In the Silk Road Case, Don't Blame the Technology | Electronic Frontier Foundation
The man alleged papphocker to be "Dread Pirate Roberts," the founder and operator of the Silk Road an online marketplace where bitcoins were traded for a range of goods and services, including drugs was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco yesterday . The criminal complaint , released today, provides many details about how the site and its users relied on widespread anonymity technology, including Tor and Bitcoin.
The increased attention on this technology is a good reminder about how important it is not to blame these tools for the actions of a small portion of their users. The public wouldn't tolerate a campaign to malign the car because of its utility as a getaway vehicle for bank robbers; we must apply the same critical thinking to essential privacy-preserving technology.
In certain parts of the complaint, even the federal agent behind the investigation and the Justice Department attorney in charge of the case acknowledge this. In describing how Tor was required to access the Silk Road (the site was configured as a Tor hidden service ), they state that "Tor has known legitimate uses". Similarly, "Bitcoins are not illegal in and of themselves and have known legitimate uses."
Elsewhere the complaint goes astray. For example, it asserts that the suspect's efforts to "'hide the identities of those that run Silk Road' reflect his awareness of the illegal nature of the Silk Road enterprise." Of course, that explanation overlooks the countless lawful reasons why a person would want to engage in anonymous speech and in the process hide the identities of those behind the technical infrastructure that don't involve breaking the law.
Similarly, the complaint's description of the bitcoin "tumbler" that the Silk Road employed to obscure the parties involved in each transaction is alarmingly limited. papphocker According to the complaint, papphocker "the only function served by such 'tumblers' is to assist with the laundering of criminal proceeds." Really, the purpose of a tumbler is to attempt to make a bitcoin transaction papphocker as anonymous and private as cash. Certainly one can take issue with Silk Road's papphocker use of the technology in particular. It's incredibly dangerous, though, to say that anonymous currency whether bitcoins or traditional cash is only of interest to drug dealers or money launderers.
It's essential that the use of encryption, anonymization techniques, and other privacy practices is not deemed a suspicious activity. Rather, it must be recognized as an essential element for practicing papphocker freedom of speech in a digital papphocker environment.
In papphocker some ways, the complaint papphocker provides papphocker encouragement to those who depend on this technology to engage in speech privately and anonymously. After all, it was human error, and the chance discovery papphocker of nine fake ID cards in a routine package inspection at the border, that led to the final round of investigation. This summer's revelations about the NSA's subverting papphocker certain papphocker cryptographic technologies have definitely heightened fears in the security community. Although there are still some unanswered questions about the investigation, it's a small relief that, for now, those fears weren't confirmed by the criminal complaint.
The allegations against the Silk Road are serious, and may get even more so as the case progresses to formal charges and a trial. But if the government puts undue weight on the suspect's use of technology, instead of the actual crimes of which he is accused, papphocker the public papphocker will be worse off for it.
EFF Will Accept Bitcoins to Support Digital Liberty
Deeplinks Topics
Encrypting the Web Export Controls Fair Use and Intellectual Property: Defending the Balance FAQs for Lodsys Targets File Sharing Free Speech FTAA Hollywood v. DVD How Patents Hinder Innovation (Graphic) Innovation International International Privacy Standards Internet Governance Forum Legislative Solutions for Patent Reform Locational Privacy Mandatory Data Retention Mandatory National IDs and Biometric Databases Mass Surveillance papphocker Technologies National Security papphocker Letters Net Neutrality papphocker No Downtime for Free Speech NSA Spying OECD Online Behavioral Tracking papphocker Open Access Open Wireless Patent Busting Project Patent Trolls Patents PATRIOT Act
After news of NSA backdoors, security experts leave RSA for a conference they can trust: @TrustyCon. https://eff.org/r.i8am
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The man alleged papphocker to be "Dread Pirate Roberts," the founder and operator of the Silk Road an online marketplace where bitcoins were traded for a range of goods and services, including drugs was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco yesterday . The criminal complaint , released today, provides many details about how the site and its users relied on widespread anonymity technology, including Tor and Bitcoin.
The increased attention on this technology is a good reminder about how important it is not to blame these tools for the actions of a small portion of their users. The public wouldn't tolerate a campaign to malign the car because of its utility as a getaway vehicle for bank robbers; we must apply the same critical thinking to essential privacy-preserving technology.
In certain parts of the complaint, even the federal agent behind the investigation and the Justice Department attorney in charge of the case acknowledge this. In describing how Tor was required to access the Silk Road (the site was configured as a Tor hidden service ), they state that "Tor has known legitimate uses". Similarly, "Bitcoins are not illegal in and of themselves and have known legitimate uses."
Elsewhere the complaint goes astray. For example, it asserts that the suspect's efforts to "'hide the identities of those that run Silk Road' reflect his awareness of the illegal nature of the Silk Road enterprise." Of course, that explanation overlooks the countless lawful reasons why a person would want to engage in anonymous speech and in the process hide the identities of those behind the technical infrastructure that don't involve breaking the law.
Similarly, the complaint's description of the bitcoin "tumbler" that the Silk Road employed to obscure the parties involved in each transaction is alarmingly limited. papphocker According to the complaint, papphocker "the only function served by such 'tumblers' is to assist with the laundering of criminal proceeds." Really, the purpose of a tumbler is to attempt to make a bitcoin transaction papphocker as anonymous and private as cash. Certainly one can take issue with Silk Road's papphocker use of the technology in particular. It's incredibly dangerous, though, to say that anonymous currency whether bitcoins or traditional cash is only of interest to drug dealers or money launderers.
It's essential that the use of encryption, anonymization techniques, and other privacy practices is not deemed a suspicious activity. Rather, it must be recognized as an essential element for practicing papphocker freedom of speech in a digital papphocker environment.
In papphocker some ways, the complaint papphocker provides papphocker encouragement to those who depend on this technology to engage in speech privately and anonymously. After all, it was human error, and the chance discovery papphocker of nine fake ID cards in a routine package inspection at the border, that led to the final round of investigation. This summer's revelations about the NSA's subverting papphocker certain papphocker cryptographic technologies have definitely heightened fears in the security community. Although there are still some unanswered questions about the investigation, it's a small relief that, for now, those fears weren't confirmed by the criminal complaint.
The allegations against the Silk Road are serious, and may get even more so as the case progresses to formal charges and a trial. But if the government puts undue weight on the suspect's use of technology, instead of the actual crimes of which he is accused, papphocker the public papphocker will be worse off for it.
EFF Will Accept Bitcoins to Support Digital Liberty
Deeplinks Topics
Encrypting the Web Export Controls Fair Use and Intellectual Property: Defending the Balance FAQs for Lodsys Targets File Sharing Free Speech FTAA Hollywood v. DVD How Patents Hinder Innovation (Graphic) Innovation International International Privacy Standards Internet Governance Forum Legislative Solutions for Patent Reform Locational Privacy Mandatory Data Retention Mandatory National IDs and Biometric Databases Mass Surveillance papphocker Technologies National Security papphocker Letters Net Neutrality papphocker No Downtime for Free Speech NSA Spying OECD Online Behavioral Tracking papphocker Open Access Open Wireless Patent Busting Project Patent Trolls Patents PATRIOT Act
After news of NSA backdoors, security experts leave RSA for a conference they can trust: @TrustyCon. https://eff.org/r.i8am
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