firstly, there's a disconnect here bobb. between you and what Rich and his lawyers argued in court. they didnt argue for the legitimacy of Silk Road as a legal enterprise. they argued that while Rich founded it he did not control it. so that's a big issue for arguing the legitimacy of it imo, when a guy who was heading to prison with huge pricetag lawyers didnt even attempt it. now you can make some argument about the legal system being corrupt in this context, and i'd tend to agree, but in reality it was a slam dunk case for whatever charges the DA chose. they just went with way too big of charges because they wanted to make an example out of silk road.
secondly you can vaguely define "dark web" but when its on the tor network that's not. and again you can make legit arguments about how there's no inherent illegality associated with using it, and again i'd agree, you can't in reality convince a jury of laymen that a website only accessible via that network has innocuous intentions. it just wont happen in court as has been established.
lastly tho, the website had a smoking gun. not only did it endorse the sale of drug use in it's official terms of service, but it actually provided a guide on how to vaccum seal drug products to avoid detection in mailing services. it was neither unmonitored, nor unmoderated, nor can they claim any level of ignorance to the illegal activities carried out on the site.
literally the only legal avenue Rich had was to prove he didnt operate the site, and that why i said above he was railroaded.
Most of what you are saying is meaningless. Silk Road, point blank, would not have been targeted had the exchanges been taxed. They weren't.
Think of it like this: If you and I are neighbors, and you grow oranges, and I grow apples, if I trade you 10 pounds of apples for 10 pounds of oranges, that's what we both get. 10 pounds of the other's produce. If, however, I SELL you 10 pounds of apples for cash, I now have to pay tax on that "income". And between SSI/FICA (which I'd have to pay not just the personal, but the employer matcch), Unimployment Insurance, State and Federal income tax on, would amount to a bit over 30%. So now, when I go back over to YOUR house to buy your oranges, I can only buy 7 pounds of your oranges, not 10. The means to purchase the other 3 pounds have been seized by the government.
Enter Silk Road. All transactions were barter. Bitcoin was not a taxable currency. The government never CARED that drugs were being traded on the site. If they did, there are dozens of other "dark web" sites that are very well known that do the same thing, just using USD. The Government doesn't go after the market place owner because why would they? The owner isn't selling or buying drugs. They're just offering payment proccessing and a mall for people to exchange their shit in. However, the US Government can track all the transactions to insure they're properly taxed, AND they can target dealers if/when they choose.
The drug charges were a bullshit way to go after people who chose to use the barter system, rather than the USD, while having the US Public swallow a bullshit story about the site being somehow "dangerous" as opposed to an excellent tool for Law Enforcement to use to track down drug dealers.
