Module 5 Discussion: The Good and the Bad
- There are many points in the Silk Road case that could make up entire modules by themselves. Depending on the side of the argument you stand, some points are good and some points are bad. I personally believe there was plenty of evidence to show Ross Ulbricht’s involvement as an administrator of Silk Road, but I take issue with him having a life sentence. While there were some great investigative methods in Silk Road, all together it was a chaotic investigation. There were clearly corrupt actions by investigators who were part of the case.
- For the initial discussion, the post identifies and explains two pieces of evidence that outweigh any disputed issue in the case.
Module 5 Introduction Silk Road
Silk Road is the landmark case for the Dark Web. This is what the Dark Web reputation grew out of. There are many different elements of this case that can be studied. It would be easy to have an eight weeks class about different aspects of the Silk Road. Since we are an investigation program, we are going to focus on the investigative methods of the Silk Road case, but we are going to place the emphasis on the legal issues surrounding the investigation. There are many.
Within this case, you will see great investigative methods. Not just tech-related elements, but the “Simple” Old School Police work type methods. Just surveillance and diligent curiosity of the investigators. How they bring down Ross would actually have similarities to how they bust Alpha Bay years later. As if they created a blueprint for the Dark Web investigations.
We will also see the discussions about the Crooked Agents involved and how they were dumb enough to think they would get away with stealing bitcoin. Yes, the Federal Agents tasked with investigating these crimes proved to be no more than “Newbs” in their methods of being criminals.
Case Study #1: Silk Road
We have heard about Silk Road in the previous modules and how Ross Ulbrict got caught. We know he is caught and he pretty much leads the police right to himself. We are beyond that now, we are looking at another aspect of the case. This case involved crooked Federal Agents who were taking advantage of the same system that the criminals were using. Additionally, there are issues with the charging and the method in which the charges were done.
The Silk Road case is so interesting because it demonstrates great investigative efforts on so many different parts. It had the tech portion involved related to the Dark Web. It had the use of informants, the active listening and observation skills that were mentioned earlier and it came down to good old fashion police work where the police were conducting surveillance on Ulbrict and were able to get him into custody.
