About that murder part, I've actually got a problem with it... I'm not sure if it was confirmed, but even if it did happen:

What could Ross do, in that situation? He was responsible for the security of the website, responsible for the lives and safety of thousands of people... Then comes this person, threatening him that he would expose everyone of them and lock them up in rape cages!

What could he reasonably do...?

He wouldn't be able to sue the guy over this. Not a chance. All thanks to the government... If his business were legal, he would just hire a lawyer or call the police!

But since there were no legal alternatives, his only options were:

A) Do nothing. Sentence all of his users and their families, who were depending on him, to prison. Most of them good people, who just wanted to buy their drugs in peace. :(
B) Doing something evil (killing the guy), in order to fight against a greater evil (thousands of lives ruined).

The one who initiated the aggresion was the threatener, right? If the same happened to John Galt, what do you think he would do? What If one of the parasites found the Gulch's location, threatened him of exposing all of them to the world, and there was no legal way of stopping the guy...?

At least, he would lock the guy up in a cage until the Strike was over. However, for Ross, that wouldn't really be a viable option. If Galt where in a similar situation, I think he would commit a murder if necessary. The lives of all his friends, or the life of a parasite who initiated aggression against them...?

I could be wrong though. Please correct me If I'm not being reasonable, Boborobdos. = )

Criminal? I don't see a problem with black markets, actually. If someone wants to buy drugs, they should be able to do so. It is illegal, sure! But this prohibition itself is immoral. You know when Rearden was almost arrested for doing something similar? He wasn't going against his reasoning by breaking that abusive law, I know.

There's a city in my country where it's illegal for people to sell red meat on sundays (they wanted the population to get healthier...). Isn't that absurd? And now there's lots of people buying meat 'illegally' haha. Yeah, but anyone with a sane mind will see that they're not doing something immoral, of course.

Now about SR, the system itself was kinda amazing, actually. Many many people stopped buying drugs on the streets, and that makes it safer not only for consumers, but for society in general. The drugs sold there were amazingly pure and 'healthier', also, because there was a five star rating for every seller, so they had to make a good job!

And contrary to popular opinion, if someone even thought of talking about murder or things like child abuse over there, they would be banned right away! The rules were very strict on that. That was not the purpose of the website. =/

SR was just that. It was an option for removing drug dealing from the streets, making it safer for everyone, and also a solution for this abusive War on Drugs that's going now right now. That's just what I concluded myself... But I could be wrong though. = )

?

enthusiastic, hmmm that's what you'd call it?

I'm wondering, do you get paid in kool-aid or pom-poms?

The IRS has publicly acknowledged and APOLOGIZED.

from USA Today:
even though some progressive organizations underwent additional scrutiny, their tax exempt status was granted much quicker.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/polit...

I'm not too certain about The Silk Road. My son tried to explain some of what was going on to me and frankly, I had little doubt about the legality of it. I will never say that any legitimate business should not be allowed to flourish - let the free market be free! However, markets are heavily regulated for a reason (apart from taxes) and this just seems like a ponies sceam to me.

careful, you're letting your law and order side show, star. ;) I always think govt has an illegitimate reason to track my transactions-many bordering on or straight up criminal. Did you miss all the NSA revelations this summer? What about the IRS targeting large republican donors' financial transactions?

As regards the Silk Road, there is fundamental difference between free marketers and religion. Religion (includes Police) thinks humans are evil and will do bad things if not explicitly controlled. FMers believe humans, upon evidence (tribe etc), are natural traders with good intentions and use peer pressure to ostracize outliers. So there is no way to reconcile this fundamental difference. So why argue about it? Go Galt!

It might be worth some time to check it out. It's always interesting to see what the dark side is up to. It was interesting to me to read that some think that some find a philosophy in it's operation.