Only a month after its closure by the FBI, Silk Road is once again accessible via Tor, the decentralized and anonymous network.

Let’s start with a quick review of the facts. The original Silk Road was born in February 2011, at the impetus of a Dread Pirate Roberts. The service is presented at the time as a gigantic marketplace exploiting the Tor network to ensure the anonymity of sellers and buyers. At first, anyone could sell anything and  certainly if the service was used to sell drugs, it was also possible to find other illicit goods, such as weapons.

U.S. authorities were aware of the platform since its inception, but it was not until October 2, 2013 that the FBI moved to intervene. The authorities proceeded to close the site, and followed with the arrest of the alleged mastermind–29 year-old American named Ross William Ulbricht. According to court papers, Silk Road had grossed over $80 million to Ulbricht, and generated just over one billion dollars in sales.

Soon after his arrest, Ulbricht’s lawyer, Joshua Dratel, said to the court that his client would plead not guilty and would ask a judge to release him on bail.

“He is not the person that they are saying he is,” Dratel said. “He is a regular person, someone who has never been in trouble.”

The reloaded version

Nicknamed “the eBay of drugs,” Silk Road allowed (and allows new) visitors to buy any kind of drugs completely anonymously and pay purchases with the virtual currency bitcoin.

Since the Silk Road definitely entered the list of the most well-known online stores of the planet, the question of whether to restore it, in general, did not stand as someone just had to take the torch and run with it.

Silk Road thus seemed to rise from the ashes. Reported online by AllThingsVice, which monitors anonymous networks, Silk Road 2.0 was launched on the evening of November 5th. The new site administrator took the same nickname as the previous creator and administrator of the site: Dread Pirate Roberts. AllThingsVice also presented screenshots of the new site. On its main page, for example, the reloaded site says “the hidden site has risen again.”

“It is with great joy that I announce the next chapter of our journey. Silk Road has risen from the ashes……” Dread Pirate Roberts wrote in a note on the new website.

The re-opened site unprecedented guard the same functions as earlier version to preserve the anonymity of its users. And the new version of the platform now comes with even advanced security and support PGP encryption for accounts, forums and the market. The new owner of the site, which is also called Dread Pirate Roberts, said he set up a new system to prevent seizure by the competent authorities. According to him, the new version of Silk Road would be unassailable and indestructible.

Already at its launch the new version of the site offered its users a choice from 500 various drug listings.

“It took the FBI two-and-a-half years to do what they did … but four weeks of temporary silence is all they got,” reads a note from the site administrator.

Tom Carper, U.S. Senator for Delaware and Dr. Coburn’s committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs confirms the re-appearance of the website.

“This new website – launched barely a month after Federal agents shut down the original Silk Road — underscores the inescapable reality that technology is dynamic and ever-evolving and that government policy needs to adapt accordingly. Rather than play ‘whack-a-mole’ with the latest website,  currency, or other method criminals are using in an effort to evade the law, we need to develop thoughtful, nimble and sensible federal policies that protect the public without stifling innovation and economic growth. Our committee intends to have that conversation – among others – at our hearing this month on virtual currency,” said Carper, in a statement.

New security measures

Dread Pirate Roberts claimed in a Twitter message after the re-launch of the site that 7,000 people had registered so far and there is no sign of slowing down.

The site in comparison with the first version took new security measures. So, now registration on the site is by invitation only from a user who already has an account. Also, the site administrator changed the rules by which people are removed from the Commission for the use of the resource. The rest of the new Silk Road slightly different from the old one with many of the vendors who worked with the first version, re-appeared in here under the same name.

The administrator warns that the site is still in development and informs users for delays with account withdrawals and deposits initially.

“These delays should become less as the marketplace settles, but at least for the earlier stages, please do not report coins as missing unless 12 hours or more have elapsed,” the website said.

On the new Silk Road, you can protect privacy by new PGP key. The business model of the second Silk Road is quite similar – each illegal transaction Silk Road collects a share of four to eight percent. Sellers must register via a PGP key already known from the previous or alternatively pay a deposit in the amount of $200, this will be paid back once the credibility of the seller has been proven.

According to various tech sites, after the closure of the Silk Road site, it has greatly increased the popularity of alternative illegal online markets, such as the Black Market Reloaded and Sheep Marketplace. However, many supporters of the founder of the Silk Road, as well as its long-standing suppliers, set out to revive the site.

[Photo: “Road” by Moyan Brenn is licensed under CC BY 2.0.]