Re: [tor-talk] Illegal Activity As A Metric of Tor Security and Anonymity

[Mark McCarron <mark.mccarron@xxxxxxxxxx>]

The involvement of spooks in the drugs trade is off-topic, but it is something that is well known and documented.  Take a look around Youtube and Google, you will find thousands of reports.  There is even a Wikipedia entry documenting some of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking

The fact is, given the scale of modern international security, no can transport large amounts of narcotics with the direct assistance of an intelligence agency.  These guys are the defacto controllers of all world distribution channels.

The money is used to fund things that they can't ask government for, or things that need to be off the books.  In a lot of cases, it is a mutual relationship with suppliers to ensure support for other agendas or to gain access to particular areas.  So, the line between drug barons and intelligence agencies is highly fuzzy at best, at worst, non-existent.

Anyway, this is off-topic, so I won't be delving into this any further.

Regards,

Mark McCarron

> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:36:06 -0400
> From: apexcp@xxxxxxxxx
> To: tor-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [tor-talk] Illegal Activity As A Metric of Tor Security and	Anonymity
> 
> I think the Freedom Hosting and Silk Road arrests shook many people's
> confidence greatly, so they're very hesitant to keep using illegal hidden
> services. Everything else beyond that seems like conjecture, especially the
> idea that all of the narcotics markets are backed by spooks. If there is a
> base for that, though, I'm all ears.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 25, 2014 at 5:17 PM, Joe Btfsplk <joebtfsplk@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> >
> > On 6/25/2014 3:28 PM, Mark McCarron wrote:
> >
> >> I have been examining the number of what would normally be deemed as
> >> illegal sites sites on Tor.  Eliminating the narcotics trade, as these tend
> >> to be intelligence agency backed enterprises, a serious decline has been
> >> noted across the board.
> >>
> >> This would tend to suggest that exposure is common place and users no
> >> longer feel safe.  In the more serious categories, such as child porn and
> >> violent sexual material, no functioning open sites remain and many of the
> >> sites that require registration are crippled.  The entire planet has been
> >> scrubbed.
> >>
> >> This, it would seem, indicates that Tor has been compromised on a global
> >> scale with very little fanfare or moves to correct the situation.
> >>
> >> Does anyone have any insights into the problem?
> >>
> >>
> >>
> > How did you arrive at your conclusion?  What were the criteria for the
> > study / canvasing?
> >
> > Well, maybe it's been scrubbed from Tor (which is good, if true). That's
> > really all this list is about & all that matters regarding a better
> > reputation for Tor.  I doubt such illegal activities will disappear or stay
> > "gone" from society for long. Been around for a while (all of recorded
> > history).
> >
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