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Comment by 666_howitzer | Hacker News Reader

I think "Do things that don't scale" applies perfectly here, the part where Ross initially seeds the marketplace by selling magic mushrooms which he himself grew; may be this explain why new Darknet concepts failed to take off, not due to technological limitation or lack of market need.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/5285/torbroker-anonymous-finance...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/18/meet-th...

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I just want to grab this kid and shake him while screaming "WHY WOULD YOU EVER WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN?!?"

It's like he wanted to get caught...

In a folder labeled "TorChat," Ulbricht's computer holds years' worth of chat logs.

Felt the same way when reading this. Seriously - three years worth of chat logs? I don't think he wanted to get caught, he just felt that a clueless investigator could never decrypt his data, a clueless prosecutor could never understand let alone describe his operation and a clueless jury would never understand it.

So far we know he underestimated the investigator and the prosecutor. We'll know soon if he misjudged his chances with a jury.

Never assume you're the lone wolf in a world full of sheep....

Seriously, why would you do that? Hasn't he seen Boardwalk Empire? You get rid of the book and keep it all in your head! That, and it's also common sense.

I know, right? Better yet, why the hell would anyone take anything with that much incriminating info out in public like that?

I wince when I read of security goofs like those mentioned in the article or Poulson's book Kingpin. These are bright guys who should assume they'll eventually get raided or otherwise targeted by the law and have safeguards in place.

Makes for good reading, though. I'm ordering popcorn for this one.

I remember reading about DPR before he got busted, and thinking "wow, this guy must be practicing some insanely paranoid opsec".

Turns out, he was doing nothing of the sort!

Raise your hand if, when you read an article about gross incompetence while committing a crime, you get the urge to become a criminal mastermind yourself, just to do it right...

You write it down because it's a business and you need some amount of documentation to run any business. The journal thing could have been avoided, but the chat logs? There are bound to be disputes when running a black market, and it's useful to have a reliable record of what happened in the past.

The armchair commentators here write "just keep it all in your head", but that's just not possible.

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