You'd be better off reading some of Gwern's posts about Silk Road, as this NPR piece contains fundamental inaccuracies.<p><a href="http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road" rel="nofollow">http://www.gwern.net/Silk%20Road</a>
> The Dread Pirate believed in total economic freedom, but in order to make his market work, he had to do some very bad things.<p>WTF. As if unsubstantiated, increasingly dubious allegations were actual established fact.<p>Read some quality reporting from Patrick Howell O'Neill instead: <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/authors/patrick-howell-oneill/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dailydot.com/authors/patrick-howell-oneill/</a>