The Silk Road of the 21st century does not run from Europe to Asia and it isn't used as a means of transporting silk back and forth between the two continents. No, the modern day 'Silk Road' rests in the darkest areas of the internet hosted on anonymous servers, through virtual tunnels and encrypted browsers, beneath layers and layers of the internet’s surface. It is only accessible through TOR, a program that directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide volunteer network consisting of more than three thousand relays concealing the user's location.
To put it simply, it's the internet's black market and it's number one seller... Drugs.
This week Forbes conducted the first ever interview with the sites founded and libertarian leader Dread Pirate Roberts. So confident in his security, the mysterious character spent four hours chatting with Forbes' Andy Greenberg explaining everything from his goals and mission to how it it works. The full interview can be read here .
The Silk road is made possible not only by the anonymity TOR provides but also through its use of the online currency BitCoin. During that interview DPR stated that he felt "We've won the State's War on Drugs because of Bitcoin." It allows users to transfer funds via the TOR network thus once again ensuring anonymity. The levels of privacy protection run deep.
There are approximately 220 distinct categories of items, ranging from books and digital goods to prescription drugs and LSD. The four most popular categories are linked to drugs; nine of the top ten, and 16 of the top 20 are drug-related.
The Silk Road simply developed naturally as most black marketplaces do, and consumer demand dictated that drugs were the number 1 selling item, hence it's label as an online drugs market place. But it's founder is quick to point out that "At it’s core, Silk Road is simply a way to get around regulation from the state."
Recently however, the monopoly 'The Silk Road' holds on the the online black market and in particular the trade of drugs over the internet has come under attack. In particular 'Atlantis' another site only accessible through TOR that has made itself decidedly less anonymous instead aggressively marketing themselves as the best online drugs market, including an ad on YouTube. The CEO even went on Reddit to answer questions and was much more open then Dead Pirate Roberts, a foolish move some might think, but DPR and the kingdom he has built buried deep within the internet remains defiant that his site, and his cause will prevail.
For now however authorities continue to hunt without much hope of ever find Dead Pirate Roberts or his illustrious 'Silk Road'.
