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TECHNOLOGY Monday 24 July 2017

What drug-dealing ‘darknet’ sites have in common with eBay

By ANICK JESDANUN Sessions calls it the largest eight people are.
AP Technology Writer darknet marketplace shut Tor has a number of legiti-
NEW YORK (AP) — Al- down in a sting. Darknet mate uses. Human rights
phaBay, the now-shuttered refers to the use of various advocates, for instance,
online marketplace that technologies to mask the can use it to communicate
authorities say traded in il- site’s operators and users, inside authoritarian coun-
legal drugs, firearms and allowing buyers and sellers tries.
counterfeit goods, wasn’t to connect anonymously But Tor is also popular for
all that different from any — to each other and to trading goods that eBay
other e-commerce site, law enforcement. and other legitimate mar-
court documents show. Authorities say the site traf- ketplaces won’t touch.
Not only did it work hard to ficked drugs such as heroin To further promote secre-
match buyers and sellers and cocaine, fake and sto- cy, AlphaBay accepted
and to stamp out fraud, it len IDs, computer hacking only digital currencies such
offered dispute-resolution tools, firearms and coun- as bitcoin and monero. In
services when things went terfeit goods. The site also doing so, participants skirt-
awry and kept a public- facilitated services such ed reporting requirement
relations manager to pro- as money laundering and that come when moving
mote the site to new users. swatting — the practice of $10,000 or more in a single
Of course, AlphaBay was making bomb threats and transaction. While bitcoin
no eBay. It went to great other false reports to law can be traced when con-
lengths to hide the identi- enforcement, usually to verted back to regular cur-
ties of its vendors and cus- harass perceived enemies. rencies, AlphaBay offered
tomers, and it promoted AlphaBay went so far as “mixing and tumbling ser-
money-laundering services to hire scam watchers to vices” to shuffle bitcoin
to mask the flow of bitcoin monitor and quash scams through several accounts
and other digital curren- on the site. It had a pub- before the conversion.
cies from prying eyes. lic-relations manager re- Vendors were also re-
Such “darknet” sites op- sponsible for outreach to quired to use encryption
erate in an anonymity- users and the broader illicit- This screen grab provided by the U.S. Department of Justice for all communications to
friendly internet nether- trade community. The site shows a hidden website that has been seized as part of a law keep them safe from spies.
enforcement operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
world that’s inaccessible also employed moderators the Drug Enforcement Administration and European law en-
to ordinary browsers. If to resolve disputes and re- forcement agencies acting through Europol. MONEY MATTERS
you’ve ever found yourself fund payments when nec- )Associated Press) Buyers funded their ac-
wondering just how they essary. counts with digital cur-
really work, a U.S. criminal rencies, similar to loading
case unveiled Thursday of- STAYING HIDDEN relayed through several chain. It would be like one an Amazon gift card with
computers. At each stop, person passing on a mes-
fers an eye-opening look. AlphaBay hid its tracks with money. When making a
Tor, a network of thousands identifying information is sage to the next, and so purchase, buyers moved
WHAT IS ALPHABAY? of computers run by volun- stripped, so that no single on. The 10th person would money from their accounts
U.S. Attorney General Jeff teers. With Tor, traffic gets computer knows the full have no clue who the first to an escrow. q