Did Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Deserve Life in Prison?

Deep Web Director Alex Winter calls the sentencing an "injustice" that's "tantamount to torture."

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Did Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Deserve Life in Prison?

"The drug war and cyber [war] are two of the most mis-prosecuted and misunderstood and contentious areas of law that we face in America today," says Alex Winter, director of the recent documentary Deep Web. "And Ross [Ulbricht] is smack in the middle."

Winter sat down with Reason TV's Zach Weissmueller to talk about his film, which chronicles the rise and fall of the online black market Silk Road and the life of its founder, Ulbricht.

Winter discussed his opinion of Ulbricht's character ("kaleidoscopic"); of the life sentence handed down by a federal justice ("tantamount to torture"); whether Ulbricht really ordered hits against Silk Road's enemies ("hard to say"); and what the Silk Road represents in the broader history of the Internet ("the next big watershed technology"). 

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

Approximately 10 minutes.

Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Music by Segfult.

Scroll down for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for daily content like this.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

With that sentiment, Bill S. Preston, Esq., is dangerously close to buying himself a subpoena.

[Quixote]

Let us be careful to restrain any untoward instincts towards mockery, since this is a crime that always merits punishment through trial and incarceration. As for the sentence, as the European Charter of Fundamental Rights explains, "the severity of penalties must not be disproportionate to the criminal offense." And what does this mean? That the criminal offense was, of course, grave enough to require the penalty imposed. There are certain offenses to authority that we simply will not tolerate in this great nation, and Silk Road is one of them. Let us stop complaining, and continue our path towards a greater, stronger, and limper America.

[Suicidy]

Yes, we must watch what we say, lest DoJ prosecutor Voldemoort convene a grand jury against us.

[sshirleyj.clem]

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[Limpee Wiltstock]

My reading was always that the severity of penalties must never be proportionate to the offense. Your version makes a lot less sense.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Bee tee dubs, I watched Deep Web and liked it. It was informative even for those previously following the case. It suggests that the genesis of this train wreck of a prosecution was none other than everyone's favorite federal nanny, Charles Schumer.

[GILMORE?]

"I watched Deep Web and liked it."

.... you mean the Spider Man porno film? the action seemed too-CGI'd for me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"I don't know. All I know is that as a documentarian, I certainly do not feel it is within my right, knowing the power of a documentary, and the power of a movie, if I put forth a theory, it's taken as tacit fact."

Winter, responding to the question of the suggested (but not charged) accusation of attempted murder for hire and the (likely planted) journal entries about said crime. Michael Moore weeps.

[DenverJ]

So, wood chippers aside, is there a plan to free this guy? Any kinda of legal help? A fund? Even a "Free Ross Ulbricht" campaign that sells T-shirts?

[mfckr]

Maybe if he were a different skin color.

[WoodchipperPatriarch]

#Drugwarvictimsmatter?

[Suicidy]

Only if they're black.

[Fist of Etiquette]

He will likely appeal the ruling, if based on nothing else but the out-of-line sentence.

[Free Ross]

You can donate to help fund Ross's appeal at http://www.freeross.org. They also sell t-shirts.

[Intn'l House of Badass]

We're going to need guns. Lots of guns.

[Suthenboy]

Never take woodchippers off of the table Denver. Never do it.

There should be one set up in front of ever courthouse, legislative hall and executive mansion in the land. Like church bells they should be started and revved up every hour, around the clock.

[John Galt]

Free Sonny Barger Ross Ulbricht

[John Galt]

?

[Agile Cyborg]

JG's bafflin' parallels.

[John Galt]

Sorry, AC. I meant the above post to be a reply to DenverJ's post above that read:

So, wood chippers aside, is there a plan to free this guy? Any kinda of legal help? A fund? Even a "Free Ross Ulbricht" campaign that sells T-shirts?

You may, or may not, remember the "Free Sonny Barger" campaign of years ago that was primarily financed through the sales of "Free Sonny Barger" t-shirts.

[jorgeborges]

Every time I see this picture of Ross Ulbricht I think it's Brice Springsteen from The River.

[jorgeborges]

Bruce.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

me too

[Free Society]

No comment.

[Agile Cyborg]

The Ross Ulbricht event clarifies the savagery that infects the mental states of the multitudes of tyrants who revel as rulers behind the impervious blockade of federalized central planning.

I think sentences such as this and the indefinite solitary confinement placed on Manning cause such shock to the ethical and thinking that stunned disbelief gives way to a bizarre resignation. I can almost grasp slenderly the passivity of the German people who planted spinach and carrots in backyards under the billowing smoke of a million roasted Jews.

[Don'tTreadOnMeChipper]

AC I prefer your poetic rants to this clarifying analogy. It gives me the sadz...

[Agile Cyborg]

The mental states ebb and glow, dear, and I can't write poetry. I can only follow my fucking head where it goes and when it does.

[RAHeinlein]

If you ever decide to publish your prose please put me down for funding...

[Agile Cyborg]

That's sweet but I suck, man. Tons of dudes and 2.5 babes here can throw bars way the fuck down better'n me.

[John Galt]

There's only one AC.

[GILMORE?]

"I think sentences such as this and the indefinite solitary confinement placed on Manning cause such shock to the ethical and thinking that stunned disbelief gives way to a bizarre resignation. I can almost grasp slenderly the passivity of the German people who planted spinach and carrots in backyards under the billowing smoke of a million roasted Jews."

I agree that there's a bizarre inversion of 'outrage' in the US, where the acquittal of George Zimmerman is seen as a miscarriage of justice, while people thrown in prison for life for 'computer crimes' is given barely a yawn (and isn't even mentioned in the mainstream press).

That said.... i'm not sure i'd choose Manning as an example of anything other than his own misguided intentions. I'm not quite sure how to feel about a person who decides they need to be a Woman while they're in the process of being sent to prison for a very long time. I'd love to say, "More power to you girl!", but i think it probably could have waited for a more-apropos moment.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Long term imprisonment is outrageously unrecognised for the severity of punishment that is. Even socialist Wells in his A MODERN UTOPIA described it as so inhuman that it was preferable to exile or even kill anyone the collective should deem so horrible as to warrant long term imprisonment. I really think six years is about the max for legitimate punishment. Beyond that is clearly inhuman and execution or exile or outlawry is clearly warranted instead. This is from someone who has known many people who spent long prison sentences. The problem is that harf the folks deciding these issues have no fucking even second experience or grasp of what it's like to be imprisonned for years and the other half is a bunch of slaves for whom prison is not meaningfully different from their vision of a decent life as slave under a benevolent overseer.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Or, they could do like in the case of the Hammonds, say that the state has done so much worser things that this is no big deal.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Did Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Deserve Life in Prison?

Do federal prosecutors...something something...woodchipper???

[venett567]

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[Cloudbuster]

Last time I expressed an opinion on this case, I nearly ended up on the steps of the courthouse.

[John Galt]

Want to speak freely? Go somewhere where free speech is protected. That stuff has no place here in the USA.

[Downward Facing Dog]

People like Ulbricht are an existential threat to the state. The state runs on money, It gets money by taking it under threat of force from everyone it can extend its stated jurisdiction to.

If you try to get out of that imposed deal they will take you down. You set up a system by which millions of people avoid the state's demanded cut, well then they want you more than Osama bin Laden.

[Rockabilly]

No, but at least one half of the DC political elite deserve prison.

[pocurinuc]

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[beverlyric]

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[Heartless Libertarian]

Does anyone deserve a life sentence for any drug offense - absolutely not! But don't say that around that judge who handed out the sentence to Ulbricth. The US Attorney from the Southern district of NY might force Reason to reveal your identity so the totalitarian forces of the Drug War can come down on you.

[Hank Phillips]

Jeb's daddy advocated a death sentence for dopers in Montana July 20, 1990: "I'm talking about fair and constitutionally sound death penalty provisions for these major traffickers." (George GW Bush Presidential Papers, 1991, Book 2 pp. 1036-8) You can google the quote and it comes up just as proudly as the sentence handed Ross.
Bush also demanded Roe v. Wade be overturned, and probably can't sleep for worry that "the left" might think him inconsistent.

[Suthenboy]

Sadly Daddy George was relatively a very good president. What does that say about the rest of them?

That aside, he got on my personal shit-list when he put me on his.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy3Vsd7iwpY

Fuck him.

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Only relative to those who followed him. At this fucking point, it's hard not to reminisce for the good old days of Carter and Nixon.

[sprosser]

...Dad, get me out of this.

[Hank Phillips]

I don't see why pro-hibition advocates can't be as Libertarian as anti-abortion pro-life Libertarians. I'm sure their intentions are good. All they want is for G-Men with Guns to protect us from Evil as Free Exercise of their Faith. Isn't G-Men With Guns that what the Second Amendment is all about?

[viseyepe]

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[Compare]

Compare the deep web crimes and the sentences for each...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/201.....se/6720304

[GILMORE?]

is your point that Ross Ulbricht "Isn't a pedophile"?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

He may as well be. He used the Internet.

[Crusty Juggler]

Judge Katherine Forrest is a poop-head.

[commodious spittoon]

In other words you're threatening decapitation and shitting down the windpipe.

Yeah, we're on to you too, Crusty. Enjoy the sweet scent of liberty, my friend, you're going away for a long time.

[Feel The Clitdong]

The Judge is a doo-doo brain. She is so bad that Barney doesn't love her.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Sean Penn is on 60 Minutes right now. I'd like to apologize for all the times I've joked that "I Am Sam" was a documentary. It couldn't have been, because Penn's character in that movie was far more intelligent than Penn himself.

[Crusty Juggler]

Sean Penn was fartin' in bathtubs and laughin' his ass off.

[Tejicano]

But after he laughed his ass off what did he have to fart with?

Yeah, somehow I don't take it as a mark of intelligence to be publicly involved with the capture the head of a drug cartel. All of Penn's statements about "what, me worry?" aside, I doubt El Chapo sees it the same way. What part of extreme Mexican machismo does he get "we're good, bro" from?

[Cdr Lytton]

OT: CNN had this woman on this morning when I was at the gym, identified as Former Lead Iran Negotiator:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Sherman

What a train wreck. I bet the Iranians were shitting themselves trying to keep from laughing when she showed up. And that was my impression with the sound muted before reading her bio to find her background is... a social worker. Christ almighty these people are dumb.

[Crusty Juggler]

She was the director of EMILY's list, man - what more you want in a high-stakes diplomat?

[Crusty Juggler]

*Could you want. Way to mess up the snark.

[Cdr Lytton]

She met her husband "after they had gotten together to talk about how upset they were about low-income people who had to live in substandard housing". Better that they have no housing than substandard, no doubt!

[Crusty Juggler]

That was the worst part of the wikipedia entry.

[AlmightyJB]

Sad thing is that she was probably the most qualified person in the administration for that job

[Tejicano]

Foreign policy as directed by this administration is just one yuck-fest after another. We would need a new word for "inept at so many levels and facets" to begin to describe it. The people they choose to, er, um, "lead" are almost as bad as the directions/goals they are given to accomplish. What a fustercluck!

[Limpee Wiltstock]

Is State always so fucking useless and out of touch with reality?

[Limpee Wiltstock]

?t impedimentary to the efforts of the military and USA generally

[OneOut]

OT Nothing on the Dem deates tonight ?

[RAHeinlein]

The debate "they" don't want you to hear. I wasn't aware until receiving an email from the Rand Paul campaign indicating they will live tweet (as long as they can stand it).

[See Double You]

Bernie just said that people should be able to get mental health care now, not two months from now, which is why we need universal health care.

Lol.

[AlmightyJB]

Yeah, that's classic.

[AlmightyJB]

The is no debate. The Primarly is settled. There is expert consensus. There is nothing to discuss. Don't be a a Hillary denier.

[Tejicano]

There is no denying her retched thighness!

[coloraDOOM]

no debate article?

[AlmightyJB]

What are you talking about? There's no debate.

[coloraDOOM]

The article does have comments from a year ago. Am I in a coma?

[AlmightyJB]

It's possible. If so, hopefully, your coma dreams move on from debates to sex.

[The Hyperbole]

It's a little early for Agile Cyborg.

[AlmightyJB]

Scroll up. He's way ahead of the game. Like 5 months ahead

[coloraDOOM]

Let's hope so. Just no SF nightmare-porn. Please!!!

[coloraDOOM]

So much snark.

[Quincy.]

Not enough vodka.

[AlmightyJB]

You know it's one thing to leave the old comments, but the old ad bot spam? Come on man.

[Quincy.]

The adbots are leaving us messages from the future, dismiss the adbots at your peril.

[coloraDOOM]

Paul's twitter is pretty funny tonight.

[Quincy.]

KARL ROVE!

[coloraDOOM]

They just keep shouting over each other.
And my left friends mock the Republican debate.

[Quincy.]

Martin O'Malley has the best hair. Why is he not the frontrunner?

[coloraDOOM]

so much angst.

[Quincy.]

Stick figures are settled science. We are all going to be losing losing weight.

[Tejicano]

I wonder if that's what they were thinking in North Korea about 15 years ago?

[Quincy.]

Juche between you and me: exactly.

[Tejicano]

Oh, you so punny! (Sorry, it works better of you know the difficulty Koreans have pronouncing the letter F)

[Limpee Wiltstock]

I remember seeing some fat chick walking round the main thoroughfares of Bend wi a sign saying, "I Fell on Hard Times!".

[Tejicano]

"..and Mr. Times hasn't healed up since"

[Quincy.]

Half time show!

[Quincy.]

MUSLIM CIVIL WAR NOW! MUSLIM CIVIL WAR FOREVER!

[Limpee Wiltstock]

you wish

[Quincy.]

you watch

[Tejicano]

Yeah, if I ran the zoo the US would not be doing anything overt against ISIS. The best strategy would be to run some shadow group in Iraq to motivate and direct ISIS to run cross-border strikes aginst Iran - they already hate the Shiites bad ebough to make this an easy play. I wouldn't arm or train them well enough to be tactically effective - just get them to stir up a hornet's nest with the Shiite mullahs. Give Iran a freaking headache with no sovereign state to strike back at. Then just step back and let them rip each other to shreds.

[Quincy.]

O'Malley signs for the camps.

[JoWaDat889]

Now there is a man with a plan I have to say!

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