Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned the creator of Silk Road, a dark-web marketplace where people sold heroin, cocaine, LSD, and other illicit drugs by using cryptocurrency to keep the transactions anonymous and avoid being caught by law enforcement.

    • doylio
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      1 day ago

      Honestly, this one I can understand. They threw the book at this guy because he showed how privacy technologies can circumvent government control. He got 2 life sentences without possibility of parole for a non-violent crime.

      What he did was illegal, but he’s been in prison for 10 years. He’s served his time

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Not sure I would agree he served his time. How many people who purchased drugs through his dark web network overdosed. Last time I checked if a drug dealer sells heroin and their customers die they are considered culpable.

        This reeks of a two tier justice system like usual. If he had been a minority selling drugs on the street and had several people die from overdoses they would be serving a lot longer than ten years.

        https://abcnews.go.com/US/drug-dealer-sentenced-nyc-overdose-deaths/story?id=103736698

        • doylio
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          5 hours ago

          He didn’t sell most of the drugs, he just provided a platform that allowed anyone to sell anything anonymously. Drug dealers used it because it was useful to them.

          Drug dealers use private messaging apps like Signal as well. Should Signal be held responsible for drug deals facilitated by their app? (I know it’s not a perfect analogy, what he made was more blatant, but it’s an important distinction to make)