Deep Web Director Alex Winter on Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and Online Privacy

"Whether you like [the Silk Road] or not, whether you agree with it or not, it was a political engine," says Alex Winter, director of the new documentary Deep Web. "That's the thing that the government has never wanted to talk about."

Winter sat down to talk with author, historian, and Reason magazine contributor Thaddeus Russell following a *Reason**-*sponsored screening of Deep Web at the Silent Movie Theater in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the online black market Silk Road and its founder Ross Ulbricht. Winter shares his take on whether Ulbricht, who used the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts" or "DPR," really ordered two murders. (Unbeknownst to Ulbricht, neither were carried out.) (3:48).

At one point, Winter quoted a controversial statement by Cody Wilson (best known as the first person to 3-D print a working firearm) implying that murder was justified in Ulbricht's situation.

"Cody says, 'What if DPR did try to kill those people? This guy's a revolutionary and he wants to topple shit," Winter told Russell. (27:34). "I think that's an important notion to contemplate."

Approximately 32 minutes. Interview by Thaddeus Russell. Camera by Alex Manning and Zach Weissmueller. Edited by Weissmueller.

Deep Web is available to watch on Epix and will be available on iTunes and all other VOD platforms on September 1.

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