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When you piss off the wrong authorities or the wrong people, there is no place to hide. Even with cryptocurrencies. Even with Tor. Even if you hide in a remote

When you piss off the wrong authorities or the wrong people, there is no place to hide. Even with cryptocurrencies. Even with Tor. Even if you hide in a remote place in the planet. Piss off the wrong people and they will spend resources until they find you. Like the Silk Road guy, Ross Ulbricht.

hsuduebc2 6y ago
Well he tried to hire assassin to murder his companion. Not exactly technology fault.
FDSGSG 6y ago
The silk road guy logged into his servers without Tor... Ulbricht just happened to do a particularly shit job hiding. On the other hand the operator of Dream Market is still free, after operating his site for almost 7(!) years.
- bpodgursky 6y ago
  Not really true. Ulbricht messed up, possibly just once: > The connection was made by linking the username "altoid", used during Silk Road's early days to announce the website, and a forum post in which Ulbricht, posting under the nickname "altoid", asked for programming help and gave his email address, which contained his full name. It's really hard to live a digital life for a decade and not once accidentally break opsec between your public and private lives.
  - kortilla 6y ago
    It’s not hard if you start out assuming you’re going to be wanted by the government at some point. The problem is when you stumble into crime much later and have a bunch of online identity you have to dissociate from cold turkey.
  - FDSGSG 6y ago
    It really is true. Ulbricht repeatedly made the incomprehensible mistake of logging into SR servers without using Tor. He would've been caught sooner or later because of just that. He even used his own photo on the fake IDs for SR server rentals!
    - hanniabu 6y ago
      Aren't around half of the exit nodes run by the NSA? If that's the case then tor wouldn't help much.
      - FDSGSG 6y ago
        100% of the exit nodes could be run by the NSA and Tor would still help much, exit nodes are supposed to be untrusted. I think the fact that (most?) DNM operators keep getting away with it is great evidence that nation states don't have very good visibility into the Tor network.
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  The Pirate Bay has been operating out in the open for two decades.
etaioinshrdlu 6y ago
You can hide in Russia.
- qeternity 6y ago
  Alexei Navalny would disagree.
  - etaioinshrdlu 6y ago
    Okay, if you're an enemy of the West you can hide in Russia. If you're an enemy of Russia...I haven't heard of Russian agents murdering and kidnapping much in the USA, so that may be OK. Also, Navalny was about the opposite of trying to hide. He was trying to be found.
    - qeternity 6y ago
      You’ve not heard of the Russians assassinating people blatantly in other countries? I’m sure that comes as a disappointment to the FSB given that they do it so blatantly to send a message that they can get you anywhere without repercussion.
    - jokethrowaway 6y ago
      Novichok has already been used in the western world
- anm89 6y ago
  You can hide in Sovereign territory where the sovereign supports you*

hsuduebc2 6y ago

Well he tried to hire assassin to murder his companion. Not exactly technology fault.

FDSGSG 6y ago

The silk road guy logged into his servers without Tor... Ulbricht just happened to do a particularly shit job hiding. On the other hand the operator of Dream Market is still free, after operating his site for almost 7(!) years.

bpodgursky 6y ago
Not really true. Ulbricht messed up, possibly just once: > The connection was made by linking the username "altoid", used during Silk Road's early days to announce the website, and a forum post in which Ulbricht, posting under the nickname "altoid", asked for programming help and gave his email address, which contained his full name. It's really hard to live a digital life for a decade and not once accidentally break opsec between your public and private lives.
- kortilla 6y ago
  It’s not hard if you start out assuming you’re going to be wanted by the government at some point. The problem is when you stumble into crime much later and have a bunch of online identity you have to dissociate from cold turkey.
- FDSGSG 6y ago
  It really is true. Ulbricht repeatedly made the incomprehensible mistake of logging into SR servers without using Tor. He would've been caught sooner or later because of just that. He even used his own photo on the fake IDs for SR server rentals!
  - hanniabu 6y ago
    Aren't around half of the exit nodes run by the NSA? If that's the case then tor wouldn't help much.
    - FDSGSG 6y ago
      100% of the exit nodes could be run by the NSA and Tor would still help much, exit nodes are supposed to be untrusted. I think the fact that (most?) DNM operators keep getting away with it is great evidence that nation states don't have very good visibility into the Tor network.
Consultant32452 6y ago
The Pirate Bay has been operating out in the open for two decades.

etaioinshrdlu 6y ago

You can hide in Russia.

qeternity 6y ago
Alexei Navalny would disagree.
- etaioinshrdlu 6y ago
  Okay, if you're an enemy of the West you can hide in Russia. If you're an enemy of Russia...I haven't heard of Russian agents murdering and kidnapping much in the USA, so that may be OK. Also, Navalny was about the opposite of trying to hide. He was trying to be found.
  - qeternity 6y ago
    You’ve not heard of the Russians assassinating people blatantly in other countries? I’m sure that comes as a disappointment to the FSB given that they do it so blatantly to send a message that they can get you anywhere without repercussion.
  - jokethrowaway 6y ago
    Novichok has already been used in the western world
anm89 6y ago
You can hide in Sovereign territory where the sovereign supports you*