The Incredible Story of Silk Road's "Dread Pirate Roberts," a.k.a. White Boy From Austin Ross Ulbricht

Sunday 19 January 2014

It is a rare occurrence, but sometimes the New York Times gets it right.

"Eagle Scout. Idealist. Drug Trafficker?"

From the article :

Ross Ulbricht and Dread Pirate Roberts have other similarities, including a fondness for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, part of the Austrian School of Economics, which was celebrated by Mr. Ulbricht on his Google+ page and by D.P.R. in Silk Road pep talks.

This could be a coincidence. It could also be a coincidence that neither man nor pseudonym seemed motivated by greed. Mr. Ulbricht’s lifestyle was one notch above that of urban couch surfer. And the primary goal that D.P.R. professed was to unshackle humanity from what he regarded as economic tyranny. If a handful of miscreants — and yes, a few of their unfortunate roommates — were killed along the way, that is a shame. But Silk Road was like a tunnel under the gulag, and D.P.R. was digging for the sake of humanity.