I want to study the darknet marketplaces. Please, hear me out before you downvote or ignore me.

I need ideas from people who are actually a part of this situation. I used to tell my research methods students that there wasn't ANYthing they could name that I couldn't design a research project to study, but now I'm pretty much convinced I'm wrong. Here's a very, very short proposal: I want to find out 1: about the darknet vendors (and market users). How are they different, if at all, from street-level vendors? Did they mostly start from the street and move online, or not? Are they older or younger on average than those who score/deal in non-online contexts? How do they demographically differ? Are they more/less educated on average? Do online dealers have a larger variety? What's the average day like for an online darknet marketer? Is it similar to experiences of offline dealers? Are relationships with wholesalers similar? Is the level of danger (of assault or arrest) similar or different? Many more questions around that level of interest.

Things I already know are problematic, so please don't respond rudely regarding them: 1: how can I absolutely, positively ensure anonymity? 2: how can I word these questions/run this project so that, even if I WERE law enforcement, it couldn't really help the cops (this may be the most difficult aspect of this project -- I don't know how to do this.) I've seen this as a valid argument -- a good research project would potentially be a goldmine for LEOs. Maybe that's the fatal flaw... 3: How do I talk people into spending twenty minutes of their lives doing this survey? Paying them (in any form) could expose them or an account, and besides, I'm not grant-funded. I literally want to do this project without any government funding whatsoever.

I know someone will claim that fully outing myself might help -- showing the world that I'm simply a criminologist at a university, not someone with an agenda against the darknets. Unfortunately, I have a family, a wife with a university career, and children. Outing me outs them, and I don't have that right.

So...what do you think, folks? Am I out of luck? This is the most fascinating aspect of the world of substance use/abuse/sales that I've seen evolve in a generation. it would be SO amazing to study the people who are a part of that, but do so in a way that doesn't endanger them. If anyone out there has ideas, I would very much appreciate them. Thanks!


Comments


[3 Points] galaxyandspace:

Your best hope would be to set up your own .onion to conduct the survey of the dark net vendors. Get help with this, you sound like you might need it.

All the questions would have to be totally optional, allowing the vendor to disclose as much as they are comfortable. (Age ranges might be more suitable than just an age.)

I recognize that this procedure is not going to be easy, or like anything you have ever done. You may not get the stats you need. But I have no doubt it will be interesting...

DO NOT ASK FOR THEIR LOCATION.

DO NOT HAVE YOUR SITE USE SCRIPTS (ONLY USE HTML5 OR HTML).

Verifying that they are a vendor is simple: You pick their public key off their profile, send them a unique password for them to sign in with to your survey. This way, you make sure you only get vendors.

You will get lots of suspicion.

And because it's so anon. Your results might be way off...

Good luck.


[2 Points] curryslinger:

Loose lips sink ships. As so, I am fan of making not too much waves. Sorry, can't you find a other research area?

EDIT: If its for school (sounds bit like.. apol.), then it's a supra-no-go


[2 Points] tomhuck:

This does sound like the FBI trying to learn how to profile Vendors mostly. I mean they profile everyone else surely they want to profile darknet vendors.

I don't understand how outing yourself outs your family. Contrary to what you might think or have heard I seriously doubt anyone would care. But even outing yourself wouldn't gain trust because everyone would just say your a fictitious character created by the FBI to learn how to profile Vendors on the darknet.


[1 Points] tomhuck:

The darknet has very little wholesale deals. Its mostly high priced retail deals and most deals are in the $30-$500 range. However there are quite a bit of wholesale pot deals that transpire.

I have known plenty of street dealers and I would say that the average vendor is more intelligent than your typical bone head street dealer. Even for the customers it takes a slight amount of brains to download tor and purchase bitcoin. I know plenty of drug users on the street and very few have got the intelligence to actually complete a darknet transaction. I think many customers are people who like to use recreational drugs and are to afraid of the street thugs that the drug war has created. Just from listening to the people posting on the forums most have jobs and many have family's and are contributing members of society. If you met many of them irl you would never know they frequented the darknet.

On a side note you would get a lot of answers going to the forums of the markets through tor. From what I can tell there is only a small group of active posters in this sub reddit.


[1 Points] nsgiad:

Sounds like you have a lot of methodological issues that you need to work on. Have you had any classes on psychometrics or instrument design? I suggest reading the book on internet research by Don Dillman, he's the master of survey design.

For something like this (or most things dealing with drugs/drug dealing) you will probably have the best luck with a snowball sample design. There are definitely ways to do this, but you need to get a full game plan before poking around the darknet.


[1 Points] gerundive:

Paying them (in any form) could expose them or an account

Vendors willing to be interviewed can set up a custom sale for you on one of the darknet markets.


[-1 Points] None:

downvoted.. i'm not gonna "hear you out" bro.


[-1 Points] shitstormy:

Market vendors are more aware and technically adept, takes alot more skill to package anon and deal with btc than just sitting around taking cash. I dont street deal, never wanted to, you will get busted sooner or later then its over. Dont know how many street dealers move online since street dealers typically are just lowlife pushers who dont give a fuck about tomorrow. We're all computer people for the most part, that should give you your racial demographic and age range. What else can you know, 95% of all statistics are made up.

The rest of your questions are kinda stupid, do your own work. You want to pay to do a survey ill take your btc, but you dont know if im just bullshitting you and named vendors arent going to sit down and give you info on themselves. Your study is kinda pointless anyways and doesnt give you any useful conclusions. Why dont you get your kids to vend drugs and study them.