In this video, I sit down with Lyn Ulbricht, mother of Ross Ulbricht, a man thrown in prison for a lifetime for simply creating a platform for people to freely trade goods for services, protect themselves from massive government surveillance and spread information. The Silk Road was a truly free market initiative started by a libertarian with a big heart.
While the state claims that Ross created the platform for drug dealing the sale of illicit videos which is simply not the case, the people who actually sold drugs on the Silk Road got a few years at the most. Ross got an entire lifetime in prison.
This is kind of like imprisoning Alexander Graham Bell because people used telephones to conspire to commit crimes.
Or imprison all of those complicit in the founding of the internet because people have committed crimes over the internet.
Or imprison gun manufacturers because some moron killed someone using a gun.
Ross has sacrificed everything for us and it's time we start sacrificing a few things to save him from being thrown in a cage. Lyn, his mother has been standing up and speaking loudly for a long time now and she's started initiatives to get Ross freed. One of those would be the Free Ross campaign. You can find "Free Ross" on Facebook as well as FreeRoss.org as well.
This man needs to be freed and the massive amount of assets seized from him (Bitcoin especially) should be returned immediately! Most of all, he needs to be freed from prison!
See the FULL video interview here:
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Thank you for bringing us alternative media, and spreading more awareness about the injustice against Ross Ulbricht!
What's crazy is that he was charged with money laundering yet our government doesn't classify Bitcoin as legal tender. I guess we have to throw Craig from craigslist in jail and Mark Zuckerberg as well since both of them made platforms that were used for illegal acts? May he be free again soon!
Well those corporations play by the rules and pay tax (though not nearly enough in most cases) Silk Road was an underground site that paid no fees to the government. Do you remember Al Capone? he was a feared gangster but he was sent to jail for tax evasion.
Happy to do it! We need to continue getting the word out. He needs to be freed! Thanks for watching!
👍
Seriously. This is just outrageous.
I cannot even imagine what he is going through right now.
males aint females , goo slime, aint let nothin come betrween us
This entire case was a travesty of justice. They completely railroaded a man who just wanted to build a free and decentralized marketplace. Instead of hunting down and arresting those committing illegal acts on the platform they target the creator, drag his name through the mud, and incarcerate him for the rest of his life. All because he was going against their system of control. It's all about control.
You are using wrong examples to justify your point. None of the people you mentioned invented a covert platform for illegal operations inside a country. I don't hold any opinion on this matter but Silkroad was giving coverage to people to do criminal activities and help them to get away with it. So there were consequences for it. It wasn't like that he didn't know his platform is making money for the sake of illegal operations, all the reason SilkRoad was a successful marketplace was because you could do anything inside it.
If it was done knowingly then Ross is convicted justly, but the prison sentence is very long, and as they said in the interview, you have to look at the judge's personal political views part also. Moreover the term of sentence is not justified when compared with the largest sentences given to the drug dealers in the past.
Could be, but that's not OP's demane in the post. It states that Ross sacrificed for us (who is us? ) And should be freed. It just doesn't make sense for me.
I think the main important person in the interview was his mother, not Josh. Josh interviewed her, and what she said is true. She didn't ask to free him completely, what she said is what I reported in my above message. Josh has his point of view, let him have that.
She was making sense to me but Josh doesn't have a good understanding about freedom. Freedom doesn't mean everyone can do anything they want. People were hiring hitmen in that website to kill others. It's not freedom, it's anarchy.
By your logic. All officers of every phone company, officers of Facebook, and nearly every other provider of communication should be equally charged and sentenced. You are defending highly selective enforcement of poorly reasoned laws. Ross created something that others used for illegal activity. He did not actively "cover" for anyone.
The difference is that Facebook and communication companies with any court order would provide information of users to authorities and Silkroad would tell them to go f*k yourself. It was exactly a covert and that's why people were selling drugs there instead of Facebook pages.
Stories that inspire me.
This story reminds me of a personal experience that happened a few years ago.
When my area is in conflict.
I've had kidnappings.
But I was still lucky to escape after being held for almost a week in an inland forest.
Hopefully it does not happen again to me.
yes all kidnaping is wrong. No police officer of federal agent is justified when he kidnaps and tortures another human by placing them in a cell ...arresting someone with handcuffs? Im sorry its still kidnaping...taking someone against their will is kidnapping, no badge or gun or bogus federal or local or state government gives anyone the authority to commit violence upon another human being. We cannot sit here and just accept this lie that the state gives us "I, the state, AM the people" No not untill the war on drugs are over and the for profit prison iondustry is done with...noone should be going to prison when a murdered gets 1 year and a drug dealer gets life....what the fuck is ging on? we cant have p[eople going to jail for 20 years over poessesion of a few bags of cannabis, wtf, how can you be such a monster to arrest othr human beings i dont get how peopel can be police in America and then just say its "their job" to ruin countless lives over petty drug offenses and they try and claim its the illegal drugs that cause all the problems....well maybe dont ship[ the drugs in to the country you scum, sorry but i gotta go full alex jones on this one
Man, this should be upvoted lots more. Sorry yo. What a crappy story. I hope he gets out sooner than later. I mean, they are letting OJ Simpson out, they are letting Charles Manson out. Wtf is going on with this country
It's all part of an elaborate agenda to ensure we are not free.
Umm, conservativeness? Greed? Selfish means to demand dominance
Very interesting. I wonder how this would effect projects like SIA or GOLEM where they could be used for illegal activities as well, but the technology isn't illegal.
That is an interesting thought, I would have thought that because the data is encrypted and the person storing the data has no access to the key then this would be OK and the legality of the material lies with the person who puts it there with the key to access it. I wouldn't feel great though thinking I could be storing child porn for some stranger.
I was wondering about that, and steem, what happens when someone stores child porn over Sia decentralized cloud storage system?!?! what happens when someone posts child porn to steemit?!?! Woudl some federal agency be retarded and demand ALl of steem blockchain be shut dpown bevcause we couldnt technicicly remove lets say, a death threat or someones personal address or child porn like, in text form, because you can just take a jpeg, open it in Notepad, and then copy and paste the text into a steemit post and that way it wont have to be an image
because if you post an illegal image or Violence Gore or Child porn on Imgur the imgur server wil just delete it, but if you post it to steemimages, uhg oh does it get uploaded fporever?!?!
what happens with that eh?!?!
I wanna know, when someone shows how you CAn delete stuff from steemit if you get ALL the witnesses to have consensus, will that just scare the hel out of peopel who wanted steem to be this censorship free platform where noone was su[osed to be able to get banned etc?!?!
So you push some buttons and you end up in jail....he literally did nothing illegal.....its insane that if you push the buttons on your keyboard in just the right combination and you and up going to prison for life ...Imagine telling someone in the 1990s about just how illegal a website will nd up becoming
Trump can push some buttons in just the right combination and end the world!
Hey man :D:D I wanna kep it light! i dont wanna start a fight, buyt heres my response: actually no he couldn't....you really think he has controls for nuclear missiles that easily? Sorry but it doesn't work that way, there are a lot of people who have to push a lot of buttons and turn alot of keys before that can happen,
but lets say youre corect, well the same could have been said abouyt Obama, and trump is much more intelligent than Obama could ever dream of being, (Obama was a failure at life, with fake ID fake records fake wife fake name, noone has any records of his grades, he was groomed for the senate and presidency by the democratic party which handed everything to him, while trump worked for his billions and is so smart that he has made 10 billion dollars for himself, how much money have you earned? How many successful businesses have YOu run?
Anyway you could say the same about Putin in Russia or the COmmunist CHinese or anyon with a large arsenal of Nuclear Missiles, Actually CHina doesnt have any sort of iable ICBm of any sort, e could easily shot every single chinese missile down they have shit technology, only the Russians have the sort of ICBM technology that can get passed our missile defense sheild, and the Russian ICBMs are probobly better than our ICBMs ...Russians have some super deadly weapons...but anyways nuclear war will nevr happen...its MAD Mutually Assured Destruction
So dont worry about "Trump" lol worry about crazy people trying to get into power like SJWs and Hillary supporters, and worry about keeping the planet interested in Space and Science....
Worry about the toxicity of the relationship between Women and Men in our society, we need to fix that because we need families, we must have a return to family values, instead of trying to create a Matriarchy or patriarchy we should talk about Family as the most important thing ....now some will get mad and feel that if someone is "Selfish" and has 10 kids, well, i agree noon should have to support those children but the parents, but when the parents arent there, the children shouldnt suffer, HOWEVER, money should never be directed away from responsible families to care for irresponsible people, we should not have any income taxes, people should be allowed to keep the money they earn, and we have to deal with these issues,
WOW how did i get here? I am listening to Jordan Peterson in the background
wow i dont know how I ended up talking about all of this but we should have a series of Posts which allow people top debate all sorts of topics
A friend here on steemit at Penn State told me about the stories he heard on campus about how they took him down, and how he was operating this massive drug ring from that campus of Pen State which of course must be a point of Pride for the students and Alumni, because hey it was an illegal online drug dealing operation but HEY it was the #1 illegal online drug dealing market in teh world! Were #1 were #1 (inset Pen state Fight Song) and i wouldn't expect anything less from an Ivy League School!
So we should realize that it was a mistake to arrest this man, we should have simply forced him to work for the US federal government...thats just what I would asume the smartst thing for the feds to do is....personaly i dont want such a smart mind trying to help take down other darknet markets, but honestly just because someone created the silk road doesnt mean that they are going to be an expert on modern day darknet markets...things change and its hard to keep up with the cutting edge of the darknet...the darknet markets will always be one step ahead of authorities and the drug war is ovr, they should let it go and just legalize the drugs if they REALLy want to stop the darknet markets! there is No way to track down allthe crypto currency and make people pay TAXES on it EITHER thats just ANOTHER insanely impossible joke like trying to shut down al the drug dealers on the darknet and trying to fight a war on "illegal" drugs especialy when some of those drugs are just plants like cannabis that grow out of the ground..you cant fight a war with a fucking plant the plant will ALWAYS win hahahahahahaha
who do these people think they are wasting all our resources trying to find people buying and selling itms like consenting adults safely and legally throuigh the postal system all online hahah when you think of how crazy it is for it to be il;legal when ALL that infrastructure and technology goes into it, its baffling! How could all that be "illegal" when theres so much technology backing it all up? And I realize how many packages are sent everyday around the world and its a loosing battle, imagine when a legit company starts to just have infiltrators placing drug shipments in their trucks , noone is going to search a walmart truck, it wil be like Breaking Bad and Gustavo Fring, in fact im sure big corporations are dipping thir hand in the darknet drug dealing business, i bet all sorts of greedy people want to maximize their profits selling drugs on the darknet!
One former CIA officer stole nearly a million dollars worth of his bitcoin shortly after apprehending Ulbricht.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/01/ex-secret-service-agent-shaun-bridges-bitcoin-arrest
Civil forfeiture to give cops big bombs
Outrageous!! Not only got jail time for running a website, but also an officer stole Bitcoin from him!!! OMG
Really great interview Josh! Its really sad what the government has put Ross's mother through and Ross himself. I'm not going to say he was innocent he did establish a black market, but the punishment is very Orwellian. This should be no more than a few years prison sentence not a double life sentence +40 years. The principles of free market capitalism really only seem to apply to owners of the banks and other crooked industries that pay off the politicians.
How can we get Ross released?. It is totally insane that someone can be sent to jail for life for operating a website. The USA is actually an insane asylum and a dangerous place to live and getting more so by the day.
He should not be freed, he was profiteering from drug dealing. Drugs do a lot of damage to peoples lives. That said he should not have gotten the sentence he did. He should have got something like 5 or 7 years, not life in prison.
Tobacco and Alcohol do much more damage to families and peoples lives than any illegal drug could. Ross has already been in jail since October 2013 and is never to be released. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
That is not really a valid argument though is it, it doesn't matter what damage Alcohol and Tobacco do (in this context) as they are legal, please don't paint this guy as some innocent web master doing no wrong, he knew what he was getting into and it is illegal. But I repeat, the punishment is way over the top for the crime. The corrupt police officers should have been given longer prison terms.
Two people, one selling one buying. What right has a government to get in the way of a transaction between two consenting adults?.
One word Tax and also if it is legal or not. Like it or not we live in a society that is governed by laws, the alternative is anarchy. Neither system is perfect but this is what we have, governments will not release this power lightly and who can blame them. I think the Ross Ulbrict argument given in the video is pretty weak in that he was just creating a marketplace for people to transact, why put it on the dark web then? We need to make governments more accountable for their actions and remove corruption, if block chain technology can do this then great. But please don't create havens for criminal activity, nobody should want that and no one should profit from doing it. None of the money Ross Ulbrict earned would have had tax taken and therefore he would not be contributing to society.
Please, not the tax argument. If the products were not classed as illegal, a tax would have been paid.
Laws were made to be broken, silly laws should always be broken. Victimless crime should never be prosecuted.
Anarchy has gotten a bad name. Research is required to discover what true anarchy is all about. A good place to start is The Anarchast by Jeff Berwick and discover Larkin Rose.
History has shown making drugs Illegal is nonsense, does not work. When you research the drugs business worldwide the results are amazing.
The"WAR ON DRUGS is actually a game and when you follow the money it leads back to the CIA who is now in charge of the worlds poppy fields and cocoa plants.
Very soon all governments around the world will decide Cannabis is now legal after 70 years of telling us it's evil.
I agree, but it still needs tackling somehow.
EXACTLY he did NOTHING but push buttons....youre RIGHt youre SO right! theres NO way they can actually PROVE he was even behind the computer at the time of the alleged actvities! the internet makes it possible for a website to originate from ANYWHERE andits SAD that our current court system acts like it understands concepts as fragile as IP addresses etc
Rosse's case is more political than drug related.
Well, he was prosecuted for running a website that allegedly facilitated sales of "illegal" drugs. Just like Alexander Vinnik was recently arrested for operating BTC-e, which allegedly facilitated "illegal money laundering". Such things are illegal just because governments say so. And the US and its client states seem to consider that their laws apply to the entire Internet, and everyone who uses it. Like it or not, moral or not, they can do it because they have the power.
The only way for individuals to opt out of that bullshit is through tools for privacy and anonymity. Using VPNs and Tor, Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies, and so on. And in doing so, they must practice good OPSEC.
I don't mean to dis Ross, but he just made too many mistakes. Especially at the start, before he realized how huge Silk Road would become. Also, he was thinking like an idealistic activist. His OPSEC was sloppy. He used his real name on Stack Exchange to ask about onion design. He promoted Silk Road on Bitcoin Forum, then used the same account to invite developer applications, and included his real-name email address. He misconfigured Apache, such that some error responses included the public IP address of the onion server.
Anyway, we can all learn from those mistakes. And from mistakes of others that governments have pwned. And we can build stuff that won't get taken down.
As far as Ross goes, I doubt that he'll get out unless some President pardons him. Maybe Trump will flame out so badly that someone sane will win the next term. But even then, I'm not optimistic. Unless drugs, and drug dealing, are legalized, anyway.
People have already learned, there are over 30 Silk Road sites operating right now. Rosse's case is more political than drug related. Watch the interviews done with Rosses mother and also the movie DARKNET
Right, people are learning. And with every takedown, there's something new to learn.
NSA tracks everything and they're weak at cyber protections
People who operate websites are responsible for their content. Of course the small fish got only a few years, because without this site they couldn't commit crime. He deserves it!
No this is not correct, an operator should not be responsible for the content posted by others. However this was a dark market set up for illegal activity to happen and for profit. I agree he should not be jailed for the trades but he must accept that he broke the law.
Excellent post, very well articulated Very interesting
thanks for share. upvotes your post & you upvotes my post
please stop with the "Upvote my post and i upvote your post" this is not twitter, this is not instagram, please stop, your BEGGINg and its LAME you should be flagged! Your comment is TRASH
Do you realize what would happen if EVERYONE upvotyed everyone elses posts because THEY got upvpted ??!!? NOONE would ever make any money, and gues what? Jyst because you upvote my post, that doesnt mean i should upvote YOUER post, because Your post might not be any good!
if you want upvotes YOU MUST EARN THEM you CANNOT get upvots by commenting BEGGING for upvotes WTF ist SO annoying your POLLUTING steemit with your SPAM youre likea fucking greedy little robot wtf is wrong with you?!?!?! please realize that you have to POST GOOD CONTENt if you ant upvotes man come on .
I will give you ONE upvote so u can make a few cents from me
but u must actualy POST HELPFUL COMMENTS
u have to POST COOL IMAGS or funny GIFS but it has to be RELEVANT
like here we are talking about THE SIOLK ROAD so MENTION SOMETHING ABOUT DARKNET MARKETS DAMNIT dont just say "Thnanks for share!" thats POINTLESS youre OBVIOUSLY just trying to get atention for your opwn blog because THIS is one ofthe trending top posts! PLEAE stop begging and actualy leave aHELPFUl comment ADD VALUE
Awesome post! #freeross
Thank you for sharing your opinion! It will be a balancing act moving forward on how we regulate our freedoms. As long as we love each other we will have an easier time :)
done https://steemit.com/photo/@mostafa1983/photos-a-small-island-for-rent-per-day-is-located-in-the-mediterranean-near-the-city-of-placentia
The story is useful. Thank you you shared
What a paradox
He made some good coin that way. He should have moved to say Russia. Maybe another Silk Road by Snowden would be useful. Why not? He already is in exile. He is probably missing the lifestyle he had when he earned 100s of bitcoins worth per year
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Don't you worry mam , we're about to make a lot of noise. Tell him to hold on and be aware of his surroundings.Don't even go to the showers unless a guard knows! Keep his attorneys up to date on anything that might be of importance. God bless, and we'll get through this together.
The PTB do not like competition.
Thanks for the video! FREE ROSS!
inspiring story
nice post and upvoted,,and follow ..keep it up..
Thank you @joshsigurdson! You are a great man! You information are very helpful
Lots of varying opinions . All are great food for thought .
The banksers need to be hunted down and removed. Unfortunately americans are dip shits
Thank you very much for sharing this! His mother is an heroin!
thankyou opinion
2 life sentences + 40 years? He was a website admin not a serial killer wtf. This is really unfortunate but not surprising. This harsh sentence was given for the same reason government was planning on handing Aaron Shwartz 30 years in prison for collecting a few TB of academic journals that were behind a paywall. They want to make an example out of anyone who really attempts to shake up their status quo. Similarly in Ross's case although for different reasons the powers that be felt they had to give a shock and awe sentence to prevent and future "entrepreneurs" from deciding to carry the silk road torch. I wonder how that worked out for them?
hmmm... thanks! appreciate the thoughts and info! following :)
This mans 4th amendment rights were violated. Watch the vice documentary. The court case was a complete joke.
Good on you doing this interview
iam new here follow me plzzz i follow you also
Thank you for covering this topic!
Ross we are with you bro!
@rossulbricht hope we get him out!
100% juice power and a resteem for you!
Wooooooooow awesome!
This submission has made it on the @MutuWhale MutuList!
Hey @joshsigurdson , would love to offer to come onto my podcast sometime.
It is all about entrepreneurs; what you are doing, believe in and what difference you are making in the world.
Here is the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5CpCNPna6p95oJfKPew0N3ZT0k-khdgg
It is audio only over skype. Does this sound of interest to you?
Wonder if Trump would give him a pardon..
What a true badass. He surely knew he would get caught in the end, but did it anyway. There is no way this man will be freed, the government needs their "fall guy" for the "BAD BAD" free market making silk roader
muy buen post hermano, saludos desde Venezuela..
Hello steemit,follow me
how about noone follows you and you get a flag for spamming?