Official press release on the Silk Road arrests(justice.gov)
justice.gov
Official press release on the Silk Road arrests
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/December13/JonesetalArrestsSilkRoad2PR.php
5 comments
Does anyone know any details regarding why the moderators are each being charged with "one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking"? I cringe at the thought that this is only because they happened to commit crimes using a computer.
Probably internal messages where they discussed or sold each other hacked RDP or something to use on top of a Tor exit for trading coins or whatever. Maybe conspired to hire a shady person to go after competition, who knows
I'm kinda amazed that the support staff would risk their freedom for only 50-75k a year.
You can kind of see how you could get sucked into this, though. Suppose for example you start out simply participating on the forums. At some point someone reaches out to you and says something like, "Hey, you seem like a fair and diplomatic person and we like having you around, how about we pay you to moderate?"
In that context it might have felt pretty harmless. It's somewhat analogous to being rude to people on the Internet. We all know it's awfully easy to antagonize people who you're not face-to-face with. Similarly, being a forum moderator for the Silk Road must have felt a lot different than standing around in a warehouse while a bunch of Columbians package coke.
From a legal perspective, I guess it wasn't that different after all.
In that context it might have felt pretty harmless. It's somewhat analogous to being rude to people on the Internet. We all know it's awfully easy to antagonize people who you're not face-to-face with. Similarly, being a forum moderator for the Silk Road must have felt a lot different than standing around in a warehouse while a bunch of Columbians package coke.
From a legal perspective, I guess it wasn't that different after all.
It's not unbelievable if the maintenance was low enough to hold another full time job. 75k untaxed spending money is no pocket change. Also, they may have all been pushing products/services, as well.
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In other news new SR is hiring pen testers at $3k per week permanent p/t job. Comes with a life sentence as a signing bonus unless you live in Russia or Brazil