drugs, porn, warez, torrents) will be used to destroy you.
Okay 3, 2, 1, let's jam.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Monday November 17 2014, @07:32PM
Also Silk Road may itself have been a honeypot of sorts. Whether or not the government created it, they may have seen it as more valuable running than not, at least for a time. During its rise to popularity, it would have been constantly feeding them new targets of interest, not necessarily related to drugs but maybe weapons, bomb supplies, hits, etc. At some point they could have started getting less useful information in proportion to the total illegal activity and so decided to feed info to the FBI to take it down. Or they got spooked that Snowden might reveal that they had known about it and failed to stop it, or participated in the market, or whatever. The perfect thing about Silk Road is that it's basically an entrapment machine for which the NSA can sort of claim their hands are clean, since it's not within their jurisdiction to intervene.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday November 17 2014, @11:58PM
For the same reason the Allies picked and chose what targets to protect and which to let get bombed during WW2: to protect the fact that Tor WAS/IS compromised.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---