FBI pranked by furious Bitcoin users since Silk Road shutdown

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/07/fbi-bitcoin-pranked-silk-road

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The FBI has been deluged by more than 200 messages of protest from pro-drugs advocates after a raid on Silk Road, an online marketplace for illicit goods.

The agency is attempting to access 600,000 Bitcoins, worth around $80m (£49.7m), accumulated by Ross Ulbricht, the alleged creator of Silk Road, but has already seized 26,000 ($3.2m) that the site had held in escrow for its customers.

The FBI then transferred the Bitcoins to a new address on blockchain.info., which allows users to manage their Bitcoin accounts.

Unfortunately for the FBI, hundreds of Silk Road users identified the FBI's wallet details and used blockchain to post publicly viewable messages along with miniscule transactions. 

Most were no larger than 0.00000001 BTC (0.0001p), but allowed users to vent their anger at the seizure of their virtual cash.

“Take the drugs, take the domain, but don't take the people's Bitcoins. This seizure was only legal because Bitcoin is not recognized as a currency,” says one.

Quoting Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the US, one called for the end of the Federal Reserve: "The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs".

"The musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years were rrreal fucking high on drugs," posted another, who use six separate payments to reference comic Bill Hicks.

"The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few tunes.”

As well as a large number of pro-drug messages, some were arguing that the money was incorrectly seized.

“Many items sold through Silk Road were perfectly legal,” says one such note. “There is no way to know whether these funds were to be used for illicit purchases. Users should be allowed to withdraw their funds.”

Others used the opportunity to post adverts for Bitcoin-related services, and some comments were less critical.

One posted a link to an image of Ulbricht’s face superimposed with the words “sets up a multimillion-dollar drugs business. Uses real email address,” a reference to one of the many slip-ups which apparently led to the his arrest.

<strong>• Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht allegedly ran the multimillion dollar drugs empire – so why boast about its success on his LinkedIn profile?</strong>

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