Name: Anonymous 2013-10-06 13:57
Internet drug lord suspect 'wanted a better world'
Low-key 29-year-old was 'mastermind behind largest online criminal bazaar'
NEW YORK - When Ross William Ulbricht was arrested on Tuesday, the 29-year-old was enjoying the quiet of a public library in a blue-collar San Francisco neighbourhood, where he rented a modest room for US$1,000 a month.
There was little to suggest that the native of Austin, Texas, was rolling in the million of dollars he allegedly earned as "Dread Pirate Roberts", the powerful mastermind behind Silk Road, the world's largest online criminal bazaar.
After hearing the charges read out to him at the federal court in San Francisco on Oct 2, Ulbricht said he could not afford an attorney and was appointed a federal public defender. He did not enter a plea.
Within 24 hours of the court appearance, all kinds of information was being pulled down from the Internet about Ulbricht, who holds a bachelor of science in physics from the University of Texas.
In a YouTube video from last year, Ulbricht and a friend were seen discussing his move during the year to San Francisco.
In the video, he expressed concern that the United Nations was trying "to create global rules and global governance" for the Internet. He also said he might want to start a family.
A Facebook page bearing his name featured a roster of his favourite bands, movies (The Matrix, The Lord Of The Rings) and books (Hyperion, Shogun, The Power Of Now).
The page also contained an essay on independence from July 5, 2010, in which its author ruminated about the meaning of freedom.
"We live in a most unique time" and enjoy more freedom than any previous generation, reads the essay attributed to Ulbricht.
"Let us be thankful for our freedom, and build a world where we, and the generations that follow us, will be freer than any that have come before!"
It is thought that his alleged handle - Dread Pirate Roberts - is a reference to a swashbuckling character in The Princess Bride, a 1987 comedy film based on a novel of the same name.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Ulbricht publicly alluded to his alleged criminal enterprise on his LinkedIn profile, with a statement describing how his goals had "shifted" in accordance with his libertarian economic views.
He said that since completing his graduate school studies at Pennsylvania State University in 2010, he has focused on "creating an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force" of the kind imposed by "institutions and governments", according to CNN, quoting his LinkedIn profile statement.
"I want to use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion and agression (sic) amongst mankind," he wrote.
BLOOMBERG, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Low-key 29-year-old was 'mastermind behind largest online criminal bazaar'
NEW YORK - When Ross William Ulbricht was arrested on Tuesday, the 29-year-old was enjoying the quiet of a public library in a blue-collar San Francisco neighbourhood, where he rented a modest room for US$1,000 a month.
There was little to suggest that the native of Austin, Texas, was rolling in the million of dollars he allegedly earned as "Dread Pirate Roberts", the powerful mastermind behind Silk Road, the world's largest online criminal bazaar.
After hearing the charges read out to him at the federal court in San Francisco on Oct 2, Ulbricht said he could not afford an attorney and was appointed a federal public defender. He did not enter a plea.
Within 24 hours of the court appearance, all kinds of information was being pulled down from the Internet about Ulbricht, who holds a bachelor of science in physics from the University of Texas.
In a YouTube video from last year, Ulbricht and a friend were seen discussing his move during the year to San Francisco.
In the video, he expressed concern that the United Nations was trying "to create global rules and global governance" for the Internet. He also said he might want to start a family.
A Facebook page bearing his name featured a roster of his favourite bands, movies (The Matrix, The Lord Of The Rings) and books (Hyperion, Shogun, The Power Of Now).
The page also contained an essay on independence from July 5, 2010, in which its author ruminated about the meaning of freedom.
"We live in a most unique time" and enjoy more freedom than any previous generation, reads the essay attributed to Ulbricht.
"Let us be thankful for our freedom, and build a world where we, and the generations that follow us, will be freer than any that have come before!"
It is thought that his alleged handle - Dread Pirate Roberts - is a reference to a swashbuckling character in The Princess Bride, a 1987 comedy film based on a novel of the same name.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Ulbricht publicly alluded to his alleged criminal enterprise on his LinkedIn profile, with a statement describing how his goals had "shifted" in accordance with his libertarian economic views.
He said that since completing his graduate school studies at Pennsylvania State University in 2010, he has focused on "creating an economic simulation to give people a first-hand experience of what it would be like to live in a world without the systemic use of force" of the kind imposed by "institutions and governments", according to CNN, quoting his LinkedIn profile statement.
"I want to use economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion and agression (sic) amongst mankind," he wrote.
BLOOMBERG, ASSOCIATED PRESS