I implore every one to take off their techo propeller hat for a moment and discuss this from a human/societal perspective. We're likely to see DRK go to great heights only to become a concept so offensive and dirty that anyone who's even been remotely involved will be labelled with the same connotations as the criminals who're likely to become DRK's best customers. As for mainstream POS take-up of DRK, even at the most basic level on websites that might currently be offering Bitcoin, I think we could completely forget that possibility if DRK gets associated first and foremost with criminal activity.
I'm very concerned.
I am no techie at all, just an investor. And I am libertarian, which for me means to be opposed to child abuse and most activities referred to as "terrorism" (which includes the most common - government sponsored terrorism, by the way...).
I get your point, but what do you suggest? You can`t filter the traffic running through DarkTor can you?
Macno I don't yet know what to offer as a solution, but I'm thinking this is primarily a marketing issue. We're all here singing the praises of privacy and anonymity because many of us have come from a libertarian perspective meaning we don't need to have a "your right to privacy 101" conversation before we even start. But Average Joe is clueless about privacy and has no idea how their profile data is being used by guv and big business every day to milk them for more and more. And if something big like 9/11 (or even a smaller version) was to happen, the guv will look for any scapegoats they can find where messaging can be put out that Average Joe will fall for and DRK will be right in the firing line.
Somehow, I think we need to consider whether the term "dark" is just already too far gone in the public's mind and creates unnecessary risk for us (i.e. rather than trying to educate people on what this is really all about, which will be almost impossible, especially during a witch hunt, maybe we need to come up with different terminology altogether).
Edit: And if something big like 9/11 (or even a smaller version) was to happen, the guv will look for any scapegoats they can find where messaging can be put out that Average Joe will fall for and DRK will be right in the firing line.