The Online Drug Trade

The idea of International drug smuggling is nothing new to the world, but with increased police cooperation, it is interesting to see how the world of drugs is evolving into the modern era.  Something I have recently heard of is the “Silk Road.”  This is an underground website where you can buy any drug you want.  Using a difficult URL that will not come up in a simple google search, the website uses anonymity and reputation based service like amazon or ebay to ship drugs throughout the world.  The only money accepted is Bitcoins, a “cypto-currency” that function as a new form of currency not issued by governments or banks.  Bitcoins fluctuate like regular currency and are untraceable in online purchases, unlike checks or credit cards.  This concept of downloading and trading digital currency is still difficult for me to comprehend, but it works by finding a server that issues Bitcoins for a price, such as ‘Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange.’  Even though Bitcoins are used to buy more than just drugs on the internet, the anonymity they create for people makes Bitcoins perfect for illegal activities.  This concept of untraceable money is championed by Libertarians and Anarchists who do not think the government has the right to stop people from doing something that isn’t violent.  This is new technology has the power to replace the way we think about international crime.  Although it will most likely be a long time before the major importers and exporters of illegal substances will go online to ship eights of weed, and tabs of acid through the US mail, this internet phenomena has caught on.  A few of my personal associates have claimed they have used to Silk Road for purchases and were happy with the service provided them, although they did express some complaint about the amount of time it took to download Bitcoins onto their personal computer to use in future transactions.  It sounds tempting, but for now, I think I will continue to get my drugs in the alleyway from a guy named Jesus.    

 

http://kotaku.com/5805928/the-underground-website-where-you-can-buy-any-drug-imaginable