5 ms·

Ulbricht seems likely to do a lot more time than Mitnick ever did. By the time he gets out, I doubt most people will remember who he was.

chisleu 12y ago
It depends. I see him as a freedom fighter on the front lines. I will always remember his sacrifices. I guess it depends on your world view.
- Touche 12y ago
  He wasn't fighting for the freedom of those people he put hits out on.
  - strathmeyer 12y ago
    Well, that's not very good trolling.
  - chisleu 12y ago
    No, but they were threatening his life...
    - nemo 12y ago
      They were threatening his business, not his life.
      - chisleu 12y ago
        Threatening to turn his information over to the feds = threatening his life. Do I need to remind you that he is sitting in a rape room right now and will be for 30 years?
        FireBeyond 12y ago
        "Sitting in a rape room" - careful, your bias is showing.
        chisleu 12y ago
        It isn't biased. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=rape%20in%20federal%20prison https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
        Touche 12y ago
        > Threatening to turn his information over to the feds = threatening his life. Snitches get stitches, huh.
- mattdotc 12y ago
  I'd argue the real freedom fighters are the ones trying to make policy changes rather than exploiting the current system for a quick buck.
  - chisleu 12y ago
    Policy changes? Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? I doubt we will even have federally-legal pot in the next hundred years simply because of the trouble it would be to repeal the UN resolutions.
    - lotsofmangos 12y ago
      Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? Yes. The cops and the doctors. Between them, they are largely the reason that drugs policy has been moving towards liberalisation in Europe and the USA. Pot smokers have been batting for pot legalisation for a very long time, but it was people doing research into the role of cannabinoids in the nervous system, and organisations like LEAP http://www.leap.cc/ http://www.leap.cc/, that have managed to shift drug policy in a very short space of time.
      - jessaustin 12y ago
        The cops and the doctors. I'm glad some of them are doing the right thing now, but what the hell took so long? USA has been drug-war-crazy since the 1970s, and pot had been prohibited in slightly saner fashion much longer than that. Millions of lives have been destroyed by our drug prohibition, both here and abroad. This is a slightly rhetorical question. Of course there were incentives at work. Few medical researchers are so committed to the truth that they would do research for which grants are unavailable. Asking cops not to enforce unjust laws is like asking a fish not to swim. If they could do that, they wouldn't be cops. That's why nearly everyone in LEAP is a retired cop. Generous pensions for municipal employees have afforded them some time to assuage their guilty consciences through activism.
        12y ago
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  I'm sure if you were on his hit list you'd have a different view. Typically people who care about human rights and civil liberties aren't causal murderers over drug turf.
  - chisleu 12y ago
    I haven't read anything about casual murders over drug turf. I have read about government entrapping him by threatening to release information about vendors (IE, threatening violence to get out of a debt.) No, I don't see that as murder. I see it as self defense.
    - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
      He tried to get six murders for hire: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-dread-pirate-roberts-bizarre-murder-for-hire-attempts/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-d... >about government entrapping him Quote from your hero while setting up a hit on FriendlyChemist: "Don't want to be a pain here, but the price seems high. Not long ago, I had a clean hit done for $80k. " and "Thank you R&W. I've only ever commissioned the one other hit, so I'm still learning this market. " Everyone is a victim right? I thought you libertarians were big on personal responsibility and law and order. Oh right, these things matter only when it serves you.
      - chisleu 12y ago
        "Casual murders over drug turf" Still see no evidence of that.
- olalonde 12y ago
  Freedom fighter who denied being DPR and tried to save his ass by pointing at another guy? http://www.dailydot.com/crime/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-mark-karpales-fbi/ http://www.dailydot.com/crime/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-mark-k...
  - diminoten 12y ago
    It's a legal defense, this isn't a morality question.
- bdcravens 12y ago
  Freedom fighter? Maybe after he got caught. Before that he was a capitalist. (assuming he's DPR, which is says he's not ... in which case he's just a falsely accused nobody)

chisleu 12y ago

It depends. I see him as a freedom fighter on the front lines. I will always remember his sacrifices. I guess it depends on your world view.

Touche 12y ago
He wasn't fighting for the freedom of those people he put hits out on.
- strathmeyer 12y ago
  Well, that's not very good trolling.
- chisleu 12y ago
  No, but they were threatening his life...
  - nemo 12y ago
    They were threatening his business, not his life.
    - chisleu 12y ago
      Threatening to turn his information over to the feds = threatening his life. Do I need to remind you that he is sitting in a rape room right now and will be for 30 years?
      - FireBeyond 12y ago
        "Sitting in a rape room" - careful, your bias is showing.
        chisleu 12y ago
        It isn't biased. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=rape%20in%20federal%20prison https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...
      - Touche 12y ago
        > Threatening to turn his information over to the feds = threatening his life. Snitches get stitches, huh.
mattdotc 12y ago
I'd argue the real freedom fighters are the ones trying to make policy changes rather than exploiting the current system for a quick buck.
- chisleu 12y ago
  Policy changes? Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? I doubt we will even have federally-legal pot in the next hundred years simply because of the trouble it would be to repeal the UN resolutions.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    Do you really think anyone has the power to change the US drug policy? In the next 100 years? Yes. The cops and the doctors. Between them, they are largely the reason that drugs policy has been moving towards liberalisation in Europe and the USA. Pot smokers have been batting for pot legalisation for a very long time, but it was people doing research into the role of cannabinoids in the nervous system, and organisations like LEAP http://www.leap.cc/ http://www.leap.cc/, that have managed to shift drug policy in a very short space of time.
    - jessaustin 12y ago
      The cops and the doctors. I'm glad some of them are doing the right thing now, but what the hell took so long? USA has been drug-war-crazy since the 1970s, and pot had been prohibited in slightly saner fashion much longer than that. Millions of lives have been destroyed by our drug prohibition, both here and abroad. This is a slightly rhetorical question. Of course there were incentives at work. Few medical researchers are so committed to the truth that they would do research for which grants are unavailable. Asking cops not to enforce unjust laws is like asking a fish not to swim. If they could do that, they wouldn't be cops. That's why nearly everyone in LEAP is a retired cop. Generous pensions for municipal employees have afforded them some time to assuage their guilty consciences through activism.
      - 12y ago
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
I'm sure if you were on his hit list you'd have a different view. Typically people who care about human rights and civil liberties aren't causal murderers over drug turf.
- chisleu 12y ago
  I haven't read anything about casual murders over drug turf. I have read about government entrapping him by threatening to release information about vendors (IE, threatening violence to get out of a debt.) No, I don't see that as murder. I see it as self defense.
  - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
    He tried to get six murders for hire: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-dread-pirate-roberts-bizarre-murder-for-hire-attempts/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/02/the-hitman-scam-d... >about government entrapping him Quote from your hero while setting up a hit on FriendlyChemist: "Don't want to be a pain here, but the price seems high. Not long ago, I had a clean hit done for $80k. " and "Thank you R&W. I've only ever commissioned the one other hit, so I'm still learning this market. " Everyone is a victim right? I thought you libertarians were big on personal responsibility and law and order. Oh right, these things matter only when it serves you.
    - chisleu 12y ago
      "Casual murders over drug turf" Still see no evidence of that.
olalonde 12y ago
Freedom fighter who denied being DPR and tried to save his ass by pointing at another guy? http://www.dailydot.com/crime/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-mark-karpales-fbi/ http://www.dailydot.com/crime/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-mark-k...
- diminoten 12y ago
  It's a legal defense, this isn't a morality question.
bdcravens 12y ago
Freedom fighter? Maybe after he got caught. Before that he was a capitalist. (assuming he's DPR, which is says he's not ... in which case he's just a falsely accused nobody)