Ross Ulbricht

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Ross Ulbricht
Birthname Ross William Ulbricht
Date of Birth March 27, 1984
Birth Place Austin, Texas, US
Nationality American
Occupation Founder of the Silk Road
Biography Ross is the founder of the Silk Road, a dark web market. He is currently serving life in prison.

Ross Ulbricht is the founder and operator of the dark web market place known as the Silk Road, which he operated from 2011 - 2013 [1]. He is currently serving life in prison as a result of his arrest over his involvement with the market place. The Silk Road was a place where users could buy and sell drugs anonymously over the internet utilizing bitcoin and the tor web browser. He founded the Silk Road to offer a safer place to buy drugs than the street, which is aligned tightly with his libertarian views [2] He is currently fighting to try and get a pardon over claims that he was unfairly sentenced compared to other criminals of similar crimes [3]

Early Life

Ross grew up in Austin, Texas living with his parents, Kirk and Lyn, and his sister, Calla where he was active with the Eagle Scouts [4]. After graduating high school, Ross enrolled at the University of Texas, where he graduated with a major in physics [5]. He furthered his education by pursuing and receiving a masters in material science from Penn State. While at Penn State, Ross was a part of the debate team, where he would debate from a libertarian view point [6].

Silk Road

The Silk Road was an open market place where users could buy and sell drugs and other products completely anonymously. Around its height the Silk Road was generating around $7 million annually for Ulbricht, all in bitcoin [7]. Within the Silk Road Ross would spread his libertarian ideals on the forum under his alias "Dread Pirate Roberts" or DPR, which he got to after changing from simply "Admin" [8]. Some of the specifics that were mentioned in posts were moral lines drawn about what can be on the website. This ethical line was centered on the belief in the phrase "treat others as you wish to be treated" with an addition of "don't do anything to scam or hurt anyone else" [9] These forum post eventually further expanded to book recommendations, usually books on libertarian economics, to movie watch-a-alongs.

Arrest and Trial

Ross was arrested on October 1st 2013, by the FBI in a public library in San Francisco. Agents got into a fake argument in front of Ulbricht while he worked on his laptop. When he looked up to see the argument, agents from behind held his arms down, while the agents in front of him pulled his laptop away [10] Ross was tried for a total of 7 different crimes, which he plead guilty to and was took to trial. At trial Ross's defense was based on how he wasn't running the website, since there were multiple people running the website under the same name "Dead Pirate Roberts". However Ross was found guilty of all charges raised against him and sentenced to two life in prison plus 40 years [11].

Ethical Dilemmas

There are many ethical dilemmas surrounding the Silk Road. From an outside perspective the selling illegal substances was the ethical problem, while the moderators of the website thought they were fighting for a more free world.

Free Market Place

Ross created the Silk Road as a safer way to buy drugs than on the street [12] The website also had a review system, so buyers could know how trustworthy a seller on the site is.

Illegal Market Place

The website enabled many new individuals to get into drugs that might not have done before. Other things listed on the market place that caused some ethical worries were hacking software to keytracers.
  1. ↑ Ross Ulbricht, A/K/A “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To Life In Prison. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/ross-ulbricht-aka-dread-pirate-roberts-sentenced-manhattan-federal-court-life-prison
  2. ↑ Nick Bilton. (2017, May 2) American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road.
  3. ↑ Free Ross Ulbricht. Retrieved from https://freeross.org/
  4. ↑ Free Ross Ulbricht. Retrieved from https://freeross.org/
  5. ↑ Caitlin Dewey (2013, October 3). Everything we know about Ross Ulbricht, the outdoorsy libertarian behind Silk Road. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/10/03/everything-we-know-about-ross-ulbricht-the-outdoorsy-libertarian-behind-silk-road/
  6. ↑ Caitlin Dewey (2013, October 3). Everything we know about Ross Ulbricht, the outdoorsy libertarian behind Silk Road. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2013/10/03/everything-we-know-about-ross-ulbricht-the-outdoorsy-libertarian-behind-silk-road/
  7. ↑ Joshua Bearman (2015, June) The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 2: The Fall. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2015/05/silk-road-2/
  8. ↑ Nick Bilton. (2017, May 2) American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road.
  9. ↑ Joshua Bearman (2015, June) The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 1. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2015/04/silk-road-1/
  10. ↑ Nick Bilton. (2017, May 2) American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road.
  11. ↑ Nathan Reiff (2021 October 21). Who Is Ross Ulbricht?. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/tech/ross-ulbricht-dark-net-pirate/
  12. ↑ Laurie Segall (2015 May 29). Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht: Drug 'kingpin' or 'idealistic' Boy Scout? Retrieved from https://money.cnn.com/2015/05/28/technology/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-sentencing/index.html
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