The Silk Road was a digital marketplace for illegal goods. Anything from narcotics to human growth hormone to weapons could be found on this platform. Launched in 2011 by Ross William Ulbricht, the website had grown into an international hub of goods and services. The Silk Road used a system of currency called Bitcoins for all transactions. Further, the site used encryption techniques to hide the identities of all users. Ulbricht faces charges of money laundering, narcotics trafficking and conspiring to commit computer hacking offenses - all because he was the creator of the site.
In connecting this crime with Suler’s article “The Online Disinhibition Effect”, Ulbricht was most likely motivated by the disinhibition effect of invisibility. Because of the encryption techniques incorporated into the website, both the vendors and the buyers remained anonymous. The black-market, whether online or in reality, focuses on illegal goods. Those in association with such a marketplace do not want to become known or have their identities put on the line, whether they are the supplier or the consumer. Ulbricht was therefore responsible for the founding a lucrative platform based on anonymous identity and illegal trade. His use of invisibility was what made the Silk Road so successful.
Link:
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/2013/10/03/10/31/silk-road-shut-down-by-fbi
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