Our weekly documentary film curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.
2010 saw an explosion in black market online portals, with many found on the new and burgeoning Dark Web, including the popular and notorious Silk Road marketplace, where punters could buy literally anything – legal, or illegal. In 2014, another massive portal appeared called “AlphaBay” which quickly began rack up sales of over $500 million per year. Investigators traced the operation to Asia, and from there began one of the most intriguing and dark stories which which has since been enshrined in internet lore. But for police and governments, this never only about shutting down illicit black markets – this ‘crisis’ soon became about government authorities permanently altering laws and statutes in order to gain unprecedented powers to seize assets and suspend the rights of those being targeted in any ‘cyber investigations’ going forward.
Run time: 46 min
Director and Producer: Pimthida Tiemchaiyapum
Production: CNA News (2019)
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