American law enforcement discovered the location of Silk Road by finding a vulnerability. This allowed them to access a server from a non-public street. If others do the same, the government calls it a felony.
About 18 months ago, 27-year-old Andrew Auernheimer was found guilty of conspiracy to gain access to servers without the company's consent. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison, with a fine and conditional release.
The federal government recognizes the above action as a felony, specifically “unauthorized access under the Wire Fraud and Abuse Act.” So we have to wonder if the same logic applies to the FBI, especially when it gained access to the Silk Road servers on Tor . The government claims it gained access by following the leaked addresses because the server was not configured properly.
George Washington University Law School professor Orin Kerr wrote on the Volokh Conspiracy blog that if Auernheimer was found guilty of unauthorized access, then the FBI is also illegal, because it did exactly the same thing.
Of course, we can't know how the story will end, as the case of Ross Ulbricht, the administrator of Silk Road, is still being heard. We just wonder if Kerr's reports will affect Ulbricht's defense. Does the law apply to everyone or does the "ends justify the means" apply on a case-by-case basis?
Let's see how they do with the "loopholes" in America.
