After reading the sensational extracts in a number of publications (“The Silk Road was a one-stop internet emporium for anyone looking for a kidney, an Uzi or a half kilo of cocaine”), and witnessing the heartache it was causing Lyn Ulbricht, I readily admit I came to American Kingpin with a prejudiced and critical eye.
I was digging through my Silk Road archives when researching parts of my new book, and came up with a couple of little nuggets surrounding the latest “rogue agent” allegations that I don’t think have been reported yet.
Yuhendri Fajri via flickr.com, poorly adulterated
TL;DR:
CrimeBay, the new incarnation of Besa Mafia, has stepped up its marketing with a new attempt to extort money by crowdfunding a hit on the new US President.
“Donald Trump is an extremely difficult target”, the site acknowledges, “however, he is neither a God nor immortal, and Crime Bay enjoys a challenge.”
CrimeBay’s crowdfunding page for the assassination of Trump
Today’s blog is a guest post by jesusofrave. Jesusofrave is one of the most enduring brand names of the darknet markets since the early days of the original Silk Road when they sold direct to users.
Fast forward 4 years, and jesusofrave is a wholesale supplier of MDMA and LSD, operating across all major darknet markets, as well as supplying direct through their own dark web site, The Church. They have some major plans for the near future, including providing significant assistance and donations to organizations using psychedelics in therapy.
Here they tell how they got to where they are.
A couple of people have asked me about the book I mentioned in my last post. I recently threw in my nice, steady, well-paying but ultimately creatively unfulfilling tech-writing job. So here’s all the things I have in the pipeline that I’m finally getting around to.
This lot should keep me chained to the keyboard for a while
Another non-fiction book
First, I’m working on a proposal for my agent for a second non-fiction book, Darkest Web, which goes behind the scenes into several different aspects of the dark web that I’ve researched and/or been involved with in-depth. Hopefully that will find a home with a traditional publisher.
The problem with writing serious non-fiction stuff is lawyers. Lawyers legalled me out of about 20,000 words of Silk Road and I had to scramble to fill the gap. Other lawyers stopped part of Darkest Web before it even got properly committed to the page. Which leads me to…
The Dark Web diaries
The problem with writing a new book is that you save all the good stuff for the book and that leaves you with nothing for the blog. So in desperation, I’ve been clicking on random links from Onion crawlers to see if there’s anything new, relevant and/or even vaguely interesting happening in the deep dark web.
Mr Robot Spoilers – going cheap on the Dark Web
Here’s a glimpse of where that little experiment took me.
Yes, for those who missed out on their September 17th and September 24th show, you have another chance! One reviewer of an earlier show give it 5 Stars! (Though you have to wonder if they exaggerated because they admitted they get a discount for the next show for the good review). That’s much better than the review I gave the ISIS Red Room (not enough bacon).
Hmmm… this “once-in-a-lifetime experience” is onto it’s third show
But if you missed it and are convinced by the glowing review (“the video was very high resolution and didn’t buffer . . . I noticed there was plenty of evidence to reassure the viewer that it was live and not pre-recorded“) the next episode of torture, murder and a gynaecologist wielding power tools (running time 45 mins unless subject expires sooner) is scheduled for October 1.
Slight catch – they want half a Bitcoin up front to watch the action. But they get that you might not be flush with the old cryptocurrency, so they are willing to take “any reasonable amount” and let you watch a pro rata amount of the action.
You can’t ask for better terms than that. Jump on this bargain before its sold out.
Neat little interview I did with a fellow blogger
Photo credit: Philip Gao Photography
I must say, it’s always interesting (and enlightening) to meet people who actually know their stuff when it comes to the dark web. Not long ago, on Twitter, I had that opportunity.
Eileen Ormsby, the Melbourne-based author of Silk Road and All Things VICE, was the perfect person to talk to regarding the ins and outs of the dark web in all its shady glory. According to her, her interest in the dark web emerged as a result of doing research for the Silk Road book, and eventually led to the creation of the blog.
Given that I, too, am aiming to find the truth about the dark web amongst all the disinformation, it seems that Ormsby and I have something in common. We even touched on my “favorite” dark web myth, red rooms!
Secrets of the Dark: What were your initial experiences…
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