Constructive activism in the dark web : cryptomarkets and illicit drugs in the digital ‘demimonde’

This paper explores activism enacted through Silk Road, a now
defunct cryptomarket where illicit drugs were sold in the dark
web. Drawing on a digital ethnography of Silk Road, we develop
the notion of constructive activism to extend the lexicon of
concepts available to discuss forms of online activism. Monitoring
of the cryptomarket took place between June 2011 and its closure
in October 2013. Just before and after the closure of the
marketplace we conducted anonymous online interviews with 17
people who reported buying drugs on Silk Road (1.0). These
interviews were conducted synchronously and interactively
through encrypted instant messaging. Participants discussed
harnessing and developing the technological tools needed to
access Silk Road and engage within the Silk Road community. For
participants Silk Road was not just a market for trading drugs: it
facilitated a shared experience of personal freedom within a
libertarian philosophical framework, where open discussions
about stigmatized behaviours were encouraged and supported.
Tensions between public activism against drug prohibition and
the need to hide one’s identity as a drug user from public scrutiny
were partially resolved through community actions that
internalized these politics, rather than engaging in forms of online
activism that are intended to have real-world political effects.
Most aptly described through van de Sande’s (2015) concept of
prefigurative politics, they sought to transform their values into
built environments that were designed to socially engineer a
more permissive digital reality, which we refer to as constructive
activism.