After Lyn joined Steemit, I've decided to repost an article that I drafted on Ross Ulbricht shortly after his life sentence in May of 2015. While progress seems to have been made in the grand injustice that is the war on drugs, we still endure the brutal hand of careless bureaucrats hiding behind morally vacuous arguments.
Millions of Americans are still either in jail or have gone to jail for nonviolent offenses. The aftermath extends far beyond the period of incarceration with broken families, inability to pursue higher education or reasonable employment and a permanent stigma of a felon's criminal record. We have created generations of American's existing in an underclass that understandably becomes more hostile and dangerous over time.
My hope is that the next generation of American leaders can have a more informed, data driven and objective conversation about the war on drugs and its eventual end. We should not allow institutions to exist that promote human misery for profit. Nor should we allow arguments that destroying nonviolent people's lives somehow protects them or society.
Enjoy!
Thoughts on Ross
From time to time, I enjoy investing an afternoon considering politics and the state of affairs here in the United States. Our country is the first hyperpower forcing all other nations to consider us in whatever policy happens to be the day's grock. This reality is divorced from ethical or moral metrics and the war on drugs is no different.
For whatever reason (religious, practical, dystopian, etc), policymakers in the United States have continuously decided to label a behavior or substance as dangerous to the social fabric™ of our society. Prohibition is the standard example and its spectacular failure is somehow forgotten. We saw and acknowledge the rise of the modern mafia. We saw the decentralized nature of resistance through bootleggers (some say one who's kid become president) and the FBI form to stop the bootleggers empowering J. Edgar Hoover to terrorize two generations of Americans via illegal spying and blackmail (including Martin Luther King). Yet why have no lessons been learned?
The war of drugs is a leviathan that has imprisoned millions of Americans (vastly disportionate for minorities), formed massive bureaucracies such as the DEA and their state equivalents, and like Hoover's FBI slowly transformed society to both militarize the police and make their actions somehow ok. Where in this process have we asked what the goal exactly is? Why are we as a country destroying families, imprisoning millions and treating addicts as hardened criminals? Why have we created an industry that robs us of our constitutional rights and turns our police force into something resembling the Stasi?
I honestly don't have a good answer. There is perhaps an historical context that could be explored and used to synthetically explain why we are somehow comfortable as a nation using a plato like ideal social fabric™ to justify incarcerating millions for non-violent crimes. Yet this leaves a putrid taste in my mouth.
The United States drug policy is simply put immoral to the core. If drug use results in damage to one's relationships, then hold people accountable for their actions. But instead we say that Heroin somehow is more damaging than alcohol? Marijuana is a gateway to personal destruction (except for when our presidents smoke it [1][2])? I guess Colorado is doomed then :).
Now enter Ross Ulbricht the dread pirate roberts. He isn't a very nice person. No one running a drug cartel really is a nice person. But he isn't a Zetas Cartel kingpin proudly displaying the heads of his enemies. He is a programmer who saw an opportunity to use emerging technology to enrich himself without regard to the current egregious law. He believed that he could stay hidden thanks to the nature of Tor and Bitcoin. He also believed that a decentralized marketplace could reduce the violence associated with the drug trade (which is fair considering that violence comes from the prohibition not the other way around).
And the fruits of his labors were a modest marketplace that was the safest and lowest violence drug exchange in the world. It also allowed suppliers to directly sell to consumers cutting out the middleman who usually end up being pretty evil. Compared to the Golden Triangle, a relatively small amount of funds changed hands and consumers got their substances. The vast majority didn't go crazy and grab chainsaws for some Tony Montana action. The vast majority didn't destroy their families and social networks. The vast majority are still living their lives amongst us going to work, church or vacations. Somehow the social fabric™ the government must protect hasn't been torn.
Yet Ross now gets to spend the rest of his life in prison as a living symbol of the war on drugs. He has effectively become its Nelson Mandela. The Silk Road won't go away. Those who are knowledgeable about cryptography and the nature of the internet will cite technology like Openbazaar and other such systems as the bittorrent moment of online drug trade. Ross's imprisonment will send no message contrary to what the prosecutor suggests, it just increases the stakes for anonymity and the amount of potential profit from the trade.
The countermeasures will inevitably be a war on cryptography (I should trademark that one) and internet anonymity. To protect the social fabric™, the United States must rob us of our privacy and autonomy. We must accept that all packets need to be inspected. Secrets are illegal. And no doubt massive government budgets must be increased. Think of your children!
I'm really done with this madness. We supposedly have a republic and have the right to change things. At this moment, I'd like to divide the bitcoin space into two groups. Those that complain about the injustice of Ross's sentence and those that do something about it. I'm going to do something about it. My company is going to build some great tools to preserve personal privacy (that thing we have a constitutional right to) and make sure they are open source and well distributed.
I'm also going to ask everyone in this space to be in the second bucket. Do something about this injustice. Think about the software you could write. Organize meetups and spread the word. We didn't like our money or the banks so we made new money. Is in inconceivable that we can make a new society with a social fabric that's actually worth protecting?
Funny you say this, I am an Ethereum developer (with large crowdfunding campaign experience), and Lyn and I have made contact (thanks to her post on #steemit) to open up a discussion around the development of an Ethereum smart-contract (100% completely transparent) crowdfunding campaign, to raise funds which would 100% go towards helping fight this important, landmark, U.S legal case, with the aim of reducing Ross' sentence (at the least) or, for a complete re-trial.
I believe, we could potentially raise millions in doing so for the sole purpose of contributing to the @rossulbricht legal defense team.
Please, spread the word, and follow me @darknet to keep updated!
p.s - you can see @rossulbricht interest in my suggestion under my recent replies here, or her original post here, in the comments section.
Excellent Idea. I spoke to Lyn last year and was close to launching a freeross Counterparty token. The timing wasn't right, so I decided not to do so. I would be excited to see some sort of token based fund raiser. Specially with a smart contract.
How many people realise they can support Ross' legal defence by transferring their Steemit balance to @rossulbricht ?
Not enough. But yes, this is another great use case for #steemit!
Here is a donation button for @rossulbricht
A full crowdfunding campaign will help bring awareness to this, as well as offer allow another form of contribution, in the form of Ethereum (being the 2nd largest market cap, such a campaign could be wildly successful).
Also, via the use of a smart-contract, we can even implement voting mechanisms as to how the money raised should be used (if @rossulbricht would like to do it that way).
I will keep everybody updated.
In deed fantastic write up! Thank you for sharing this with us, all for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Re Ross Ulbricht: Since you don't know him, I don't see how you can say he isn't a nice person. There are 100 letters by people who DO know him personally saying the opposite, and in fact point to many acts of compassion and kindness: https://freeross.org/100-letters-text/?v=7516fd43adaa
I also don't understand how creating and running a voluntary website is equivalent to "running a drug cartel." And of course, since Ross didn't have a fair trial you actually do not know the extent of his participation.
Also, Ross is not, and never has been, a programmer. And your depiction of his motivation is inaccurate.
Great article. Instead of imprisoning so many people for drug use we should be placing them in treatment programs where they can get the serious help they need.
There is so much data that shows this is the right approach in every single jurisdiction it has been tried in. The war on drugs is a big business in America and I firmly believe it only exists to keep hundreds of thousands of people employed and funded.
Precisely, 100%, correct.
Thanks for reposting, Charles. Powerful piece.
Followed. Upvoted. Shared.
Good article thank you for sharing!
Everyone, please lets not forget that Ross was smeared prior to trial with accusations of "murder for hire." These "accusations" were never brought up in court, but were government tactics to deny him bail and to also be able to set a life sentence for truly non-violent crime.
I understand Lyn taking offense to the article saying he isn't a nice person. Ross, the individual, the son, the human being, and man are probably just as nice as anyone else. DPR not so much. Even if the market place created and allowed for a better place and less crime (violent or otherwise), it still cannot be justified as a "nice" place, let alone legal, moral or ethical. "I just sell the bombs that kill people" is the same as saying I offer a market place where people can become drug users and potential drug addicts, while making a small profit.
There are no winners, only losers here. There are no cleans hands here, only the winners who get to write the "history of tomorrow today." Even if the evidence was procured during the perpetration of a crime and sullied, in this game with no morals, ethics or even basic human rights, the winners, the powers that be, will sink you and send you to the bottom depths of a political abyss never to return.
FREE ROSS or at least give him a truly fair trial, and let ALL THE TRUTH playout this time. From "no real murder plot" to how DEA agents committed crimes while investigating Ross' "crimes." I equate this to when 2 accused of murder start to blame and accuse the other. Both place themselves at the scene of the crime, both blame the other, and yet "NO ONE DID IT?"
It seems more than likely these murder for hire plots were the creation of, and hatched by the feds, to be used as entrapment, poker chips and levers. Didn't the feds admit to faking one of the murders, taking bloody-ketchup'd head shot photos and all? And Ross is somehow the bad guy here??
I find this in poor taste. You don't know Ross, or what his ACTUAL contribution was to the Silk Road, so to say "He isn't a very nice person. No one running a drug cartel really is a nice person." is incorrect, as we don't know his extent of involvement in this scenario. If you had a great concern for this case, you would follow along and see that that careless statement is actually quite damaging to public perception, which is (IMO) critical to his appeal. I find it just as abhorrent as the governments characterization of him, and while this is posted after he has already been convicted and is therefor dated, if there was an actual care for him and representing him fairly and compassionately, that part should be removed. Seems like a quick way to make a high paying post pontificating on the state of the drug war in the guise of sympathy, but not actually being sympathetic or thoughtful to how this influences a travesty of justice I personally have never seen. The comments on the drug war, fine, fair, whatever. But again, to post about Ross and try to analyze his character and motivations is cheap and borderline profiting off his loss (ahem 2180.00 and counting for this post while Ross rots in jail).
Also, based on the points that this was a harm reduction tool, can you really say he "isn't a very nice person"? Arguably, he is a hero and far nicer than the warlords of the drug war. As someone who has met Ross close to a dozen times, this is offensive. Ross is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met, and imo, is a hero. Politics of the drug war aside, this is just plain careless posting.
Perhaps it is, so what? He has the right to post whatever he wants and you can flag, as other people to and so on.
This is an anarcho-capitalist market place of text, who said that truth has to prevail?
A solution would be to donate the profit of this post to the appeal fund :)
I agree tatiana, its clear that, this is an attempt to profit off ross's misfortune. And is written in very bad taste..
Thanks, it's really sickening, and so are his excuses trying to weasel out of it. "I tried to help Ron Paul and it was cold outside!" Whoopee. Charles is not taking any responsibility for his own mischaracterizations of Ross and inaccuracies in what he's written. It's ridiculous, and factually incorrect, and timed right after Lyn made her post just to scoop up some Steemit on an obviously popular topic for self gain and not to actually shed truth onto a complicated situation or help Ross in any way.
My opinion comes from the facts presented at the trial and my readings in the media. Ross chose to work in a field that is dangerous, invites harmful characters and requires extralegal enforcement of agreements. Whether you like Ross or not, you have to concede that running criminal enterprises doesn't exactly reward being nice.
For example, if someone steals from you, then who do you call? How do you address blackmail or threats? You can't call the police, there are no contracts or courts to fall back on. You have to embrace violence or threats. This is why black markets are so harmful to society. When the government creates them, they are forcing that sector to embrace violence and antisocial behavior.
Ross's contribution was organizing a marketplace to reduce the harmful side effects of black markets. He was harshly punished by the state for it. The purpose of this article is to point out the hypocrisy of this act.
Are you going to donate the profits of this post to his appeal (you know, since you think he was so harshly punished)? You are misinformed on this trial, and Ross was NEVER able to present a proper defense. We DO NOT know his involvement, and it seems you are only presenting the government's position on this. IF you actually followed the case closely, as you should have since you make this a public post in sympathy and solidarity with Lyn, Ross, and the rest of the victims of the drug war, you would know that your statements are based on only the government's accusations (that you supposedly condemn). I think the right thing to do in the interest of justice would be to donate this post's profits to the Ulbricht family.
I think you are allowing your personal feelings for Ross to cloud your objectivity. In his plea for lenancy, he admitted his involvement in running the silk road.
Yes I have deep concerns about the case from the corruption of the agents to the parallel construction of evidence from the FBI/NSA. It's simply put a miscarrage of justice at the highest level.
This said, I take umbrage to your assertation that this article is an act of profiteering off of Ross's misfortune. It's a commentary of the hypocrisy of the state.
As for the free Ross fund, I have a great deal of empathy for Lyn and the movement, but I think it's ultimately going to be unsuccessful. Ross's case was too political and is too damaging to the state for them to reverse course. You need a presidential pardon.
You are uninformed in your assessment of his "involvement", and I again maintain that your ignorance is negligent at best. He has never said he was in charge of the silk road during it's entire time, he said he created it and that's it. This wasn't explored at any point during the trial. Your excuse that you shouldn't donate because he needs a presidential pardon from the very state that you supposedly rally against is disingenuous and very convenient for you to keep the money. You can always put it in his commissary, or to help fund Lyn's efforts to free him. You know, it's not cheap to fly around the world trying to raise awareness (for that presidential pardon you recommend to happen, people need to know about it) so even if your donation doesn't go to the appeal, surely you must agree that her expenses could use some help being covered?
Tatiana, I am not going to be bullied into giving my money to other people. Only the IRS gets to do that.
I think ross has been victimized. And his trial seems to be unfair IMO.
Great post Charles. Upvoting and adding you to my follow list.
My take on it: illegal thoughtcrime for your consideration.
The drug trade's annual money size is estimated at $300 billion. Can you imagine how many "important people" and "pillars of society" would go into instant bankruptcy if drugs were de-criminalized with a 10-hour warning? Here's your insurmountable obstacle... that ain't going away any time soon! (Footnote: the various impacts of criminalization will continue to grow exponentially. That's the 'concrete evidence' the system demands in order to keep things unchanged and find reasons to top up already existing tactics and weapons).
very cool @charleshosk
you should check out Borderless Technology! http://www.borderless.tech/
interesting!
Make sure that your software is released under the GPL at some point.
Even if it's not right away, make sure that after initial profits are made, that the software becomes licensed under the GPL.
Today GPL is not very good, one should use AGPL as much as possible.
We like MIT more, but always open source.
Why do you like MIT more?
The GPL is "weaponized", in such a way that a person cannot use code from a GPL program without making their own program GPL.
This allows more code to become open source. People cannot take without giving back.
Because I like giving people the freedom to do what they want with the software. GPL carries a copyleft and it bundles a particular philosophy. I'm a bit more libertarian. It also allows for profit firms that want to extend the software for their own products to collaborate on the main codebase.
This is a really old fight since the days of Stallman.
Hmm, I do see your side of it.
I'm rather neutral, with only a light favoring towards the GPL. I suppose that you need to do what works for you. Software should be fun to write. It's wizardry.
Not a political tool. Or at least it shouldn't be.
That's precisely why most of my code (including piston, python-graphene and python-steem) are MIT licensed.
Here's a nice presentation to watch on the topic:
Cannot support Ross. He is a criminal and now wants to hide behind "the unfairness against the crypto-world". He paid for contracted murders! Yes, I know it did not happen, but the intent was there.
No, you are also wrong and making sh-t up. I find it really ridiculous for people to make these statements based on NOTHING except government slander. IF he tried to do anything, then why has he not been charged? Clearly they are interested in throwing the book at him, so why not actually charge him w this? Oh wait, maybe because it never happened? Or maybe because the agents that accused him of this are now in jail for corruption. They had access to the digital evidence used in court. Use of digital evidence sets a very dangerous precedent as it is easily manipulated. Since they are def felons that were stealing from the site, how can you possibly stand behind evidence that they had unfettered access to? They could literally take the chat logs and change anything in them at their own discretion. Please read the appeal and more information that is out there. Use some judgement and facts before making these types of statements.
Ross was never charged at trial or convicted of paying for contracted murders. Just because the government claims it, without actually charging it, and you read it in the media, doesn't make it true.
Ok, how about we get Lyn to be on the Tatiana show and broadcast it live embedded in a steemit article? All the funds could be donated to free ross? It seems like a lot of misconceptions need to be cleared up and it would be a nice media event?
I already have plans to do that, as I am quite involved in helping with the efforts to free ross (we have an upcoming Ross-a-thon with several prominent community members on October 2). However, you don't address the fact that you propagate the misconceptions about this case or the more important suggestion that you donate what you made w this post to help Ross. Instead you deflect and start bringing up the IRS is a bully as if that has anything to do with the clear fact that you are profiting off of Ross's misfortunes.
And the misfortunes of all the other drug war victims for that matter. There are many great organizations that are fighting the state to reform these sickening laws and sentences that destroy families and communities every day. How about helping them out? Or is this all lip service?
Tatiana, you don't get the right to tell me how to spend my money. You are attempting to socially bully me into admitting someone who ran a drug marketplace is a nice person and then donate money to an organization I haven't done any due diligence on.
Your indignation isn't going to change my mind nor are your claims that this article is self-serving. I am expressing my opinion on the hypocrisy of the state. I invest my own money and my company's money in building software to change the paradigm. I don't give money to other people to do this. I do it myself with my own labor. Don't accuse a person you know very little about of paying lip service to a cause. I spent months running around fighting for Ron Paul in some of the coldest months just to try to end the drug war.
good work
This is great Charles!!
No, it is not. This clown is taking cheap shots at someone who is obviously a political prisoner. Read @tatianamoroz posts above.
I also called him the Nelson Mandela of the war on drugs. I guess reading comprehension isn't your strong skill?
Reading comprehension happens to be a strong skill of mine. Writing less so. Even though, I've written a response to your post at https://steemit.com/philosophy/@notes/response-to-charles-hoskinson-s-thoughts-on-ross
Somehow your reference to another individual that spent decades in jail didn't manage to balance the pro-government prosecution lies you repeated with the following, 'He isn't a very nice person. No one running a drug cartel really is a nice person.' But I guess an ad hominem attack should be expected from the kind of person that writes such a shitty article to profit from the miserable situation of a genuinely decent human being like Ross Ulbricht.
awesome!!
Unbelievably well written!!!
... but still almost $3000 bucks for your well written coming from the heart speech?
Down Voting - for over payment!
What a great article of yours @charleshosk . Keep it up! So cool. I Upvote and follow you 😊 , more articles of yours that I can read 😊
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
Finally, a donation button for @rossulbricht [please do not upvote] by @darknet
Response to Charles Hoskinson's Thoughts on Ross by @notes
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