Interview · moment 9 of 18
Tor as a Government Honeypot
from I Am The One Who Dox · #134
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
6 minGuest
The guest explains that Tor was originally a government project and that using it isn't as anonymous as people think, discussing large-scale drug and CP busts, red flags like insisting on bank transfers over Bitcoin, and government monitoring of anti-government forums.
- 34:52Tim explains the honeypot concept: Tor was government-created for information transmission, then the public got ahold of it and altered it.
- 35:08Gas Digital subscribers audibly relieved upon learning they won't face arrest for buying small amounts of drugs on the dark web.
- 35:47Large-scale drug operations, child exploitation sites, and anti-government forums are actively monitored by law enforcement.
- 36:32The CIA, NSA, and FBI have almost certainly figured out how to track Tor users adequately over the past decade.
- 36:57People are naive thinking they're safe ordering drugs internationally through Tor when receiving them domestically is still illegal.
- 37:22Every significant anti-government movement in history has been co-opted by federal agents.
- 37:50Guest pulled out of the local leftist movement after discovering police and State Department operatives had infiltrated it.
- 38:34Guest recounts sketchy moments while buying drugs on the dark web where people were so paranoid deals would fall through.
- 39:13Guest attempted to buy a half-ounce of cocaine on a dark web site when a seller insisted on bank transfers instead of Bitcoin.
- 40:03Rule of thumb for dark web drug dealers: if they want Western Union or non-crypto transfers, they're either law enforcement or stupid.
- 40:22Any seller asking for non-Bitcoin transfers across borders was assumed to work for Interpol or wasn't worth buying from anyway.