sorry about the rant I hope this is informative.

There is an interesting story brewing on the illegal side of the fence, I know this is off topic but somewhat this area will be increasingly relevant to discussions about legality and regulation.

In October 2013 the FBI took offline the original Silkroad online marketplace, and charged Ross William Ulbricht (allegedly known as Dread Pirate Roberts on Silkroad)with conspiracy drug charges and for conspiracy to commit murder (after he allegedly attemptted to contract a murder-for-hire from an undercover agent). Marketplaces, like the Silkroad use the TOR network and Bitcoin to facilitate anonymous online trade in drugs and other illegal items. They are like the Hydra in that every time one goes down, two pop up in their place. This story it is turning into a sorry saga that it quite fascinating to watch unfold.

In the last couple of days the Sheep marketplace has abruptly shut down after allegedly the owners of the site colluded with a number of prominent vendors to drain all the money sitting in their users’ accounts; then simply flick the off and switch walk away rich. First the Sheep admins cited technical problems with their Bitcoin software, and disabling withdraws, and posting a notice saying that after a phoney timer runs out you can have one withdraw of a minimum of 1 Btc (Currently around $1000NZD) once a day, thus luring in more money into the trap. At the same time a number of vendors based in the Czech Republic made a vast array of cut price listings, all with the condition that the sales would be out of the site’s escrow system, meaning that that the vendors would get the money immediately. Later a story emerged about it all starting with hacker gaining access through a hole in the notoriously insecure code and taking $5million USD, although in the world of anonymous online chat rooms, it can be hard to separate facts from PR or fantasy. It has been estimated that the Sheep admins have made off with around $44 million USD, and there have been some large sums shifted on the Blockchain (this is the public register of Bitcoin transactions).

Sheep makes me think of being fleeced, or of wolves in clothing, a new site looks the same Pandora (I wont link it) seems to imply that there will be trouble in store for those who use it. These sites are very popular, and there must be enormous temptation to simply take the money once it looks like enough to live very comfortably for a very long time if you can get away with it. This is hot on the heels of another site closing about a month ago, Project Black Flag, a site that attempted to replicate look and feel of the recently busted Silkroad, right down to being lead by Metta Dread Pirate Roberts, the marketplace opened and closed again in the space of a few weeks.

A couple of the remaining market place sites are ambitious to remain small and in the background or are attempting to appeal with particular take on liberal philosophy or technical approach to the problems of security, and I can see that these sites are only going to get more sophisticated, not only in terms of how they solve their technical problems but also in how they present themselves, as popular criminals they have a potential to become folk heroes, although it remains to be seen if the online trade in drugs reduces the violence of the trade, as the user on the forums often claim, what with the now six conspiracy to commit murder charges that Ulbricht is facing, and now the repeated calls on the forums for the heads of Sheep admins and high profile vendors.

I tried 25i nbome a couple of times earlier this year. Actually it is not a bad time at a lower dose, elevated mood, slight acid style visuals and notably increased appreciation for music. At a higher dose the visuals become much more intense, but without the feeling of profundity that i appreciate about LSD. The feeling is more agitated and comes with lots of sweating and raised blood pressure. I don't think I would take it again.

I bought it on the Silk Road and it was delivered to my mailbox. Big news this morning is that this site has been shut down by the FBI and the lead admin arrested.

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/02/silk-road-ends-feds-arrest.html

Personally I don't think this is great news for drug safety as I found Silk Road vendors to be on the whole to be more honest and to have higher quality products than what you would find on the street, and like the legal highs market was democratic in that there was no need to know a dealer, although the process of buying was tricky enough, (tor, bitcoin, ecryption) and time delayed so perhaps kept it somewhat exclusive.

I will miss this service.