Police Arrest 8 [major vendors] In International Silk Road Busts[, more arrests to follow]

[jsn]

LONDON (AP) — Authorities in Britain, Sweden, and the United States have arrested eight more people following last week's closure of Silk Road [...]

In the U.K., the country's newly-established National Crime Agency warned that more arrests were on the way. [...]

Most if not all the arrests took place within a couple of days of last week's capture of Silk Road's alleged mastermind, Ross Ulbricht, in San Francisco, suggesting that authorities may now be busy unraveling the network of drug dealers who made fortunes peddling illicit substances through the site. [...]

"These latest arrests are just the start; there are many more to come," he [British NCA's talking head --jsn] said. [...]

Silk Road's eBay-style customer review system means that months' worth of sales history are now in law enforcement hands, Weaver said in an email, while the traceable nature of bitcoin transfers means the FBI "can now easily follow the money." [...]

"The hidden Internet isn't hidden and your anonymous activity isn't anonymous," it [British NCA --jsn] said. "We know where you are, what you are doing and we will catch you."

[NPR.org , via Slashdot]

Традиционный вопрос "как нашли" -- судя по всему, проследили за биткойнами до точки вывода в обычные деньги, и там на выводе привязали к реальным людям. То есть это по-прежнему дыра не в tor-е и не в bitcoin-е, а в operational security конкретных операторов. И то -- насколько я понимаю, устроить вывод из биткойнов в доллары с удовлетворительной operational security довольно нетривиально.

Вообще, по-моему, люди, которые занимаются отмывкой денег, совершенно упускают ээ business opportunities, открывающиеся при более активном маркетинге на техноанархистский рынок. Где, в конце концов, доступные народные отмывочные, розничные банкоматы из биткойнов в золотой лом и обратно, и прочие прелести жизни? Эх.