Lyn Ulbricht on the Silk Road case and digital freedom

0:01I'm Ashton Addison from event chain for investment pitch media and fintech News Network and today on blockchain interviews we have Lynn activist speaker and the CEO at the Ross alri defense fund welcome to the show Lynn it's a pleasure to have you on today and it's a pleasure to see you again yeah you too yeah thank you for having me yeah thank you for being on

0:22the show um so I want to talk about this case with Ross here um this case really set a precedent for the future of digital Freedom right this is very important for everybody even people that don't know Ross why should people who haven't heard of Ross pay attention to this outcome of this case and how could it affect the privacy of Everyday People well there were many privacy

0:47issues that were involved in the case um there in fact there are many issues but uh Fair trials and due process is one of them there were many violations um including a violation of the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial and a fourth amendment question that was brought both of which were brought to the Supreme Court the Fourth Amendment question was privacy and it was left by

1:10the court they didn't address it which is that the government can secretly without oversight without a warrant without probable cause delve into any of our internet browsing habits history um information and use it however they like and whether or not you care about your personal information which you you know in my opinion you should um it's very relevant information to people your

1:38religious affiliation your political interests and affiliation your sexual orientation and all of this can be used to persecute Andor blackmail people including officials so at least it seems that they should have to have a warrant and have it be in plain view that was another question and um there's also a First Amendment question all this go into it's

2:01not private but the um judge the sentencing judge who gave Ross who please understand this is a firsttime offender very young very a Libertarian guy who started a site based on the principles of privacy freedom and monetary Freedom through Bitcoin granted you know you can argue that it was a reckless thing to do it was you know he's 26 okay and uh not that I'm

2:26excusing it all but he's been in prison for five years now and um she said that she said I understand you started this site for philosophical reasons and I'm just not sure that that's a philosophy you've left behind which implies that she is at least in part uh sentencing him to life in prison for his political and philosophical beliefs which happen

2:48to be libertarian voluntary interaction and free markets this is extremely trouble all you know so that's another there's a lot of constitutional questions that were um addressed in this case and it's goes Way Beyond the sensationalism that was covered by the media it goes Way Beyond um you know drugs and the drug war which is a whole other issue but it it's really a very

3:15important constitutional case that um puts us all in Peril uh that's you touched on a lot of points there Lynn and um I have a lot of things um going through my head uh you know and this seems really unjust I am 26 years old as well and I couldn't imagine you know spending the last 5 years behind bars so um really this is something that needs more people need to

3:37hear about um I like how you touched on net neutrality at the beginning I've seen you know a lot of bills trying to be passed um towards that and usually they're not in our our favor and to have a court case set a precedent um you know that precedent can be relied upon for future cases forever and if that if the terms of that first case weren't you know proper that sets a precedent for

4:01centuries to come so well it's been four decades now that this has been in place and now with the digital age the the access to information with that the government has is so much more vast and yet they do not change the law to adapt to the 21st century and that's a lot of things the courts are grappling with a lot of this but they don't seem they seem somewhat reluctant to really get to

4:23the core of it and protect our our our rights and our privacy in the digital age yeah and it's it's a big problem yeah and you know the the silkroad website the ideologies behind it as you mentioned it was really a free market and it was his philosophical uh I know idea the ideology and behind this court case as well it sort of intersects multiple areas of law it's not just

4:47about net neutrality um you mentioned privacy um you know is this is probably a big but also um voluntary interaction free market free choice yeah yeah so it affects so many areas of law which makes it more you know more eyes at least the people in power are taking a look at this and saying hey this is this affects you know Industries and industries and

5:09industries it's not just one thing well I think it was about the Bitcoin I don't think that the reason Chuck Schumer and the the financial Powers went after Ross so hard was because of the of drugs because the biggest drug seller on Silk Road who had the exact same um score as Ross uh got 10 years yeah so I think it was about the Bitcoin and the NSA was

5:34tracking Bitcoin users a few months before Ross was arrested which and that was just revealed this year so we know that it was a very big issue this Bitcoin new upstart currency that was beyond control of the government and I think that is what really uh brought them down so hard on Ross and they wanted to make an example of him and make sure that no one else did it of

5:57course that didn't work at all uh but um I believe that's why they came down so hard on him he's totally nonviolent he has no first uh no prior offenses and to put him in a the reason he's in a Maximum Security Prison with violent people and uh has been is um because of his sentence not because he's violent at all yeah uh and that's a very dangerous

6:19thing to do yeah that's crazy and last summer in June the Supreme Court denied Ross's appeal as well can you can you walk me through you know how you felt in that moment and what were your immediate next steps um after that happened well yeah they denied what's called a search petition or uh Petition of Sir tiari that was brought to the Supreme Court by

6:42one of the top law firms in the United States Williams and Connelly um uh and I we really thought we had a chance because there was one um the Ross was not rejected first time around and we thought that they were going to link it with a case called Carpenter versus us which was about does the government have the right to track us with our cell phones which they did say they don't but

7:05they did they didn't want to address Ross's case and the fact that they were doing it with a laptop even though really essentially a phone and a laptop are analogous they're the same it's their each computer yeah um but they didn't want they chose not on the second time around to address it and I was devastated I was really devastated our lawyers were they really thought we had

7:27a chance they thought we were in the game even the solicitor general of the United States said well it could be linked with the carpenter case so we were very hopeful and I felt very much like I did the day Ross was sentenced which is you know it's just devastating it really is but then you know all you can do is dust yourself off and go okay this is all it is that's what laws

7:52are that's what all of this is and so we'll just fight another day yeah because it's not right for so many people not only Ross M and um we can't give up for sure yeah and that's that's a good uh idea to have you know just keep fighting that you just got to keep moving forward and I know that you're speaking out a lot you're doing a lot of public speaking I saw you actually at

8:14the world cryptocon uh in 201 2018 and your guys's uh team and your booth and I know that upcoming here in 2019 you're going to be speaking at Miami North American Bitcoin conference um so what does your 2019 road map look like are you going to be you know hitting the the screens and the televisions as much as possible and what you know what's your goal well yeah I mean I I we have a

8:38petition it's at Freer ross.org repetition it has over 120,000 follow U signers right now my goal is 500,000 so um you know I'm going to keep putting the word out about that and explaining the real narrative behind Ross's case and the real precedents and issues that affect us all it's a serious case and so I will I'm going to be in Mii I'm looking forward to that I think it'll be

9:01great um and I'm going to be speaking at Liberty Forum in New Hampshire um and in February and then down in Acapulco to in arapo and um I'm also Ross is recently just recently been transferred to a a prison in Tucson Arizona and I've all along wanted to live near where he is so that he would have consistent visits

9:29yeah I think it's very essential for his mental and emotional well-being and having a Lifeline to the you know his family and to the world the real world or the other world or one of the outside world for sure and so um we'll be moving to Tucson uh some point uh in probably in a couple months so there's a lot going on uh but I'm always happy to come

9:54to conferences and meet people like you there's nothing quite like um face tace real people meeting each other and and encouraging each other um it's great to be able to do Zoom calls and everything but it's really there's hardly a substitute for being there definitely I agree and that's amazing that you guys already have 120,000 signatures uh 500,000 seems like a great Target and I

10:20know I believe that uh you guys can you guys can do that that's amazing um and of course we would ask everybody to you know easily signed the petition in the description box below but how else can people help as well I know you guys have a lot of legal funds um that you have to pay um do you guys have uh donations for that or are you guys looking for more

10:41volunteers for your booth and as you move around how else can people help uh with free Ross uh absolutely yeah those lawyers they they're expensive those people they're really expensive uh yeah we we always need that kind of help because we are continuing to fight both in the political Arena and the judicial Arena um there's only one real last gasp effort in the judicial but we're going

11:05to go for it of course um and then uh yes we have a take action page on our go to Freer ross.org and it's all there and we have a take action page and uh you can also contact me directly there's Footers on every page where you shows where you can email me and yes we you know it's just us it's just my family and some friends and some supporters were small and volunteer I mean I have

11:30to pay lawyers I can't pay people for sure and so any kind of skills or volunteer work is and we have some real staunch reliable volunteers now but um we always need more help so that would be great um and go to all the other thing is you can learn a lot you can learn what's actually true on our site because the media is does you know uh the mainstream media is not reliable

11:56plain and simple it's not um sometimes it is and often it is not um and there's a there's a um we put together a thing called railroaded the targeting and caging of Russell brick there link to it on our site and it's a it's based on the public record we didn't come up with any of this it's all the public record and it has almost 400 footnotes and there's

12:18an audio version as well as a written version and if you're at all interested in delving deeper and to see how the government operates um you might want to check it out people say they started reading it or listening to it and couldn't put down it's it reads like it reads like a political science thriller or something it's pretty amazing but um what actually happened and we don't even

12:39have all the information it's just what's public we don't have the sealed yeah undisclosed and encrypted information so anyway um yeah but just go to Freer ross.org thank you for mentioning that because we really always need help you know I'm not super techy super you know and it's just me doing most of it and yeah I always need help yeah of course Lynn no problem um and uh

13:00I'll also leave the link to Railroad that sounds really wonderful I know it's on Freer ross.org that'll all be in the description box below awesome um I'm looking forward to seeing you in in Miami and throughout the rest of the year and good luck to you moving to Tucson I know I've been there it's a wonderful place and hopefully that's better for Ross as well so I appreciate

13:18you taking the time and I'm looking forward to this year and uh we'll talk to you soon great thanks so much for having me I look forward to seeing you