REVIEW: “Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web”

“Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web” (2017) is a documentary about the beginning of what became known as the Dark Web. Silk Road was developed in 2011 as “the Amazon of illegal drugs”.  The purported reason for it was to provide a system whereby drug dealers could sell to users via a surreptitious platform that could not be accessed by law enforcement. The creator stated that he idealistically was trying to keep drugs off the street to reduce violence and allow adult users to be able to easily order and have drugs delivered to their homes by mail.

Over time, these shipments were detected by customs agents and the IRS, FBI and DEA began investigating.  The documentary portrays the process that law enforcement used to find the person who created the site and their pursuit of him.

Although he was found and was sent to prison, the termination of the site was not the end but the beginning of what is now known as the Dark Web.  Silk Road is no longer but many other sites have taken its place.  And these new ones are neither idealistic nor portrayed as nonviolent.

The true story is enthralling in the explanation of where the Dark Web originated and why.