View this post on Hive: Double life plus forty for creating a voluntaryist website. Sign the Free Ross clemency petition!
In March 2020, many Steem users, including @dhimmel, migrated to the Hive blockchain in response to the hostile takeover of Steem. Please use the Hive link when sharing this post and comment on the Hive version to get in touch.
You may remember the name Ross Ulbricht. On October 1, 2013, he was arrested at the San Francisco Public Library and charged with running the Silk Road, an online free-marketplace that operated as a Tor Hidden service and used bitcoin for payment. He was convicted of money laundering, computer hacking, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics, receiving a double-life sentence without parole plus 40 years.
Here's a picture from a recent tweet by Ross Ulbricht captioned:
Non-violent drug offenders serving life without parole. There are many of us in here. We ask for mercy. http://freeross.org/life-sentences-for-non-violent-offenses/
Recently the Supreme Court declined to hear Ross's appeal, cementing his draconian sentence. From https://freeross.org, there were many questionable & concerning aspects to his trial:
- Fourth Amendment privacy violations, warrantless seizures of internet traffic
- Unprosecuted, unproven allegations of murder-for-hire used against Ross
- Two corrupt federal investigators (now in prison) and more hidden from the jury
- Investigation of alternate perpetrator derailed by “rogue” federal agents
- Defense cross-examination repeatedly blocked
- Defense witnesses prevented from testifying
- Proof of evidence tampering
- Proof of multiple people behind the DPR accounts
- Parallel construction and other lies used to hide NSA involvementand convict Ross
I've followed this case for a while, but was reinvigorated by @whatbitcoindid's recent interview with Ross's mother, Lyn Ulbricht. The interview aired on What Bitcoin Did Episode 27 (also on the Let's Talk Bitcoin Network).
Thanks @whatbitcoindid for this amazing podcast and raising awareness. Please start posting links to your podcasts on Steem, so we can support your work!
Sign! Help! Freedom!
Listening to the podcast was (m/s)addening. At this point, there is not much more than a glimmer of hope for Ross's emancipation. If you don't think it's just for him to be locked in a cage for the rest of his life, please sign his Clemency Petition. As I type, the petition has 48,458 signatures. To make a dent, we'll probably need at least 500,000 signatures, so please spread the word.
Bonus
Lyn has been an amazing & relentless advocate for her son. I have huge admiration for her commitment, and I know it must be hard as the legal proceedings have not gone their way. I had the opportunity to hear Lyn speak at the Crypto Shit Show II in Philadelphia (co-organized by Steemian @mikesalvi).
Her talk was through videochat. Attendees were gathered around, with Lyn's image projecting onto a brick wall:
Take what you will from this photo, but for me it symbolizes both the injustice inflicted upon the Ulbricht family as well as their strength in remaining positive and fighting on.
In related news, several members of the #steemphilly community wrote letters to Ross. Thanks @mikesalvi for chronicling this on Steem. Check out his post if you want the mailing address for Ross in prison.
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this is not fair @dhimmel
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I downvoted your post because it was not related to my post, and was vote seeking that did not contribute anything to the conversation. In other words, I don't want your spam in the comments when I paid good money to advertise this post and support the FreeRoss movement. Note that replying to the top-upvoted comment to give your spam additional visibility is especially flagrant.
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ok its right but you can say it to me rather downvoting it it would be nicer than
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Retweet even though i dont believe in the power of petitions. your democratic vote is gone after it hit the bottom of the ballot box.
I rather try to support his familiy and friends emotionally:
https://twitter.com/FreiesLeipzig/status/874274017917775872
https://twitter.com/FreiesLeipzig/status/945320751690928129
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Love the pictures! Especially the first one "in front of Nikolai church where the freedom marches of Eastern Germany started in 1989".
I'm also not big into petitions, nor change.org which is pretty spammy IMO. However, I think the FreeRoss petition is perhaps an exception. As Lyn notes in the podcast, when the president commutes a sentence it's primarily a political act. Unlike the previous court preceding, which (should have been) independent from political influence, the possibility of clemency depends on influencing the right politician at the right time. Lyn seems to think (with some precedent) that have a popular petition could help grind the political gears.
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✊
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A double life sentence is extreme for non-violent offenders. The fact that two federal investigators on the case are now in jail themselves should be just cause to appeal this case.
You should also use the #informationwar tag. I know some friends interested in political matters, and they seem to use that tag often. Possibly reach out to more supporters.
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That's right. I remember reading about this. His imprisonment did not sit well with me at all. The internet is a free place. How can one man be charged for the actions of others on the web? It doesn't make sense. The man did nothing wrong. All he did, from what the evidence had suggested, was creating a decentralize marketplace. That's it. What people trade,buy, and sell there is up to them.
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Thanks for sharing this! I'm surprised Lyn hasn't made a Steemit account and have the funds go towards freeross.org.
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Great idea. I'm happy to help organize this, even if the account were just to crosspost Tweets or something.
I wonder if @freeross would be willing to donate his handle. @freeross, I'd even be willing to compensate you for the trouble.
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It might be worth an email to Lyn. If there was a note on the introduction post from Ross stating it was a legit account and the purpose behind it. It could end up being very beneficial for Ross. If not, it doesn't look like @freerossofficial is taken.. yet.
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Thanks for raising awareness about Ross. His sentence is excessive and it's a shame that the system is trying to make an example out of him. I hope his struggle will make some headway and get the awareness that he deserves.
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Some heroes don't have capes. And Ulbricht is one of them. A symbol of the free internet, and its unjust condemnation is a sign of the evil of governments.
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#endgov
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It is amazing to see mother fighting for his son.
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Appreciate it
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Since penetentiary system is a corrupt system, they afraid lossing power thats why they convicted people who promotes real freedom.
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I agree that the sentence did not fit the crime and was intended to make a statement. What is really frustrating is that the creator of Silk Road 2, Blake Benthall, which was legally equivalent to Silk Road, spent only 13 days in jail. More info at https://freeross.org/sentencing-disparity/.
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Fuck that guy, Ross is the original Rick (from the Rick and Morty show :D )
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True. The crimes are so unfair. Even if they did take down silk road 2....there will be 3 and 4's lol. You can fight the people, but the internet will always be free!
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Appreciate it
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I'm sure he has regreted creating and running this dark side website thousands of times. Being locked up for this crime for life seems like a very harsh sentence.
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I dispute that the website was really part of the "dark side". In fact, many see the website as ethical, since it reduced dangers to drug users.
From this article by the Drug Policy Alliance, there were several ways that the Silk Road had a net positive effect on safety:
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I'm sure he did not create the silk road, he was probably the last DPR who run the site though. So he had the keys of the building, but he didn't build the building :)
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multiple persons behind the DPR account and Ross is the scapegoat..
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I think that is very likely. Even the name, Dread Pirate Roberts, attests to the multiple administrators. The evidence for multiple DPRs is listed at https://freeross.org/proof-of-multiple-dprs/ and is convincing. I'm guessing Ross was a DPR, but not the one who attempted murder-for-hire, if those requests even occurred at all (no one was actually murdered, and two of the investigating agents were corrupt).
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a quote from wikipedia, about the DPR character: It is revealed during the course of the story that Roberts is not one man, but a series of individuals who pass the name and reputation to a chosen successor once they are wealthy enough to retire. When the time comes, "Roberts" and his chosen successor sail into port and discharge the crew. Then they hire a new crew, the ex-Roberts staying aboard as first mate and referring to his successor as "Captain Roberts". Once the crew grows accustomed to the new Roberts, the previous captain leaves to enjoy his retirement.
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I wont say that he is inocent, he is guilty for bring better and bright solutions that the ones that came from the govts.
He is guilty for thinking out of the box and do more for the people than govts do. How in hell we end up here?
GUILTY GUILTY! That's the price for freedom of spirit.
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Does anyone know what prison he's in? I'd like to know. If shit hits the fan, I know the first place I'm visiting. I've posted about his situation before, and I sent his family the profits from the post. What happened to him is a horrible injustice. He's a fellow patriot in the enemy's prisoner of war camp. Think about that for a second, and then reread my first question.
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The USA Court and prison system is just solely based on profit. It's not designed to serve society.
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it would be the only USA institution then which is running a profit... as far as I know, governments aren't producing anything, they just spend you taxed money.
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I'm sorry.. I have no sympathy for a drug lord.
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But...there was no evidence that he sold drugs?
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Signed and reseteemed.
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It's nothing but sick that they think they can treat a human being like that for exercising their freedom!
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Ulbricht didnt deserve this Unbelievable sentences. Free Ross Ulbricht!
Posted using Partiko Android
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Hi @dhimmel, you have received an upvote from
trang
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Two life sentence for this .
I am from India . can i sign it ?
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Yes, I believe so. See https://www.change.org/p/freerosspetition-we-seek-potus-s-clemency-for-ross-ulbricht-serving-double-life-for-a-website-realdonaldtrump-free-ross
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Done .very easy to do.
Thank u dhimmel.
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@dhimmel i will also sign the petition but i'm a little bit afraid. If i sign this petition then i'll be certainly blacklisted by NSA and if i try to travel to usa, maybe they put me in the same Jail like Ulbricht. Is it possible to write a letter to Ross in german Language? Because My english is not very good.
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There is no justice left in the united state, just positive state made law.
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nice to see such a positive article
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Appreciate it
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Now thise time many scam sites (companys) are running in market, so be careful and invest only for trusted palatfom ✌✌✌
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Congratulations @dhimmel!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following category:
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Raelly great
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Awesome 💜💙👍👍👍
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You have recieved a free upvote from minnowpond, Send 0.1 -> 10 SBD with your post url as the memo to recieve an upvote from up to 100 accounts!
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Signed and retweeted
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You got a 100.00% upvote from @upme thanks to @dhimmel! Send at least 3 SBD or 3 STEEM to get upvote for next round. Delegate STEEM POWER and start earning 100% daily payouts ( no commission ).
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I gave you an upvote on your post! Please give me a follow and I will give you a follow in return and possible future votes!
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Nice dude
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https://steemit.com/@dhimmel Congratulation your post is very nice and beautiful post
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Great. 💪
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Time to change the governments of this world; get rid of the crooks there and put honest men in charge for a change; but there's too many sheep still to do that...
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Your post had been curated by the @buildawhale team and mentioned here:
https://steemit.com/curation/@buildawhale/buildawhale-curation-digest-08-03-18
Keep up the good work and original content, everyone appreciates it!
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Can't believe this, please God fuck USA and save Ross Ulbricht
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Taxation is theft ! Free Ross now !
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I could not understand which type of petetion is this??
Please can u reply me.
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This is a petition requesting clemency from the President of the United States, in hopes of getting Ross Ulbricht's sentence commuted.
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Yess ok buddy
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I wonder what Andy from Shawshank would do. Everyone deserves a second chance
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Great idea.... Thanks
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Good one
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You got a 80.44% upvote from @postpromoter courtesy of @dhimmel!
Want to promote your posts too? Check out the Steem Bot Tracker website for more info. If you would like to support the development of @postpromoter and the bot tracker please vote for @yabapmatt for witness!
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