Silk Road

Overview
Silk Road is an online market. It is operated as a Tor hidden service, such that online users are able to browse it anonymously and securely without potential traffic monitoring. The website was launched in February 2011. Development had begun six months earlier. It is part of the Deep web. Although Silk Road is an underground website, sometimes called the "Amazon.com of illegal drugs" or the "eBay for drugs," the site also sells apparel, art, biotic materials, books, collectibles, computer equipment, digital goods, along with dozens of other categories of merchandise.

On October 2, 2013, the FBI shut down Silk Road. They arrested Ross William Ulbricht on charges of alleged murder-for-hire and narcotics trafficking violation and identified him as the founder and chief operator "Dread Pirate Roberts". On November 6, 2013, Forbes and Vice reported that Silk Road 2.0 was online and being run by former administrators of Silk Road and that a different user was now using the name, Dread Pirate Roberts.