Feds shutter online narcotics store that used TOR to hide its tracks
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/feds-shutter-online-narcotic... Feds shutter online narcotics store that used TOR to hide its tracks By Dan Goodin | Published April 16, 2012 4:11 PM Federal authorities have arrested eight men accused of distributing more than $1 million worth of LSD, ecstasy, and other narcotics with an online storefront that used the TOR anonymity service to mask their Internet addresses. "The Farmer's Market," as the online store was called, was like an Amazon for consumers of controlled substances, according to a 66-page indictment unsealed on Monday. It offered online forums, Web-based order forms, customer service, and at least four methods of payment, including PayPal and Western Union. From January 2007 to October 2009, it processed some 5,256 orders valued at $1.04 million. The site catered to about 3,000 customers in 35 countries, including the United States. To elude law enforcement officers, the operators used software provided by the TOR Project that makes it virtually impossible to track the activities of users' IP addresses. The alleged conspirators also used IP anonymizers and covert currency transactions to cover their tracks. The indictment, which cited e-mails sent among the men dating back to 2006, didn't say how investigators managed to infiltrate the site or link it to the individuals accused of running it. Prosecutors said in a press release that the charges were the result of a two-year investigation led by agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Los Angeles field division. "Operation Adam Bomb, " as the investigation was dubbed, also involved law enforcement agents from several US states and several countries, including Colombia, the Netherlands, and Scotland. Lead defendant Marc Willem was arrested on Monday at his home in Lelystad, Netherlands, federal prosecutors said in a press release. On Sunday, authorities arrested Michael Evron, a US citizen who lives in Argentina as he was attempting to leave Colombia. The remaining defendantsbJonathan Colbeck, Brian Colbeck, Ryan Rawls, Jonathan Dugan, George Matzek, and Charles Bigrasbwere arrested at their respective homes in Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Attempts to reach the men for comment weren't immediately successful. The 12-count indictment charges all eight men with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and to launder money. Several of them are also charged with distributing LSD and taking part in a continuing criminal enterprise. Each faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. The arrests come about a year after Gawker documented the existence of Silk Road, an online narcotics storefront that was available only to TOR users. The site sold LSD, Afghani hashish, tar heroin and other controlled substances and allowed customers to pay using the virtual currency known as Bitcoin, the article reported. It wasn't immediately clear what the relationship between Silk Road and Farmer's Market is. Farmer's Market had thousands of registered users who hailed from every one of the states of the United States and the District of Columbia, as well as 34 other countries, according to prosecutors. The site relied on multiple sources of various controlled substances. The suppliers, operators, and customers communicated primarily through the website's internal private messaging system. In addition to the eight arrests, authorities arrested seven other people on Monday. In the course of the arrests, authorities seized hash, LSD, and MDMA, in addition to an indoor psychotripic mushroom grow and three indoor marijuana growing operations. Photograph by images.cdn.fotopedia.com
Nice repetition of crypto deniers in the affirmation by Tor faithful that Tor was not the weakness it was the implementation, the sysadministration, the victims' stupidity, the wily use of informants, another unfair accusation against Tor, a need for PR announcement that Tor was not at fault, get right on it before the latest lie spreads. Sure there are bugs to worked out, file this one as ticket number 38,458, or as an update of a ticket long ago which pointed to this little problem being worked on by valiant, dedicated, secret service coders, but do not lose faith in what is good overall, re-read our statements: A few errors does not mean the whole apparatus is not a good thing for its believers, only that the MSM is clueless. And relentless detractors, what can be done about the pests with their puny ignorant agendas going up against those who know reputation capital is the fountainhead of moola. Code, motherfuckers, more code to mark-up.
participants (2)
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Eugen Leitl
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John Young