Wow, this really looks like the Government over reaching to quash freedom of press, freedom of speech! Matt Welch of Reason.com was given a subpoena to provide identifying information for people who had posted comments on his website! See this opEd in the LA Times. The Attorney General and New York State attempted to obtain that information with a subpoena! They even issued a "gag order" to Reason.com to prevent them from telling anyone about it, or notifying the people who had written the comments.
I do agree with many that Ross William Ulbricht got an absurdly severe sentence for operating a website. Yes drug dealers may have used his website. But dealers also use AT&T's phone lines, but does AT&T executives go to prison? Dealers were probably very cagey. Yes he may have known about money laundering going on with bitcoins. But that is pretty hard to track also. Is it a web site's responsibility to police all traffic on it? I also don't think that the police actions to stop money laundering have ever been tested in the Supreme Court. I think that simply handling money exchanges would be found legal under the US Constitution.
I also wonder if Shaun W. Bridges, the Treasury agent who was involved in the investigation may have "contaminated" the evidence against Ulbricht. He managed to steal a lot of "bitcoin" himself, and has been sentenced.
At any rate, I really am amazed that the Government would go after someone who writes a comment "There's a Special Place in Hell" for the judge. The mere fact that someone in the Government attempted to do that, should be a crime. But I doubt that whoever issued that subpoena or gag order will ever be tried or convicted of a crime.
I do agree with many that Ross William Ulbricht got an absurdly severe sentence for operating a website. Yes drug dealers may have used his website. But dealers also use AT&T's phone lines, but does AT&T executives go to prison? Dealers were probably very cagey. Yes he may have known about money laundering going on with bitcoins. But that is pretty hard to track also. Is it a web site's responsibility to police all traffic on it? I also don't think that the police actions to stop money laundering have ever been tested in the Supreme Court. I think that simply handling money exchanges would be found legal under the US Constitution.
I also wonder if Shaun W. Bridges, the Treasury agent who was involved in the investigation may have "contaminated" the evidence against Ulbricht. He managed to steal a lot of "bitcoin" himself, and has been sentenced.
At any rate, I really am amazed that the Government would go after someone who writes a comment "There's a Special Place in Hell" for the judge. The mere fact that someone in the Government attempted to do that, should be a crime. But I doubt that whoever issued that subpoena or gag order will ever be tried or convicted of a crime.
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