A co-founder of transparency activism organization Distributed of Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) was a dark web drug kingpin who ran the successor to the infamous Silk Road marketplace and was later convicted of child abuse imagery crimes.

The co-founder was Thomas White, who was prosecuted for administering the Silk Road 2.0 drug marketplace and for possessing images of child sexual abuse material. He decided to reveal his involvement in DDoSecrets to 404 Media after serving a five year prison sentence.

“I was told, in no uncertain terms, that if I spoke out publicly against Ross Ulbricht’s excessive sentence, [DDoSecrets] or anything similar, that I would spend much more time in prison,” he said. “Now I can freely speak again, it is important to use it or lose it. So #FreeRoss.”

The news provides more insights into the origins of DDoSecrets, which has filled the void left by Wikileaks to become the most significant site publishing massive data dumps at this time. The other co-founder is Emma Best, who for years has archived, cataloged, and distributed large amounts of hacked information online.

    • MTK@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I sometimes wonder if child porn convictions on dark web criminals, are actually a technicality where because you are part of the tor network you were involved in the distribution of child porn. Or these people are actually pedophiles.

      Both options sound just as possible to me

      • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business
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        1 month ago

        Having worked on these kind of cases in the past on the handling-subpoenas/reporting side, you’re not going to jail for it unless the FBI catches you red-handed in possession of images/videos.

        Dude’s a pedo.

      • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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        1 month ago

        When my friend was younger and dumber and first exploring the dark web, it was the morbid fascination that lead to temptation. It was just exciting to do something so forbidden and get away with it. My friend has wised up since then though.

        • MTK@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          If by younger you mean teens then it’s fucked up but I guess teens are fucked up.

          If you mean 20+ then your friend is not okay. At worst he is a pedo, at best he is extremely uncaring and unethical towards the suffering these images represent.

          I get morbid curiosity, I have watched horrific things, but there has to be a line, and videos of suffering made for the pleasure of others should be that line.