NEW PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES (NPS):

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE AND EVIDENCE

BASED TRAINING THROUGH RESEARCH

Qualitative research: Monitoring anonymous online drug marketplaces

Thursday 5th March 2015

Tim Bingham

• Historic background to the Hidden web drug markets

• How the qualitative research was undertaken in previous studies

• Ethical considerations

• Practical

o PGP Encryption

o Accessing Tor Network

o Accessing dark net websites and forums

Utilising Social Media

INTERNET DRUG MARKETS

• The ‘alt’ online newsgroup provided a forum for information

sharing. Alt.drug and Alt.drugs.chemistry (created in 1994)

• Discussions how to grow cannabis, manufacture and the

synthesis of Drugs, this included a private messaging system

• Illicit drugs have been bought and sold on the internet since it

was first established. According to Markoff (2005)

• The Hive, which was

established in 1997 introduced

the integrated market to the

online trade eventually shut

down in 2004

http://thehivemwon6a5mp.onion/

• The goal of Onion Routing is not to provide anonymous communication. Parties are free

to (and usually should) identify themselves within a message. But the use of a public

network should not automatically give away the identities and locations of the

communicating parties. For example, imagine a researcher who uses the World Wide

Web to collect data from a variety of sources. Although each piece of information that he

retrieves is publicly known, it may be possible for an outside observer to determine his

sensitive interests by studying the patterns in his requests. Onion Routing makes it very

difficult to match his HTTP requests to his site.

• David. M Goldschlag, Michael G. Reed& Paul F. Syverson, ‘Hiding Routing Information,

Workshop on Information Hiding, Cambridge, UK, 1996.

• http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~fabian/ courses/CS600.424/course_papers/goldschlag96hiding.pdf

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

DRUGS AND THE HIDDEN WEB

•

•

2009

The drug store

A Figment Of Your

Imagination

Binary Blue StarsOpen Vendor

Data Base

Tor Browser

launched

2002Feb 2011

Silk

Road

The ‘Deep Web’ is a secure and confidential

communication lines by encryption of computer IP

addresses using Tor anonymising software or web

proxy to the Tor network (http://tor2web.org ).

There is a shift toward widespread global availability of

all drugs which is evident in the recent online presence

of drug marketplaces

The launch of Silk Road as a competing public drug

site was a challenge to the viability of OVDB, and

particularly as Silk Road received significant

publicity and attention.

Traffic to the site ‘soared’ and ‘demand for the

virtual currency drove up the value of one

bitcoin to more than $30’ within weeks of the

article’s publication Norris & Moses (2011)

Silk Road Vendors Advertising Page

Runa Sandvik : The Rise, Fall and

Resurrection of Silk Road" at the 2014 Kaspersky Security Analyst

OCTOBER 2013

NOVEMBER 2013

• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s

(UNODC) 2014 World Drug Report sets out in its

first ever mention of the phenomenon, the

hidden Dark Net drugs markets have ‘the

potential to become a popular mode of trafficking

in controlled substances in years to come

Where are we now

in 2015 ?

http://2qrdpvonwwqnic7j.onion/index.php

SOLE VENDOR

http://ra6falaruvgwbmpj.onion/

A DECENTRALISED MARKETPLACE

1. no one owns the network

2. platform for people to manage their own

trade online

3. No Commission and No Fees

RESULTS OF THE SEIZURES

• Volatility

• Trust and increased suspicion

• Vendors and buyers moved to other market places or underground

HARM REDUCTION

Users and sellers alike can have the freedom

to be open and express themselves in ways

that are impossible in real life’.

Provided a space where people could discuss

drug safety, optimal dosing and harm

reduction. It creates a community of

individuals sharing their experiences and

knowledge on harm reduction information in a

non-judgemental environment where people

felt safe to discuss drug related issues due to

the anonymity of Tor. Matt Gleeson Stonetreeaus

• Relationships between vendors and consumers are based on

cyber levels of trust and professionalism, and supported by

‘stealth modes’, user feedback and resolution modes.

• ‘The advantage of Silkroad is your reputation is open to all. If

you mess someone around its reflected in your feedback and

ratings’. (Silk Road Vendor)

• Vendors on the market places able to offer higher quality products than those generally available on the street.

• Online drug distribution removes many of the middlemen involved in conventional drug supply chains

• Posted directly from producers to consumers.

• Customer feedback plays a crucial role in regulating online drug markets

Previous Research

SILK ROAD’, THE VIRTUAL DRUG MARKETPLACE: A SINGLE

CASE STUDY OF USER EXPERIENCES

• Online researching of drug outcomes, particularly for new psychoactive substances was reported.

• Relationships between vendors and consumers were described as based on cyber levels of trust and professionalism, and supported by ‘stealth modes’, user feedback and resolution modes.

• The reality of his drug use was described as covert and solitary with psychonautic characteristics, which contrasted with his membership, participation and feelings of safety within the ‘Silk Road’ community. (parallel life).

SURFING THE SILK ROAD’: A STUDY OF USERS’ EXPERIENCES.

VAN HOUT & BINGHAM (2013)

• Majority of participants were male, in professional employment or in third level education.

• Drug trajectories ranged from 18 months to 25 years, with favourite drugs including MDMA, 2C-B, mephedrone, nitrous oxide, ketamine, cannabis and cocaine.

• Few reported prior experience of online drug sourcing. Reasons for utilizing ‘Silk Road‟included curiosity, concerns for street drug quality and personal safety, variety of products, anonymous transactioning, and ease of product delivery.

• Vendor selection appeared based on trust, speed of transaction, stealth modes and quality of product. Forums on the site provided user advice, trip reports, product and transaction reviews. Some users reported solitary drug use for psychonautic and introspective purposes.

• Minority reported customs seizures, and in general a displacement away from traditional drug sourcing (street and closed markets) was described. Several reported intentions to commence vending on the site.

RESPONSIBLE VENDORS, INTELLIGENT CONSUMERS:

SILK ROAD, THE ONLINE REVOLUTION IN DRUG TRADING

• Vendors described themselves as 'intelligent and responsible' consumers of drugs. Decisions

to commence vending operations on the site centred on simplicity in setting up vendor

accounts, and opportunity to operate within a low risk, high traffic, high mark-up, secure and

anonymous Deep Web infrastructure.

• The embedded online culture of harm reduction ethos appealed to them in terms of the

responsible vending and use of personally tested high quality products. The professional

approach to running their Silk Road businesses and dedication to providing a quality service

was characterised by professional advertising of quality products, professional

communication and visibility on forum pages, speedy dispatch of slightly overweight products,

competitive pricing, good stealth techniques and efforts to avoid customer disputes.

• Vendors appeared content with a fairly constant buyer demand and described a relatively

competitive market between small and big time market players.

• Concerns were evident with regard to Bitcoin instability.

METHOD• Ethical Approval Granted.

• Sought permission from Administrator.

• Established credibility amongst the community who are naturally suspicious of

any research.

• I had to be visible and transparent – provided links to previous research.

• Posted threads about the research.

• Focused on the motives and not requiring personal or identifiable information

METHOD

• Read discussions to further enhance knowledge and contributed to discussions where deemed appropriate

• Keeping the thread alive allowing people the freedom to express their views

• Provided a trusted and ‘secure email address

• Vendors and buyers could use PGP

• Dealing with trolls and threats

• Working and gaining trust with the peers on the site

• Used the same cyber name across all the platforms

• TIME

• Due to the potential risk of Law Enforcement requiring the

information

Ensured all communication was encrypted

Ensured that no identifiable information was kept

Email correspondence was deleted

ETHICS

• Utilises the internet to collect data or information

• Online interviews

• Surveys

• Threads posted on forums and responses

• Private one to one interviews

RESEARCH ETHICS AND ETHICAL TREATMENT

OF PERSONS

• Principles of research ethics and ethical treatment of persons are contained in a number of documents

UN Declaration of Human Rights

Nuremberg Code

• These policies include the fundamental rights of human dignity, autonomy, protection, safety and the minimisation of harms

• How are participants/authors approached by the researcher?

• How will the data be stored is there potential for this data to be used

at a later date ?

• Will identifying information be stored with the data ? For example

cyber names

• How will stored data be unlinked from individuals (i.e IP addresses )

• What is the potential risk or harm might result from reuse and or

distribution of the data .

• If data collected in the research has the potential to be

linked back to an individual ?

• How is the data being stored and how is sensitive data

being secured ?

• Does the storage have the potential to be hacked ?

• There is an ethical obligation by the researcher (s)

to protect the participant or the authors of

comments and threads

• Researchers have a ‘duty of care’ to those they

correspond with

CHALLENGES

• A site may appear relatively stable but may change suddenly requiring a swift response from researcher(s).

• Different cyber identities ? May enable the researcher to gain a wider access to the community

HOWEVER

However is this ethical ?

If the community suspect Law Enforcement they will react to this

REMEMBER a lot has been learnt from the previous site seizures

Always remain Transparent

PGP PRETTY GOOD PRIVACY

JABBER

Download Pidgin

Accounts > Manage Accounts > Add

On the Basic tab, change the Protocol to XMPP.

Type in a username.

Domain: jabber.ccc.de

Type in a password

Click the box at the bottom 'Create this new account on the server'

http://kingdomazsnvzfuq.onion/

THANK YOU

• Tim Bingham

• Email info@timbingham.ie

• Twitter @binghaminfo