Bitcoin: Nicht mehr nur für Träumer, Nerds und Spekulanten

Bitcoin: Nicht mehr nur für Träumer, Nerds und Spekulanten

In den letzten Wochen hat sich die Sicht auf die Kryptowährung stark verändert: Von Voodoo oder Hackerlatein spricht kaum noch jemand.

„Bitcoin: Aussichtsreich, gefährlich oder was?“ fragte Vera Bunse auf diesen Seiten im Mai 2011, als die virtuelle Währung in den deutschen Medien erstmals Schlagzeilen machte. Sie zitierte Torsten Kleinz, der damals einer aufkeimenden Euphorie mit Nachdruck widersprach. Er schrieb unter anderem:

„Leute, die ernsthaft Bitcoins als Wertanlage in Betracht ziehen, sind Spekulanten unterster Klasse, die auf Nicht-Leistung und Voodoo Gewinne aufbauen wollen.“

Wie nachvollziehbar diese Sicht in jener Zeit auch gewesen sein mag: Spätestens mit den jüngsten Entwicklungen in der Eurokrise hat sie viel von ihrer Gültigkeit verloren.

Sicherer Hafen?

Als im März dieses Jahres die Euro-Gruppe eine Sonderabgabe auf zypriotische Guthaben beschloss und dem Land eine Reihe von Bankfeiertagen verordnet wurden, gab das der  Nachfrage nach Bitcoins ungeahnten Auftrieb.  Wie Paul Ford von Businessweek berichtete, nahmen beispielsweise aus Spanien die Google-Suchen nach Bitcoin und die Downloads für Bitcoin-Apps sprunghaft zu. Der Kurs der Währung, der Anfang Januar noch 13 Dollar betragen hatte, stieg in kürzester Zeit auf 78 Dollar und leitete weltweit einen wahren Kaufrausch ein. In Kanada bot ein Mann sein Haus für 5362 Bitcoins zum Verkauf. Beobachter sprachen schon von der Währung als dem letzten sicheren Hafen der Weltwirtschaft.
Seitdem hat der Bitcoin-Kurs ein zum Teil atemberaubendes Auf und Ab vollzogen. Innerhalb eines Tages etwa fiel er um 60% von einem Rekordhoch von 265 Dollar auf 100 Dollar. Nach wenigen Stunden stand er wieder bei 200, nur um dann erneut auf 125 zurückzufallen, wieder auf 180 anzuziehen, erneut auf 140 zu sinken, und so fort (Zerohedge).
Einige Finanzakteure profitierten in besonderer Weise von dem Hype. Die Medien berichteten von einem ersten Bitcoin-Hedge-Fonds, der in Malta im Oktober vergangenen Jahres von der Firma Exante Ltd. gegründet worden war und nun im Zuge der jüngsten Entwicklungen einen rasanten Aufschwung nahm. Exante ist ein Unternehmen mit 60 Angestellten, das seit März 2011 besteht und Büros in Malta, Singapur und Russland unterhält (Jon Matonis).
Der Fonds selbst, der in Bermuda registriert ist, hat mit dem Geld vermögender Anleger laut New York Times 82.000 Bitcoins gekauft, die am 11. April diesen Jahres etwa 10 Millionen Dollar wert waren. Die Financial Times zitiert einen der Partner damit, dass Exante pro Tag 20 Anrufe erhalte, in denen jeweils bis zu 100 Millionen Dollar eine Anlage in Bitcoin suchten. Träfe das zu, dürfte der Satz, dass in Bitcoin eher „viele kleine Beträge von breit gestreuten Anlegergruppen“ (Stefan Mey) gehandelt werden, bald der Vergangenheit angehören.

Wie funktioniert es?

Bitcoin wird per Computer erzeugt. Alle Aktionen, die damit zusammenhängen, finden verschlüsselt statt, weswegen sie manchmal auch als Kryptowährung bezeichnet wird (besonders gut erklärt wird das von Kai Biermann von ZEIT ONLINE).
Bitcoin wird in einem weltweiten dezentralen Netzwerk gehandelt, das weitgehende Anonymität bietet. Die Software erzeugt für jeden Nutzer eine 34-stellige Zeichenkombination, die als öffentlicher Schlüssel und Adresse für Überweisungen dient. Dazu gehört ein zweiter, privater Schlüssel, den nur der Nutzer kennt und mit dem er sich gegenüber dem Netzwerk ausweist. Wie man konkret Bitcoin erwerben und damit einkaufen kann, hat Matt Baxter-Reynolds anschaulich beschrieben.
Irrtümlicherweise wird Bitcoin manchmal als „künstliche Währung“ bezeichnet, um sie von anderen Währungen abzugrenzen. Das ist insofern missverständlich, als jede Währung, sei es eine Kauri-Muschel, ein Stück Gold oder ein Euro, künstlich in dem Sinne ist, dass sie durch gesellschaftliche Konvention entsteht. Menschen vereinbaren, diesen speziellen Gegenstand – oder bei Bankeinlagen und -überweisungen diese „virtuelle“ Buchung – als Tauschmedium zu verwenden und zu akzeptieren. In dem Moment, in dem eine Währung von einer anderen als offizielles Zahlungsmittel abgelöst wird, wie es beispielsweise mit der Einführung des Euro geschah, verliert sie ihren Geldcharakter.
Wie Bitcoin entsteht, ist für den Laien kaum nachvollziehbar. Um Izabella Kaminska von der Financial Times zu zitieren:

“Unless you are a computer geek, an MIT grad or an algorithmic genius, it’s unlikely you will ever really understand.”

Daher sei zu diesem Punkt nur kurz auf die an anderer Stelle aufgelistete Literatur verwiesen und stattdessen gefragt, was von dieser neuen Währung zu halten ist.

Gefahren

Der schnelle Anstieg des Bitcoin-Kurses beflügelt die Phantasie von Anlegern und Beobachtern und lässt Gerüchte sprießen. Sorgen bereitet dabei vor allem das Thema Sicherheit. Gerade kürzlich wurde wieder ein Hacker-Angriff auf die Bitcoin-Börse Mt.Gox gemeldet. Das japanische Unternehmen ist die wichtigste Handelsplattform für Bitcoins und wickelt nach eigenen Angaben etwa 80 Prozent des weltweiten Handels ab. Pro Tag werden dort derzeit rund 20 000 neue Accounts angelegt (Henning Steier).
Vorkommnisse gibt es immer wieder. Bei Wikipedia findet sich eine ganze Liste von Bitcoin-Verlusten, Diebstählen, Hacks und Betrugsfällen.
Erst jüngst haben Hacker Rechner von ahnungslosen Nutzern gekapert und dort Schadsoftware installiert, mit der Bitcoins produziert werden können. Als Einfallstor war der Internet-Telefondienst Skype genutzt worden. Mark Ward von der BBC  berichtet von einem der größten BotNets, ZeroAccess, das mit Millionen infizierter PCs die Erzeugung von Bitcoins kontrolliert und damit und mit ähnlich illegalen Aktivitäten hohe Gewinne macht.
Henning Steier schreibt zu dem Thema Sicherheit in der Neuen Zürcher Zeitung:

“Im September 2012 gab es einen Hackerangriff auf den Händler Bitfloor, bei dem 24’000 Bitcoins im Gegenwert von knapp 250’000 Dollar erbeutet wurden. Zwar kann man über Dienste wie BlockExplorer jede Transaktion im Netzwerk und damit auch den Account des Diebes einsehen. In einem dezentralisierten, anonymisierten Netzwerk gibt es aber keine Möglichkeit, das gestohlene Geld zurückzubekommen.”

Die größte Gefahr liegt allerdings woanders. Jeder Benutzer hat eine digitale „Brieftasche“, in der seine Bitcoins, sei es in einer Cloud oder auf einem Computer, einem Smartphone oder USB-Stick gespeichert sind. Die Brieftasche enthält eine Liste mit Bitcoin-Adressen und die dazugehörigen privaten und öffentlichen Schlüssel, die beweisen, dass der Halter die betreffenden Bitcoins besitzt und berechtigt ist, sie auszugeben. Wird der Computer gehackt oder geht das Smartphone verloren, ohne dass ein Backup gemacht wurde, ist das Geld weg.

Mythen

„Gold für Computernerds“ wird Bitcoin manchmal genannt. Um die Währung ranken sich zahlreiche Mythen. Der Prozess der Bitcoin-Herstellung ist eine rechnerische Herausforderung und hat ein starkes spielerisches Element. Von ihrem Schöpfer ist nur der Name bekannt: Satoshi Nakamoto. Ob sich dahinter ein Mann, eine Frau oder eine ganze Gruppe verbirgt, weiß niemand.
Die Bitcoin-Gemeinde hat ihre eigene Sprache: Bitcoin-Schöpfer sind Miner (Bergleute), Bitcoins werden gefördert (mined), und die Dateien, in denen sie gespeichert werden, werden Wallets (Brieftaschen) genannt.
Bitcoin hat bei vielen Beobachtern einen schlechten Ruf. Die Währung gilt als „Anarcho“-Geld. Mit ihr lassen sich politische Sanktionen, Währungsbeschränkungen und Regulierungen umgehen. Die Anonymität verführt zu Kriminalität jeder Art. So schreibt Thomas Fischermann auf ZEIT ONLINE über den Silk Road Anonymous Marketplace, einen Internetshop, in dem nur mit Bitcoins bezahlt werden kann:

»4 Gramm im Zimmer gezogenes Marihuana, großartige Qualität« wird da angeboten. Lieferbar aus der Schweiz, mit ganz normaler Post verschickt. »1Fläschchen sauberer Urin zur Umgehung eines Drogentests«, sofort verfügbar zum weltweiten Versand von einem Anbieter namens vicious86. Es gibt Cannabis, Ecstasy und Schnüffelware. Waffen (»umgebauter Colt M16«), Sportartikel (»1 Paar Surferflossen«), Nahrungsmittel (»125-Gramm-Brezel« von HazednConfused aus Hannover) und das Dienstleistungsangebot eines MrDdroMcGillacutty aus den USA: »Schaffen Sie Ruhe in Ihrem Leben. Wir kidnappen den Hund Ihres Nachbarn.«

Selten wird in den Medien erwähnt, wie viele seriöse Akteure schon Zahlungen in Bitcoin vornehmen und akzeptieren. Als Beispiel wird gern die Webseite Reddit angeführt, die Blog-Plattform WordPress oder der Anbieter Pizzaforcoins.com, der Zahlungen für Lieferungen in Bitcoin akzeptiert. Aber, wie Max Raskin von Businessweek schreibt, akzeptieren mittlerweile Kaufleute weltweit Bitcoins, von einer Bäckerei in San Francisco bis zu einem Zahnarzt in Finnland. Und die Liste wächst – auch in Deutschland.

Ist Bitcoin überhaupt Geld?

Im Internet gibt es zur Zeit eine heftige Diskussion darüber, ob Bitcoin überhaupt Geld ist. Dabei stehen zwei Argumente im Vordergrund. Das eine bezieht sich auf eine fehlende Deckung. Im Gegensatz zu herkömmlichen Währungen steht hinter diesem virtuellen Konstrukt nichts Einlösbares, wie etwa im Goldstandard, und auch kein nationales Vermögen, das, wie beispielsweise jetzt in der Eurokrise, im Falle eines Scheiterns oder Zusammenbruchs herangezogen werden kann. (Hier sei beispielhaft auf Artikel von Izabella Kaminska und Lord Keynes verwiesen.)
Das zweite Argument zielt auf das begrenzte Angebot an Bitcoins, das über kurz oder lang in eine Deflation führen muss. Bitcoins sind nicht beliebig vermehrbar, sondern wachsen mit einer mathematisch vorgebenenen abnehmenden Rate bis zu einem maximalen Betrag von 21 Millionen. Damit ist, wie  Felix Salmon von Reuters in einem vielbeachteten Beitrag argumentiert, in dem Erfolg der Währung schon ihr Untergang angelegt:
Eine zunehmende Verwendung von Bitcoins führt bei sehr langsam wachsendem und schließlich konstantem Angebot an Geld dazu, dass eine Bitcoin immer mehr wert wird. Das Ergebnis ist folgenreich. Felix Salmon nennt ein Beispiel. Angenommen, ein Goldbarren kostet 600 000 Dollar. Bei einem Kurs von 60 Dollar pro Bitcoin wäre der Barren 10 000 Dollar wert. Steigt der Wert einer Bitcoin aber erst auf 600, dann auf 6 000, und weiter auf 60 000 Dollar, fällt der Preis des Barrens in Bitcoin fortlaufend, zunächst auf 1 000 Dollar, dann auf 100 und weiter auf 10 Dollar.
An der Frage, was in diesem extremen Beispiel einer Deflation geschehen würde, scheiden sich die Geister. Einige sagen voraus, dass bei ständig sinkenden Preisen der Anreiz zu sparen groß ist. Niemand, so das Argument, gibt Geld für etwas aus, von dem er weiß, dass es im nächsten Moment noch billiger werden wird. Niemand stellt zum Beispiel Leute ein und bezahlt sie. Massive Arbeitslosigkeit wäre die Folge, und die Wirtschaft käme zum Erliegen.
Jon Matoni und andere Bitcoin-Anhänger sehen in einer Deflation  dagegen Vorteile. Wenn die Preise fallen, so lautet ihr Argument, wenn Geld mehr wert wird und mehr gespart wird, nehmen die Investitionen zu und es wird mehr produziert. Das Ergebnis wäre eine wachsende Wirtschaft, die nicht von Inflationsängsten gelähmt und in den schnellen Konsum getrieben wird. Produktion und Investitionen, sind es, die den Wohlstand mehren, nicht Inflation und Konsum.
Wie so oft in der Ökonomie hängt die Entscheidung für die eine oder andere Sichtweise, wie an anderer Stelle betont,  von den Annahmen ab, unter denen argumentiert wird. In einer hochentwickelten Wirtschaft mit weitgehend gesättigter Nachfrage mögen fallende Preise eher zu abwartender Haltung und einer Verschiebung von Ausgabenentscheidungen führen. In einer weniger entwickelten Wirtschaft, in einer Rezession oder unter den Lasten einer anhaltenden Austeritätspolitik mag die Ausgabenneigung bei sinkenden Preisen eher zu- als abnehmen, um Grundbedürfnisse zu befriedigen und lang Verschmerztes aufzuholen.
Die Frage stellt sich, wie ernst die angebliche Begrenzung des Bitcoin-Angebots zu nehmen ist. Timothy B. Lee beispielsweise hält sie, wie er in seinem Artikel zu „Bitcoin’s Collusion Problem“ ausführt, nicht für glaubwürdig. Es stimmt schon, dass das mathematische Verfahren zur Bitcoin-Erzeugung vorgegeben ist. Das schließt aber im Grundsatz nicht aus, dass sich die Gemeinschaft der Bitcoin-Hersteller darauf einigt, es zu ändern, oder Nachahmer von außen ein Verfahren entwickeln, das Wachstum zulässt. Schon jetzt gibt es eine Reihe von Alternativen, die nach Ansicht von Beobachtern Bitcoin Konkurrenz machen könnten.

Fazit

Mit den jüngsten Entwicklungen in Europa hat Bitcoin eine Art Feuertaufe bestanden. Zu den Spekulanten, Nerds und Träumern von einer besseren Welt haben sich all jene gesellt, die  im Zuge der Eurokrise um den Wert ihrer Vermögen und Anlagen fürchten und sich vor willkürlichen und unerwarteten staatlichen Eingriffen in die Anonymität retten. Hinzugekommen sind aber auch erste institutionelle Anleger, die der neuen Währung mit steigenden Preisen wachsende Aufmerksamkeit schenken.
Die treibende Kraft hinter dem Erfolg scheint ihren Ursprung jedoch immer noch anderswo zu haben. Wie die große Zahl der regionalen und lokalen Währungen weltweit zeigt, die nach der Online-Datenbank complementarycurrency.org derzeit bei 249 liegt (107 davon in Europa), ist mit zunehmender Krisenanfälligkeit von Banken und Finanzmärkten und einer immer deutlicheren Unfähigkeit von Regierungen und Aufsichtsbehörden, an diesem Zustand etwas zu ändern, die Sehnsucht nach einer anderen Art von Geldwirtschaft über alle Kultur- und Ländergrenzen hinweg groß. Bitcoin ist nur eine Variante davon.
Die Währung steckt, wie auch die jüngsten Turbulenzen zeigen, noch in den Kinderschuhen. Noch ist sie technisch mit erheblichen – und mit wachsender Nutzerzahl sogar noch zunehmenden – Herausforderungen verbunden, und für Anleger und Spekulanten ist sie hochriskant. Es ist nicht auszuschließen, dass Bitcoin den derzeitigen Hype nicht überlebt. Doch selbst dann ist damit, wie der Autor David Meyer zutreffend betont, ein Zeichen gesetzt. Eine Welt ohne virtuelle Währung wird es nach diesem Experiment, wie immer es ausgehen mag, nicht mehr geben.

Dr. Beate Reszat bloggt auf reszatonline

Under attack again !

 UPDATE (04/30/2013 0035 UTC): We have come a long way in the battle, but still do not have the upper hand.  It's looking more and more like a restructuring of the tor software or even the tor network will be required to mitigate the kind of attack we are under.  If this can be solved by modifying the tor client software running the silk road .onion, then it will be a matter of patching and redeploying the hidden service.  If it is a network issue, it will require the cooperation of the Tor developers, or running a new network of nodes.  I haven't given up hope for a faster solution, but if one can not be found, then we will move to a semi private scheme where users will be given access through many private URLs.  I'll keep everyone updated on how we will move forward, but please be prepared for a few more days at the least of no access.


 UPDATE (04/29/2013 0715 UTC): Just want to let you all know I'm still here and we're still doing battle behind the scenes to get the forums and main site running again. It is incredibly discouraging to have everything we've worked so hard for taken down by some anonymous and malevolent person, but your kind words of encouragement do wonders for our moral. We are on the cutting edge of anonymity technology here. The attacks being used against us MUST be overcome if Silk Road and any anonymous public sites are to have a future. Thank you again for your patience with all of this, and pray that we make it through stronger than we started.

We are being attacked once more. This time the forums are under attack as well. Access is intermittent, so hopefully some of you can read this. We are doing everything possible to overcome this latest attack. Please be patient while we find a solution.
Adress requires TOR:
http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=153045.0

Needfull things .... Untraceable Phone - Anti Tapping

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Untraceable Phone, Samsung G600 , Stealth phone version 3.1 (2012 updated).

The new version untraceable cell phone is made to protect calls against control via a provider or via different complexes that intercept GSM.

The phone has the following functions:

- Function change IMEI
- Function A5 tracer
-NEW! Anti geolocation function

-Sms encryption software

- Function delete memory

On the screen of the device there is a lock icon that shows whether the encryption on or off is and also which algorithm the provider of the connection uses.

Function change IMEI Function Change IMEI is intended to protect calls against control via the provider of the connection. In some cases, this function can also protect you against different kinds of complexes, which can be active and passive.

If your phone is controlled the following structures are used:

1. Your phone number (it is not broadcasted, but the provider does know it)

2. IMSI – the unique name of the SIM

3. IMEI – the unique name of the phone.

If you change the IMEI and the SIM all the identification structures which you can be controlled with, will be changed. So that the provider does not know who he should control. If you change only the SIM or only the IMEI it will not have any result and you will still be controllable like you have not changed anything. If you are being controlled using a complex, the simultaneous change of the IMEI and the SIM will temporary stop control. Because all the identification structures, which are recorded in the selection list of the complex, were changed, the complex has to make extra efforts to get your new identification structures. In addition, often the complex cannot directly see that it has no control over your phone anymore. It is better not just to turn off the device, but to remove the battery from the working device so that the complex cannot register that the phone was switched off. Active complexes may not work correctly, so they can be detected by additional features. For example, a test of the device with only changing of IMEI on one of the most functional and popular active complexes has shown that when the phone comes to the area which is covered by the complex, the phone seems to work normally, also the level of a signal is shown, but it is impossible to call from this phone, also the incoming calls cannot be received.

Function A5 tracer

This function is intended to protect the phone user against control over his conversations via active complexes which intercept GSM. Active complex is an equipment which emits basis stations and makes phones work not via real basis stations but via this equipment – a false basis station. A real basis station sees a false basis station as a regular phone.

A false basis station can:

1. Turn off the encryption

2.Reduce the level of the encryption3.

Do not change the level of the encryption. There are no other means, except the ours, which can identify such stations. A complex which does not disable the encryption can be normally detected by an icon with an open lock that appears on the display, but such icon is not available in all devices. New devices from Nokia and Samsung do not have such icon, they are designed in this way so that the user could not see that he is being overheard. The most common complexes of today are the complexes which reduce the level of the encryption. They do it continuously or during the calculation of the session key, after that the encryption of the complex becomes the same as the encryption of the provider. Active complex which does not reduce a level of the encryption has a built-in processing mechanism

A5.1. Function
Formerly, half active complexes were popular, they turned the encryption of the controlled phone off. Our device detects any active or half active complex with 100% certainty. Regardless of a price and a producer.

How does Active complex work:
To a building where a person which has to be overheard is being can come a car, an equipment can also be installed in the building. A normal phone works so that it chooses automatically a basis station with a strongest signal. The false station becomes this strongest basis station for a controlled phone. The phone sees it as a real basis station and begins to work with it. A provider of the false station gets full control over your phone. He can not only listen to your calls and read your text - massages, he can also manage your phone. The capabilities of such complex to manage your phone depend on perfection of the complex. There are complexes which can turn on a microphone of the controlled phone at a distance.

TMSI

The "Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity" (TMSI) is the identity that is most commonly sent between the mobile and the network. TMSI is randomly assigned by the VLR to every mobile in the area, the moment it is switched on. The number is local to a location area, and so it has to be updated each time the mobile moves to a new geographical area.

The network can also change the TMSI of the mobile at any time. And it normally does so, in order to avoid the subscriber from being identified, and tracked by eavesdroppers on the radio interface. This makes it difficult to trace which mobile is which, except briefly, when the mobile is just switched on, or when the data in the mobile becomes invalid for one reason or another. At that point, the global "international mobile subscriber identity" (IMSI) must be sent to the network. This is a unique number that is associated with all GSM and UMTS network mobile phone users. The number is stored in the SIM card. The IMSI is sent as rarely as possible, to avoid it being identified and tracked.

A key use of the TMSI is in paging a mobile. "Paging" is the one-to-one communication between the mobile and the base station. The most important use of broadcast information is to set up channels for "paging". Every cellular system has a broadcast mechanism to distribute such information to a plurality of mobiles.

A5.0	The icon shows that coding is disconnected. It can be, in a case if the operator basically does not use signal coding, or at present there is no activity of phone.
A5.1	The icon shows that the operator has included coding А5.1. Coding joins only, when the device communicates with base station, for example conversation, sending SMS, an exit in the internet etc.

Function of change IMEI

Function of change IMEI is intended for protection of conversations against the control through a communication statement. In certain cases this function protects and from various types of complexes, active and passive.
When your phone put on the control identifiers are for this purpose used:

1. Your phone number (on air it is not transferred, but the operator knows it)
2. IMSI — unique name SIM
3. IMEI — unique name of phone

If you change IMEI and SIM which have bought anonymously or on other person, that all identifiers on which you can supervise vary. Therefore the operator does not know, whom it is necessary to put on the control.

If you have changed only SIM or only have changed IMEI is will give nothing, and you will continue to supervise, as though you changed nothing.

If you supervise interception complexes simultaneous change IMEI and SIM will allow you to leave for a while from the control. As all your identifiers have exchanged, which are put into the list of selection of a complex, and to the operator of such complex it is necessary to make additional efforts what to receive your new identifiers. Besides, the operator of a complex it is far not at once can understand that has lost the control over your phone. It will be better, if you switch off not regularly the device, and will take out the battery from working phone that the operator of a complex would not see phone deenergizing.
Active complexes of interception can work not correctly that can bring additional signs its detection.
For example, device testing only with function of change IMEI, on one of the most functional and the widespread, active complexes has shown that when phone gets to an operative range a complex outwardly he behaves usually, signal level in particular is visible. But to call from phone not probably and as on it do not take place entering calls.
For this purpose, what to make options of function IMEI, enter in Menu — Settings — Phone settings — Extra — enter the password — IMEI

The menu of function of change IMEI of phone has 4 points:

Random always: In this mode IMEI of phone varies at each inquiry the operator. The inquiry can be during time inclusions of phone, sending SMS, a call or work in GPRS. IMEI phone will always vary, when it is requested by the operator. This mode is not recommended for constant use. If You do not change SIM, and IMEI varies constantly, those who supervises your phone will pay attention to it. They will see that you for each new call use new phone, and it looks suspiciously.

Random on first request: In this mode IMEI of phone varies only once after device inclusion. Further on all inquiries IMEI the operator, phone will give out in a network this IMEI. At new device IMEI inclusion again will change, and will remain to constants before new inclusion the device. This mode is recommended for constant use.

User define: In this mode IMEI of phone the user sets. For this purpose it is necessary to go down joistik downwards and in a window custom IMEI and to bring any IMEI manually.

Stay original: In this mode IMEI of phone always remains original. If in any of windows of menu IMEI joistik to go down downwards that the window where it will be possible to enter the name the operator which opens to be displayed on phone screen.

Function A5 tracer

Function is intended for protection of the user of phone against the control of its conversations through active Complexes of interception GSM.
The active complex of interception this equipment which emulates base station and forces phones to work not through the present base station, and through this equipment — false base station. The present base station considers false base station as usual phones.
The false base station can

1. To switch off coding.
2. To lower coding level.
3. Not to change coding level.

Any other means, except our device to find out such complexes not probably.
The complex which absolutely switches off coding, can be found out, as a rule, only that on phone screen there is a badge — opened lock. But this badge is not in all devices. In new devices Nokia or Samsung it is not present, it is made specially, that the user would not see that to it listen through such complexes of interception.
The most widespread now are complexes of interception which lower coding level, or is constant, or for the period of calculation of a session key then coding becomes such, what it was at the operator.
Active complex which does not lower coding level, built in output agent А5.1 has. Function A5 tracer is not intended for detection of such complexes. For this purpose in the device there is function channels, about it will be told more low.
Earlier semiactive complexes which disconnected coding for supervised phone have been extended.

Our device from 100 % probability will find out ANY ACTIVE or semiactive complex. It is not dependent on its cost, and firm of the manufacturer.

As the active complex works:
To a building in which there is a person whom wish to listen, the car, or the equipment can approach is established in the building. Phone works so that automatically chooses base station, at which strongest signal. For controllable phone such strongest base station appears — false base station. Phone accepts it for present and starts To work with it. The operator of a complex receives a complete control over your phone. He can not only To listen to your conversations and to read SMS, but also to operate your phone. Complex possibilities On management of your phone depend on that, how much it is perfect.
There are complexes which can remote include phone microphone.
For this purpose, what to make options of function A5 tracer, enter in Menu — Settings — Phone settings — Extra — enter password — A5 tracer.


2 points of the menu open:

1. A5 profiles
2. A5 change alert

For work of function of protection against false base it is necessary to adjust profiles for each operator whom you Will use.

Any of points Empty is for this purpose chosen and pressed Options, and in the dropped out menu the second point — Create.

Phone some times will call on number 1111. During each call the device will inform base station that it supports only defined level of coding also looks that the base station will answer. Thus, phone finds out, what algorithms codings are supported by the given operator, and what algorithm of coding is included at the operator by default.

In menu A5 profiles there is a line with a name of the operator. If to choose this line, and then options — edit, the window where we see what algorithms of coding will open the operator supports, the line A5.1 support or A5.2 support becomes accessible. We can choose manually any algorithm, if both of them are supported by the operator.
Algorithm А5.1 is the steadiest against breaking. А5.2 weaker algorithm also is cracked in a mode of real time. The asterisk on the right says to one of lines that the given algorithm codings is included at the operator by default.
Such operation should be made for all operators of cellular communication whom you will use. For this purpose it is necessary to insert into device SIM of the necessary operator and to open for it the profile. Profiles it is necessar to do adjustment in a place where you are assured that be not in a zone of work of false base station, for example, when eat in the car.

Let's adjust signals with what phone will warn the owner about conversation listening through false base station. It is necessary to enter in A5 change alert and in the opened window to choose one from ways of the alarm system.

No alert — there is no signal
Message — In the conversation beginning, not on long, on phone screen there is a message «Attention»
Audio & Vibra — the sound signal is distributed and vibration
Audio — the sound signal is distributed
Vibra — joins vibration
HandOff — conversation automatically breaks.
As function A5 tracer works:
If you have got to an operative range of false base station and accept or make a call, accept either send SMS, or leave in the internet — phone will include the way of the alarm system chosen by you. Having warned you that your phone is in a zone of work of false base station, and to you listen. If you insert into device SIM of other operator phone will automatically choose necessary profile from the list before created profiles.

Usage instructions

Place a SIM card into the G600 handset and run the A5 Tracer from the hidden menu :settings>11 security settings> 0 extra (after 9)> password 1234 . This allows you to create a home network profile for the SIM card you are using and places the network in an unbreakable A5-1 encryption. If the network characteristics change i.e. using a GSM interceptor or IMSI catcher, or any method to try and trick the SIM into changing to a breakable A5-2 encryption, the phone will detect this and alert the user via an alarm, vibration or display a screen message. No calls or SMS's can then be made.


The handset will also randomly change the IMEI on each call, or you may specify an IMEI. A good way to confirm the handset does indeed actually change the IMEI and not just give the appearance of a different IMEI is to assign a known blocked or stolen IMEI to the handset.




Settings

1. Insert any SIM card with a PIN2 and then go to Settings--->Security Settings-->and there you will see an Extra menu, after 9 you have 0 , extra menu. Enter your password code (1234 IS THE DEFAULT CODE) . For security purposes, if you insert a SIM card which does not use a PIN2 then the Extra menu will be hidden from view.




2. Go to A5 Tracer and assign the SIM card you will be using. Press A5 profiles and an empty list will appear. Press options-->Create and the handset will now automatically perform a series of random calls assigning your SIM network to one of the previously empty slots for encryption to A5-1.




3. Go to the IMEI menu where you can select if you wish to keep the handsets original IMEI, change the IMEI to a specific serial number, or choose to randomly change the IMEI on every call.




Please Note: We do not in any way endorse changing the IMEI, this is a feature integrated beyond our control therefore, we ensure by default that the IMEI will always remain original unless specifically changed by the customer. We provide the phone only for the functionality of being alerted to third party interception. We will not be held responsible for any misuse.




4. Go to A5 change alert menu and assign how you want to be alerted in the event of any 3rd party attempt to intercept your calls / SMS's.




You will also notice a small coloured padlock icon on the main display of the handset which will show red. When you make or receive calls and SMS's, the padlock will turn to green. If it stays red or changes to red, the handset is being intercepted in which case you will be notified by your pre-selected alert notification and your calls will not connect and SMS's will not be sent. If you see a yellow padlock it means the SIM network is not secured, for example China do not permit the use of encryption within their networks.

You can buy them here:  http://www.anti-interception.com/index.html#axzz1kabxSDwk

Statement about recent events

Statement about recent events . This is the original message from DPR: "As most of you are aware, Silk Road has been under a denial of service (DoS) attack for the last few days with the site being virtually inaccessible for about 36 hours. This was the most sophisticated attack we've seen in the history of the site by far. I want to thank my team, and several volunteers from the community who quickly came to my aid and provided excellent support. You know who you are :) Ironically, I would also like to thank the attacker. "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" couldn't be more true here. We were forced to rethink our entire security system and configuration and are substantially more robust and hardened for having gone through this. I have zero respect for the attacker's tactics, but I have huge respect for his intellect, giving me confidence that we can and will overcome any future technology-based attacks on Silk Road.

I want to mark this victory as a milestone in the ongoing story of our market by doing two things. One, we'll be having a sale effective immediately until midnight (UTC) on the 27th. All items on the site are commission free. I encourage any vendors who wish to join me in this to mark down their listings as much as they can.

I am also publishing a document that is very important to me, the Silk Road Charter. It has been a work in progress for a very long time, and I am at last ready to share it with all of you. It has guided many incredibly difficult decisions I've had to make along the way and will continue to do so hopefully for years to come. Hopefully many of you can identify with and find inspiration in it." Here's the link:

silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/charter

Your faithful servant,
Dread Pirate Roberts

(forum link reqires TOR: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=152345.0 )

Silk Road: A Vicious Blow to the War on Drugs

Silk Road: A Vicious Blow to the War on Drugs

High-tech software and a new digital currency bring the black market (and high quality heroin) to your home

 

Should we win the fight, a new era will be born. Even if we lose, the genie is out of the bottle and they are fighting a losing War already.
—Silk Road
I’m sitting here staring at an envelope that showed up in the mail. Even though it’s from a totally bizarre return address, I know exactly what’s inside: a quarter gram of East Coast powder heroin. I know what’s in the envelope because I ordered it from a heroin dealer on the internet using Silk Road, the infamous “anonymous marketplace.”
I’m definitely not the only person who pulled an envelope with “hard” drugs out of my mailbox like it’s a letter from my grandma. Ever since NPR and Gawker gave Silk Road some unwanted media attention, new users have flooded the site. But it’s not just media-sweetheart drugs like LSD and pot that people are buying. That shit’s easy to get unless you’re underage. Silk Road is a truly free market. That means people are buying and selling everything from weapons to meth to smack and they’re doing it fairly easily.
Hackers, anarchists, and criminals have been dreaming about these days since forever. Where you can turn on your computer, browse the web anonymously, make an untraceable cash-like transaction, and have a product in your hands, regardless of what any government or authority decides. We’re at a new point in history, where complicated, highly-technical systems have become freely available and pretty easy to use. But before you can join in on the party, you gotta understand what makes all of this possible. Welcome to Tor (a network for anonymous web browsing), Bitcoin (a new cash-like digital currency with anonymous properties), and strong encryption.
Tracking Us Through The System
Tracing people through electronic networks has been embedded on the minds of all TV and movie viewers since at least the ‘80s:
Clever criminal: “You know you’ll never find the bomb … you stupid fucking pig!”
One FBI agent to another: “Keep him on the line! We’ve almost got a trace!”
The criminal hangs up abruptly.
FBI Agent: “Damn it! We didn’t get the trace!”
Since the beginning of computer “crime,” hackers have gone through many elaborate steps to hide where they’re connecting from. This generally meant routing your connection through so many computers that it’d be very hard and time-consuming to find where you are actually coming from. Over the years, non-criminals decided they needed a way to hide their traffic from “Big Brother” type governments, even for day-to-day internet browsing. Today, there is a pre-packaged and simple way to route our internet traffic in a fairly anonymous way: the Tor Project.
Tor, short for “the onion router,” is a network of volunteer-ran computer systems (nodes) that accept internet traffic and send it to other nodes. After going through a few nodes, your internet data gets spit out onto the internet, to its destination, by an exit node.
In order to make sure that your internet traffic is anonymous while traveling through the Tor network, data is encrypted in layers.
A good analogy, one that the Tor project uses, is an onion. Let’s say that I’m connecting to Facebook, and I don’t want Facebook to know where I’m connecting from. I’d load up Tor (you can find it at www.torproject.org) and connect to Facebook using the Tor browser. What happens under the hood is basically this: my internet traffic would be encrypted several times, in layers like an onion. Then my data would get sent into the Tor network. Each node that got my traffic would decrypt one layer, peeling off one layer of the onion, and send it to the next node. This would happen a few more times until all the layers of the onion were peeled and the original message was left. At that point an “exit” node would send it onto the regular internet to Facebook.
All Facebook would see is a connection coming from some random computer. Further searching might show that my connection came through the Tor network, but little else.
Don’t think this means that Tor automatically makes you totally anonymous. Internet traffic exits the Tor network the same way it goes in, so if you’re not encrypting your traffic yourself, and especially if you’re including personal information about yourself (like logging into your Facebook account), it would be easy to figure out that you connected through the Tor network. Also, if an attacker controls or monitors both the Tor entry and exit nodes, it would be possible to link your traffic to you.
If something like Silk Road was just a regular website, where you could connect to it normally through a bone-headed internet connection, it would be easy for the government (or anyone else) to track down the server, confiscate it, throw everyone involved in prison, and throw away the key. One Tor feature that makes locating servers difficult, making Silk Road even possible, is hidden services.
Using Tor, anyone can create a website (or any other web service) on their computer and allow people to connect to it using the Tor network through an .onion URL. (Example: the Silk Road forums’ URL is http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion) These addresses look like a jumble of letters and numbers, because they’re generated using cryptography, not for readability or memorability. The Tor software understands this .onion address and will connect you, anonymously through the Tor network, to this hidden server without leaving the network. Finding where the server is located can be extremely difficult. And trust me. They’re trying.
Silk Road is a Tor hidden service and can be found at the address silkroadvb5piz3r.onion, but only through Tor. If you put that into your normal web browser, it will just shoot you back an error, telling you it can’t find what you’re looking for.
There are a lot of useful Tor hidden services, a major one being Tor mail, an anonymous decentralized e-mail provider. You can find it at jhiwjjlqpyawmpjx.onion.
But Tor alone isn’t enough to make a site like Silk Road secure, or even remotely safe. Payment, shipment, and government eavesdroppers are still a problem. This is where Bitcoin and public-key encryption come in.
Leaderless Currency
Bitcoin is the first successful decentralized digital currency that we’ve ever seen. The idea of digital cash has been around for almost as long as the internet, but every form relied on some company or authority to regulate and control things. According to the creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, this has been the root of all previous digital currencies’ failures.
In order to get around what Nakamoto called “trusted third-parties,” Bitcoin uses a peer-to-peer network of computer systems that work together to automatically control transactions and the currency. Anyone who wants to use Bitcoins can connect to the network and be a part of it. Tasks that the U.S. Mint and the Federal Reserve would normally do with the dollar are spread out across the huge network of users. Decentralization is what makes this different from any other currency.
There is no central authority. Monetary policy is controlled by the majority. No single group or person can force the network to do anything or follow any rules.
“Satoshi Nakamoto” posted the first version of Bitcoin onto a cryptography mailing list in January 2009. Nobody on the list knew who he was.
Most people agree that Satoshi is a fake name. He e-mailed other Bitcoin developers using an anonymous mailing service and gave out zero personal information about himself. After a few years, Nakamoto stopped working on the project and people who’d been there since the beginning took over.
A lot of articles go into depth about who Nakamoto might have been. But what’s the point? It’s not like he invented Bitcoin from nothing. The technical document, bitcoin.pdf, references and builds on some other related projects and ideas. The closest is B-Money, written by crypto-thinker / computer programmer Wei Dei in 1998. In the article, Dei describes a theoretical system for people to send and receive money in anonymous and untraceable ways. Even though there were problems with the technical side of B-Money, the philosophy behind it is similar to what’s behind Bitcoin. Wei Dei wrote:
“In a crypto-anarchy the government is not temporarily destroyed but permanently forbidden and permanently unnecessary. It’s a community where the threat of violence is impotent because violence is impossible, and violence is impossible because its participants cannot be linked to their true names or physical locations.”
In that way, it makes sense that whoever created Bitcoin didn’t want their real name(s) linked in real life. It would be too easy to attack (or corrupt) the world’s first popular decentralized currency if there was a spokesman or leader. Cut off the head, kill the body.

“So what the hell is Bitcoin?”
There’s a lot of bullshit going around about what Bitcoin is. Some people are calling it a “Ponzi scheme.” Another popular myth is that it’s a scam because the people who were involved in the beginning (back when a Bitcoin was worth less than a penny) now control millions of dollars worth. That sounds exactly like every successful business deal ever made to me. The developers and supporters make it clear that this is experimental and that it’s an extremely high-risk investment. They only hope that people will find it useful.
For every skeptic, there’s someone calling Bitcoin the beginning of a revolution where the U.S. Mint, Federal Reserve, Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal are challenged and eventually made obsolete.
Enough opinion. Let’s get down to what makes this new and exciting. The next bit will be a little technical, but I’ve tried to break it down into small, simplified sections that should be easy enough to understand.
Bitcoin is made up of two main parts: a system for non-reversible spending and a way to prevent “double spending.”
With cash, as a seller, you don’t have to worry about someone not having the money. It’s right there. Straight cash. But with credit, payment is handled by companies like Visa and PayPal, who transfer money from one person’s account to the other’s. Up until Bitcoin, using one of these companies has been the way to do business, especially since most online transactions happen between total strangers and the chance of getting burned is high.
In a perfect world, all these companies do is take money from A and give it to B and try to make sure that a product gets from B to A.
But since they’re forced to settle problems between buyers and sellers, the processors require us to hand over all kinds of personal information. Their services aren’t cheap, either. Credit companies take flat fees and percentages from every transaction processed. They also have total control over what types of transactions or products are allowed.
Like cash, Bitcoin lets its users make non-reversible payments to anywhere in the world. To understand how this can be done digitally, you need to understand “public-key cryptography.”
There are two parts to public key encryption: a public key and a private key. You can think about a key like you would one that goes into a doorknob. One key, the public one, can lock a private door, but not unlock it. With the private key, you’d be able to unlock the door that was locked by the public key and take whatever was in the room. In public-key cryptography the process works in one direction. So you wouldn’t be able to unlock the private door with the public key once it was locked.
The keys are generated in pairs. The public key is created from the private key. Standard encryption goes like this: a message is encrypted with a public key and decrypted with a private key.
Let’s say that someone wants to send me an encrypted message that only I can read. First, I would use a program like GnuPG (this is a free public-key encryption program, based on the “OpenPGP standard”) to generate my public and private encryption keys. Then I’d give the sender my public key. I’d hide my private key somewhere secret where only I could get to it. The sender would take my public key and use it to encrypt a message. Only someone with my private key would be able to decrypt that message.
“Signing” a message is a similar, but almost-reverse process. With my private key, I can run a set of mathematical operations on a digested version of my message (called a “hash”). This would create a digital signature, which I would attach to the end of the message that I am signing. Anyone who wanted to see if I’d written the message, or if it’d been changed since they got it, would create their own hash of it, and then use my public key to decrypt the signature, revealing my version of the hash. If both are the same, it means that whoever signed the message had my public key and that the message hasn’t been changed since its signing.
Bitcoin uses this as the base for transactions.
So, let’s say that I have 10 Bitcoins and I want to send them to Bob. Let’s also say that I got them from Liz. I would create digital a message that basically says: “I will pay Bob 10 Bitcoins I got from Liz.” I will take my private key and sign the message. To prove that I sent the Bitcoins, anyone could use my public key to prove that I signed the message. In other words, proving that I spent my 10 Bitcoins to Bob.
Your digital “wallet” is basically your private key. So, whoever has your private key controls your wallet and can spend your Bitcoins.
But if there’s no middleman like Visa or PayPal, I could easily sign the transaction above and then sign another transaction that says: “I will pay Matt 10 Bitcoins I got from Liz.” Matt and Bob wouldn’t know that I spent my Bitcoins twice. This is what was known as the “double spend.”
The Bitcoin P2P Network
The real innovation about Bitcoin is its relatively simple method for eliminating double spending and powerful “trusted” third parties: the peer-to-peer network.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) networking is something that almost everyone has used by now. BitTorrent is probably the most popular use for this type of network. When you download a torrent, all you’re doing is loading a link to a few computers who share the same goal as you (downloading a file). The hope is that those users will link you to some others who link you to others. All of them will send you small parts of the file you want until you have the whole thing. If another computer pops up on the network that needs a piece of the file that you have, you can send it. Unlike Napster, chopping the head off of one or even one hundred of those systems will do almost nothing to stop you from downloading the file, as long as there are enough computers left connecting to each other and that they are physically spread apart. (Like in different countries with different laws.)
Bitcoin takes this idea and makes the file that everyone is sharing the Bitcoin ledger, or the history of all transactions. This makes private organizations like banks and credit companies unnecessary. In Bitcoin, everyone is the bank.
In the above examples I used “Bob” and other generic names to make a point about Bitcoin transactions. But really, no names are used. Instead, money is transferred between cryptographic aliases, which are based on someone’s Bitcoin wallet (private key). These aliases are known as addresses. The above “Bob” example, would actually look more like this in the ledger: “29ac41a will pay 0ab55af 10 Bitcoins I got from ffab7ab,” with the random numbers being Bitcoin addresses.
Unless you accidentally let people know which address is yours, it is possible to make fairly anonymous transactions.
But sharing the ledger using a peer-to-peer network, and using that ledger to believe a transaction, means that the ledger must be trusted. And that goes against the foundation of Bitcoin, which basically says trust nothing and demand proof of everything. This is known as the “proof-of-work” system.
Instead of the Bitcoin network just sharing random transactions and trusting all of them, the computers in the network are doing something called “mining.” The process of mining is complicated, and a little outside of what I want to be talking about, but it basically comes down to a few things. Transactions are sent out over the network and are collected by other people’s systems that are set up for mining. The mining systems (“miners”) group up the transactions into “blocks.”
Every block has a reference to the block before it, so they build what’s called a “block chain.”
The miners take these blocks and run sets of intensely mathematical operations on them until they find a specific result. This result is agreed upon by the network based on how much time (and processing power, a.k.a. work) it takes to find, averaging to once every ten minutes. Right now (Dec. 2011), the estimated number of tries it would take to find the answer to the next block takes somewhere around 4.68 quadrillion computations.
While it’s extremely difficult to find the correct answer to the next block, it only takes a second to check and make sure that it’s the correct answer. As the blocks build on each other, transactions in blocks deeper down are more trusted than ones in brand new blocks. (Because more “work” has been done on top of that block.)
The block chain is what is being shared on the Bitcoin P2P network. Anyone who receives a transaction can check back through the block chain to make sure that those Bitcoins haven’t already been spent. If they have, then the transaction is rejected and it shouldn’t end up in the block chain. Otherwise, miners will continue to spread that transaction to other miners who’ll include it in the block they’re working on.
There’s a 50 Bitcoin bonus (or “bounty”) given to the person who finds the correct result to, or mines, the next block. Every four years or so, the amount of Bitcoins awarded to a miner gets cut in half, meaning that the total number of Bitcoins will max out at 21 million, sometime in 2140. This was chosen to make the supply of Bitcoins more like that of people crawling into caves digging up gold or silver. It also gets rid of the need for a mint.
In order to run the Bitcoin software (you can find it at bitcoin.org) you have to be connected to the internet. Theoretically, someone might be able to trace your IP address to some sort of Bitcoin activity, so a lot of people configure their Bitcoin client to run through Tor. Luckily, the official Bitcoin software makes connecting through Tor as easy as one click.

Getting Bitcoin
There are a ton of places to buy Bitcoins online. Most of them accept bank account transfers, checks, prepaid debit gift cards, money orders, and even cash. Credit companies and other online payment processors like PayPal have been “unfriendly” to Bitcoin-related companies (suspending accounts, freezing money), so it’s not quite as easy as swiping that plastic, yet.
Even though within the block chain, transactions are only made between random-seeming addresses, it’s not that hard for an investigator to trace a Bitcoin purchase to a person. Bitcoin was never intended to be used to launder money, to totally hide the fact that someone ever bought them, or to keep secret how many they have. It was just meant to make the transactions not directly linked to names; the rest is up to us.
The easiest and quickest way to buy Bitcoins is to transfer money from your bank account to an exchange company, who will buy Bitcoins for you at market price plus a small fee. But a lot of the payment methods, especially a bank transfer, leave an ugly paper trail leading right back to you.
“Tumbling” is a way for people to mix up the trail of transactions by swapping their Bitcoins with each other. There are a few ways to do this, but a popular way is to send your Bitcoins to what’s called an e-wallet, which is basically an address and wallet stored on a website somewhere. Assuming the site operator isn’t a scammer, and that a hacker doesn’t steal all the wallets stored on the site while your Bitcoins are there (these things have happened in the past), you can send your Bitcoins to an e-wallet and then to another address that you create. (The Bitcoin software also makes this as easy as a click. The official recommendation is to create a new address for every transaction.) Doing this a few times, through different sites or exchanges, can make tracing where your Bitcoins went or came from harder.
I bought Bitcoins using a popular exchange service called GetBitcoin. They have accounts at Chase Bank and Bank of America, and you can make an anonymous cash deposit into their account to pay for your Bitcoins. This is how I got them. No ID required.
Teller: “GetBitcoin, LLC? What kind of company is that?”
Customer: “It’s an internet thing. I just need a receipt, please!”
I took a photo of my receipt, and e-mailed it to GetBitcoin using an anonymous address I created using Tor mail. Within a day, I had Bitcoins in my wallet. Besides getting me on Chase Bank’s security camera making a cash deposit, there was no trail proving that I ever bought Bitcoins. I got rid of the receipt, and securely deleted the picture of it.
For the hell of it, I transferred my Bitcoins to a couple e-wallet services and then back to a newly created address. I was happy with the number of steps I’d taken to hide the tiny trail that might have existed, and I figured it was time to spend my Bitcoins on Silk Road.
Cruising Silk Road and Buying Smack
Visiting Silk Road for the first time is strange. The first thing you see is an extremely minimalistic login box and a message warning you to double check the URL. I guess there are a ton of people out there setting up fake Silk Road sites that steal your password.
I took a page from Philip K. Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and turned it into a ridiculously long and complicated password. Then I was in. Silk Road is a culture shock compared to modern websites. It’s rugged. Nothing but green text and photos of products: pharmaceuticals, psychedelics, weed, and every illegal powder you could dream of.
Even though the extreme majority of products sold on Silk Road are drugs, you can get anything from e-books on “anarchy” type topics, to GPS tracking devices, to downloads of popular porn sites. There are even Silk Road T-shirts going for about thirty bucks.
Almost everything on Silk Road is a little overpriced. The site administrators take a cut of the sales and since the Bitcoin fluctuates in value so quickly, dealers often add a small percentage to try and compensate.
It’s easy to get the picture that Silk Road is some kind of a free-for-all where you’re constantly one step away from getting your digital cash stolen by scammers and your identity revealed to the cops. But really, Silk Road makes buying shit that can get you thrown in a prison cell for a decade or so, incredibly smooth and simple.
Drugs are divided by type: “opioids,” “stimulants,” “marijuana,” etc. Individual listings are sorted by top-selling items. You can see the username of the seller and their rating: a 0 – 100 scale, based on the seller’s past customer reviews. There is also a Silk Road forum (a separate Tor hidden service) where Silk Road users get together and talk. Vendor ratings can also be found on here.
For each group of drugs, there are a couple veteran sellers who are basically Silk Road drug dealing professionals. These people ship quick, package carefully, sell at fair prices, and have generally awesome reviews.
The guy who I bought heroin from was one of these people, and is basically the go-to guy for the stuff. He had a ton of reviews. One guy was excited enough to write: “Just pulled the needle out of my arm and all I can say is ‘ahhhhhhhhhh.’ This dope is among the best and cleanest I’ve had. The shipping was fast as all hell too. This Silk Road heroin dealer is the real deal. Thanks a ton, bro!”
Buying anything on Silk Road is extremely easy. Once you have the Bitcoins, you send them to an address that is connected to your Silk Road account. (Silk Road tumbles your Bitcoins with other users’ as an added precaution, but that’s basically trading drug money for drug money.) Once the Bitcoins are transferred, you can buy a product just like you would on any site using the Silk Road shopping cart. Once you buy the product, Silk Road holds your money and asks you for your address.
Here’s how Silk Road escrow works: you buy a product using the site and Silk Road holds onto your Bitcoins; you enter the shipping address and it is sent to the seller, your order is now in “processing.” Once the seller ships the product they mark the order as “in transit.” (The seller has three days to do this, or else the order can be cancelled.) Once the package arrives, the seller marks the order as “finalized,” the Bitcoins are given to the seller, and the buyer can leave feedback and a 0-5 rating. Finalization cannot be undone and escrow is over. Some dealers demand that buyers with less than five or so transactions finalize before shipment, but not all do. If there’s a problem between buyer and seller, the Silk Road administrators will help resolve it. A common result is 50% refund to the buyer if the seller reships 50% of the product.
In my and a lot of other people’s opinions, sending the address is the sketchiest part of the whole deal (for the buyer, at least). You have to trust that your dealer isn’t a cop, and that your address isn’t going to get leaked out. Most vendors put their public encryption key on their information pages and urge you to encrypt your address before sending it to them. On the same page, sellers usually go into some detail about their operation, some precautions to take, and how good their packaging methods are.
One respected seller warned users to never check a tracking number using Tor. According to this particular seller, postal companies watch for connections from the Tor network and confiscate the tracked packages. Silk Road has a few suggestions of their own for receiving products. Never ship directly to where the package will end up. Ship to a real name, or a very similar looking name, so the mail actually gets delivered by the mailman. And never sign for a package.
The precautions are there to make the mail blend in and the transaction go smoothly, with as little interference from authorities as possible. As far as I can tell, it works. A regular looking envelope showed up in the mail three days after ordering. The return address was for some nerdy shop on the East Coast. Imagine what kind of a mind-blow it would be for the owner of a shop that sells Pokémon shit to find out that their business is being printed as the return address for heroin filled envelopes.
There was a hilarious post on the Silk Road forums by two people arguing about some kind of a botched deal. One guy said he got ripped off (someone finalized their order on accident, from what I can tell) and was threatening another, more respected, user IN ALL CAPS. He went on and on about how nobody disrespects him and how in real life he fucks up anyone who tries. People on the forum made fun of him and told him to shut the hell up. It showed how successful Silk Road really is. It makes drug buying and selling so smooth that it’s easy to forget what kinds of violent fuckers drug dealers can be.
That’s the whole point of Silk Road. It totally takes evil pieces of shit out of the drug equation. Whether they’re vicious drug dealers or bloodthirsty narcotics cops, both sides of that coin suck and end pretty much the same way. Death, despair, madness, prison, etc. Thanks to decentralization and powerful encryption, we’re able to operate in a digital world that is almost free from prohibition and the violence it causes.
Senators Joe Manchin and Charles Schumer declared war on Silk Road and Bitcoin in June this year. In a highly-publicized press conference, Schumer called Silk Road a “brazen attempt to peddle drugs online” and dumbed Bitcoin down into a high-tech money laundering tool. Anyone who agrees with them isn’t just cheapening what’s happening, but is missing the whole point.
This goes beyond people trying to get around laws and use the internet to commit crime. This goes beyond that nasty scar on the face of human history, the “war on drugs.” This is about real freedom. Freedom from violence, from arbitrary morals and law, from corrupt centralized authorities, and from centralization altogether. While Silk Road and Bitcoin may fade or be crushed by their enemies, we’ve seen what free, leaderless systems can do. You can only chop off so many heads.
This is the future.


 How to join the Silk Road Anonymous Marketplace ?

Here is a complete step by step guide on how to find Silk Road drugs on the anonymous marketplace that is called the Silk Road. I just want to make it clear again that this is only meant for educational purposes, I am only showing you how to get there and to be safe but I don’t recommend you buy or sell anything illegal, including drugs, as you can face criminal prosecution or harm your body. That being said, personally I still think that a lot of people want to check it out and there is nothing wrong with taking a look and there are also people out there who use drugs recreationally and are going to find it anyway so I will just try and show you a safer way to find them.
I have covered the reasoning to why I recommend certain tools and software in my previous articles so I won’t go into them in this post although I will have a link to them if you would like to know more about it. Please note that if looking for drugs then it is best to try to find the Silk Road through your computer, it is not advisable to do so from your tablet or phone as they are a lot less secure. If you would like to see a full list of tools to help you be safer then click here to go to my tools page or use the menu at the top of the screen.
How to get to The Silk Road:

1. Subscribe to a proxy service such as Proxify by clicking here. This will hide your IP address by giving it another one so you can be anonymous when searching for or downloading anything on the net such as movies or buying drugs that may be illegal or get you into trouble with your work or even the law.
2. Get a small USB/Flash drive to store your files on. This will ensure nothing is on your computer for people to find and get you in trouble and also prevent hackers stealing your Bitcoins. You can get one at many stores or online at Amazon.
3. When people Google  “Silkroad download” they are really looking for a browser called Tor. Download Tor here www.torproject.org/download/download. This is the only browser you can use to find the Silkroad anonymous marketplace.
4. Save the file onto your USB and open/extract the files.
5. Download a password manager program such as KeyChain or KeePass to securely keep track of your usernames, passwords and addresses as you will always want to make them different every time and completely anonymous so it can’t trace back to you. Store this on your USB drive.
6. Go to www.findmyip and it will show you your IP address and location. Note it down then close the browser and turn on your proxy service and then open the browser and go to that same website to check your IP again. It should be completely different. This step is useful for many other things you may do on the net other that look for Silk Road Drugs.
7. Close down all documents and other browsers so if someone is hacking you they cannot see.
8. For the people a little more paranoid, take a piece of non-transparent tape and cover your webcam lense. This will stop anyone seeing you if you are hacked by anyone including cops and hackers. More and more tech wise people are leaving them covered all of the time now.
9. Open your file explorer and go to your USB and open the Tor folder and click on “Start Tor browser”. It may take a little while to start up, after a minute or so the Tor browser will open up automatically.
10. Go to http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/  in the Tor browser. This is the Silkroad url. Entering this address into any other browser will not take you to the Silk Road .
11. Click on “click here to join” and enter in the details. Remember not to make your username or passphrase like anything you previously have so it cannot identify you. E.g. DO NOT PUT YOU EMAIL OR NAME. Record your user details in your Password management software.
12. Choose a country if you like. It is better not to so you are more anonymous but if you do select a country it helps when filtering results in the Silkroad marketplace.
13. Congratulations you are now looking in the Silk Road market and you will notice on your left had side there are many categories for all different types of drugs from cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, meth, acid, opiates and the list goes on!!!
14. If you want to buy anything then read my post below on Bitcoins and how to set it all up as you can only pay this way.

 If you decide to purchase anything from the Silkroad, including drugs, then I would suggest a couple of things to think of before hand to make it a little more secure.

1. Don’t buy anything from anyone on the Silkroad that doesn’t have any feedback. This is especially important when wanting to buy any drug as the reviews will most of the time be the best indicator of the quality of the drugs they are selling.
2. Use an escrow service like bitcrow for your transaction of bitcoins. They will hold the Bitcoins until you receive the goods in the post (everything is posted when buying from the Silkroad) and then you notify them you have received the good and they release the money. If you receive your order and then try to get your money back it will only result in everyone from your area getting black listed so don’t do it, and not to mention the person sending you your goods knows your address.  If the seller doesn’t want to use an escrow service then don’t deal with them.
3. I would only buy from someone in the same country. If you start to buy things from another country, especially illegal drugs such as Cocain, then there is a far greater chance of it not arriving due to many reasons such as quarantine, if illegal then may be intercepted by police etc. The last thing you want is to get into trouble.
4.  If you are one of those people that are going to buy drugs on the Silkroad then you should always be safe and test anything you buy with a test kit or something.

Always remember to be safe and secure when on the Silk Road and treat others how you would like to be treated, it will make for a much better marketplace.

More Information:
Silk Road Buyer´s Guide´s:
http://www.www.youtube.com/user/silkroadpromoter420
http://silkroaddrugs.org/
http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road
http://mainstreamlos.blogspot.de/
http://vimeo.com/channels/silkroadanonymousmarket
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/mainstreamlos
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/publications/TR-CMU-CyLab-12-018.pdf
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SilkRoadAnonymousMarketplace
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=215422721877319

 PGP Encryption Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

PGP Download: http://www.gpg4win.org/index.html

 How to use PGP Encryption:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SywCI91kfq0

Shopping on The Dark Web

Shopping on The Dark Web: Pure Drugs and Plastic Explosives

 

by Jake Hanrahan

Update: Since a few months "TheArmory"(weapon section of Silk Road) is closed.Now you just can buy only drugs on Silk Road. No more weapons.

 As the first Silk Road criminal conviction was brought about last week, I decided to see what kind of goods could really be bought and sold there. Here's what I found...

When storming through the Ethernet cable and into government servers to pilfer top secret documents, hacker groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec need a place to lay low after doing it “for teh lulz” in order to plan their next mission without being watched by the authorities. So where do they go when the work is done? The truth is it’s a place shared with arms dealers, terrorists and drug traffickers. Welcome to the world of the “Dark Web”, a secretive fold within the internet where you can buy automatic machineguns and kilos of cocaine using a currency that no government in the land can regulate, all via an ecommerce site known as “Silk Road”.
I’ve managed to access the Dark Web to see what can really be purchased on the notorious Silk Road website. Although Rupert Murdoch’s remaining newspapers have been hammering home the idea that it’s an Amazon for criminals, it’s actually more of an eBay for lunatics, gun enthusiasts, drug users, small time arms dealers and some very interesting people.
Getting in is not the easiest thing to do, but you don’t need to be anywhere near as tech savvy as the papers would have you believe. At school I spent IT lessons trying not to get caught playing Gold Miner and my final project was Microsoft’s Wikipedia page copy-and-pasted onto one PowerPoint slide – I managed to access Silk Road in about 15 minutes.

It’s actually more of an eBay for lunatics, gun enthusiasts, drug users, small time arms dealers and some very interesting people.

Firstly you have to download a program known as Tor (The onion router), which basically opens the gateway into this untraceable internet within the internet that is the Dark Web. The Tor client allows you to stay hidden in a virtual secret hideout by relaying its traffic through network upon network of servers situated all over the world. This apparently makes it almost impossible to trace the user’s true location and identity and was created specifically for this purpose. The irony of Tor is that the US Navy actually funded the project in its infancy, and now the FBI is trying to shut it down.
After finding the .onion Dark Web address for Silk Road, I typed it into the browser Tor opens once it’s been loaded and hit enter. At first you’re greeted with an almost blank webpage with a few boxes on it and a captcha. It’s quite straightforward though, I signed up as Cult Leader (as you do) and was instantly given access to Silk Road and all its illegal glory.

Silk Road Front Page – Click to enlarge

Aesthetically, Silk Road looks like something you could create using Notepad and a fairly vague knowledge of HTML, but in a way this adds to the intrigue of it – you can almost tell it’s been made in a darkened basement by geeks in ski-masks with switch screen monitors and knuckle duster belt buckles.
It doesn’t take long to see the appeal of Silk Road for so many of its users. You can literally buy everything from genuine British passports, crystal meth and C4 explosives to lock picks, 999 gold bullion bars and flick knives disguised as house keys – all without stepping foot outside onto the estate. Being a fully online service gives customers the reassurance that they’re not going to get bashed over the head and left with their pockets turned out upon purchase, which is most likely why Silk Road is so successful.

You can literally buy everything from genuine British passports, crystal meth and C4 explosives to lock picks, 999 gold bullion bars and flick knives disguised as house keys.

To start off my imaginary criminal shopping spree, I browsed Silk Road’s weapons site: “The Armoury”. Here vendors are selling mostly guns and ammunition, such as a Polish self-assemble AK47 machine gun for 207 Bitcoins, which is roughly $1000 in the current market (the value of Bitcoin fluctuates massively).

Fake New York City drivers license – Click to enlarge

But amongst the Glock 19 handguns and rounds of Luger ammunition was 6lbs of C4 plastic explosives for $104 from a guy who claims to be “pretty big in black marketing” in New Zealand. I messaged him asking if there was any way to obtain more than just 6lbs. The conversation is as follows:
Me: I was just wondering if there would ever be a possibility of buying C4 in bulk, as opposed to just 6lbs worth.
C4 salesman: Yeah sure, I have another buyer looking at 25lbs though, so it may take a bit longer for yours to arrive. How much do you need? I am willing to lower the price per pound on a larger purchase.
Something like 100 lbs, how long would that take? Is it genuine C4 though? Like proper explosives?
Shit that’s loads… you taking out China? I would suggest an a-bomb instead. No but that is a lot of C4! What the fuck are you trying to do? I won’t tell the cops or anything, I’d be put away for life. It’s genuine, at that much I’ll chuck in some free blasting caps and detonation cord.
Between me and you, I’m preparing for the zombie apocalypse. It’s coming bro… it’s coming.
I dunno if you’re serious, but either way, sure, go ahead and spend shitloads of money on C4. Also, the best way to take out zombies (in my opinion) is making a pool-like moat around your house filled with sludge: 1 part water, 1 part sugar and 1 part salt. It will destroy the flesh (optional). Also keep a machete, a crowbar, a handmade wooden shield or a hubcap, fly spray (they may carry disease, if that’s the cause of the zombies, and it is highly toxic/flammable stuff), matches, canned beans, a flare gun (optional), a parachute for escapes when you are cornered at a height, rotten meat as a distraction, and a cyanide pill because you don’t wanna die by being ripped apart. A cyanide pill is better (I can actually supply cyanide). I made the list myself, but I’m keeping it because it’s actually quite good. Bullets will just go through them, don’t even bother.

Buying C4 on Silk Road – Click to enlarge

After shooting the bull with the C4 salesman I browsed the rest of his goods which included blowpipe tranquiliser darts, 50ml of Chloroform, a Yugoslavian M59 assault rifle and even a guide on “How to Make Someone Feel Bad” with the description: “I count this under weaponry as it is an attack on the mind” – nice guy.
I then strolled back along Silk Road to the drugs section of the site which is generally considered the main attraction and seems to be the most lucrative for merchants by far. Here you can purchase pure Afghan heroin for $255 a gram, crystal cocaine flakes straight from South America and every kind of methamphetamine, hallucinogen and prescription drug you can imagine. All of which is sent through the post and via airmail to anywhere in the world.

“That is a lot of C4! What the fuck are you trying to do? I won’t tell the cops or anything, I’d be put away for life.”

Update: Since a few months "TheArmory"(weapon section of Silk Road) is closed.Now you just can buy drugs on Silk Road.No more weapons.

In a strange way Silk Road is actually doing drug users a good service, because out on the road where dealers will jab a needle in your neck for a bag of pennies or cut their pills with everything from crushed glass to rat poison, you can never really gauge someone’s drug dealing reputation. People are going to take drugs; nothing will ever prevent that, so having a site where they can actually see how good a dealer’s product is by ratings from previous customers, can mean the difference between dying from a dodgy pill and having a great high. And if the worst comes to the worst and the vendor somehow manages to turn on you, a computer virus is a lot less painful than a chest full of burning buckshot.
However, as helpful as it might be to customers, the ratings system is actually one of the most disturbing factors of Silk Road. Here you can see drug addicts rating their last purchase of heroin or Oxycontin or worse. Comments like “great hit, knocked me straight out!” and “this shit is so good I pissed myself after one bowl” are hard to read when only a link away from clean syringes and guides on how to chase the dragon.

Some of the drugs on sale – Click to enlarge

As much as the wannabe outlaw in me finds the idea of Silk Road quite exciting, the truth is the guns sold on this site could be used to kill innocent people, and the drugs could be reaching some kid in the suburbs who might not have known how to get hold of them had he not gained access to Silk Road. But it boils down to more than crack rocks, bullets and homemade LSD tabs, Silk Road is an inevitable 21^st century creation – guns, drugs and counterfeits are everywhere and for some reason people are shocked that they’re now on the internet as well.


 How to join the Silk Road Anonymous Marketplace ?

Here is a complete step by step guide on how to find Silk Road drugs on the anonymous marketplace that is called the Silk Road. I just want to make it clear again that this is only meant for educational purposes, I am only showing you how to get there and to be safe but I don’t recommend you buy or sell anything illegal, including drugs, as you can face criminal prosecution or harm your body. That being said, personally I still think that a lot of people want to check it out and there is nothing wrong with taking a look and there are also people out there who use drugs recreationally and are going to find it anyway so I will just try and show you a safer way to find them.
I have covered the reasoning to why I recommend certain tools and software in my previous articles so I won’t go into them in this post although I will have a link to them if you would like to know more about it. Please note that if looking for drugs then it is best to try to find the Silk Road through your computer, it is not advisable to do so from your tablet or phone as they are a lot less secure. If you would like to see a full list of tools to help you be safer then click here to go to my tools page or use the menu at the top of the screen.
How to get to The Silk Road:

1. Subscribe to a proxy service such as Proxify by clicking here. This will hide your IP address by giving it another one so you can be anonymous when searching for or downloading anything on the net such as movies or buying drugs that may be illegal or get you into trouble with your work or even the law.
2. Get a small USB/Flash drive to store your files on. This will ensure nothing is on your computer for people to find and get you in trouble and also prevent hackers stealing your Bitcoins. You can get one at many stores or online at Amazon.
3. When people Google  “Silkroad download” they are really looking for a browser called Tor. Download Tor here www.torproject.org/download/download. This is the only browser you can use to find the Silkroad anonymous marketplace.
4. Save the file onto your USB and open/extract the files.
5. Download a password manager program such as KeyChain or KeePass to securely keep track of your usernames, passwords and addresses as you will always want to make them different every time and completely anonymous so it can’t trace back to you. Store this on your USB drive.
6. Go to www.findmyip and it will show you your IP address and location. Note it down then close the browser and turn on your proxy service and then open the browser and go to that same website to check your IP again. It should be completely different. This step is useful for many other things you may do on the net other that look for Silk Road Drugs.
7. Close down all documents and other browsers so if someone is hacking you they cannot see.
8. For the people a little more paranoid, take a piece of non-transparent tape and cover your webcam lense. This will stop anyone seeing you if you are hacked by anyone including cops and hackers. More and more tech wise people are leaving them covered all of the time now.
9. Open your file explorer and go to your USB and open the Tor folder and click on “Start Tor browser”. It may take a little while to start up, after a minute or so the Tor browser will open up automatically.
10. Go to http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/  in the Tor browser. This is the Silkroad url. Entering this address into any other browser will not take you to the Silk Road .
11. Click on “click here to join” and enter in the details. Remember not to make your username or passphrase like anything you previously have so it cannot identify you. E.g. DO NOT PUT YOU EMAIL OR NAME. Record your user details in your Password management software.
12. Choose a country if you like. It is better not to so you are more anonymous but if you do select a country it helps when filtering results in the Silkroad marketplace.
13. Congratulations you are now looking in the Silk Road market and you will notice on your left had side there are many categories for all different types of drugs from cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, meth, acid, opiates and the list goes on!!!
14. If you want to buy anything then read my post below on Bitcoins and how to set it all up as you can only pay this way.

 If you decide to purchase anything from the Silkroad, including drugs, then I would suggest a couple of things to think of before hand to make it a little more secure.

1. Don’t buy anything from anyone on the Silkroad that doesn’t have any feedback. This is especially important when wanting to buy any drug as the reviews will most of the time be the best indicator of the quality of the drugs they are selling.
2. Use an escrow service like bitcrow for your transaction of bitcoins. They will hold the Bitcoins until you receive the goods in the post (everything is posted when buying from the Silkroad) and then you notify them you have received the good and they release the money. If you receive your order and then try to get your money back it will only result in everyone from your area getting black listed so don’t do it, and not to mention the person sending you your goods knows your address.  If the seller doesn’t want to use an escrow service then don’t deal with them.
3. I would only buy from someone in the same country. If you start to buy things from another country, especially illegal drugs such as Cocain, then there is a far greater chance of it not arriving due to many reasons such as quarantine, if illegal then may be intercepted by police etc. The last thing you want is to get into trouble.
4.  If you are one of those people that are going to buy drugs on the Silkroad then you should always be safe and test anything you buy with a test kit or something.

Always remember to be safe and secure when on the Silk Road and treat others how you would like to be treated, it will make for a much better marketplace.

More Information:
Silk Road Buyer´s Guide´s:
http://www.www.youtube.com/user/silkroadpromoter420
http://silkroaddrugs.org/
http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road
http://mainstreamlos.blogspot.de/
http://vimeo.com/channels/silkroadanonymousmarket
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/mainstreamlos
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/nicolasc/publications/TR-CMU-CyLab-12-018.pdf
http://feeds.feedburner.com/SilkRoadAnonymousMarketplace
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=215422721877319

 PGP Encryption Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy

PGP Download: http://www.gpg4win.org/index.html

 How to use PGP Encryption:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SywCI91kfq0