[tor-talk] Tor as ecommerce platform

[morristan]

Silk Road reported to make $1.9 million per month, 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales/

Tor Project reported to make $1.3 million per year, 
https://www.torproject.org/about/findoc/2010-TorProject-combined-Form990_PC_Audit_Results.pdf 
(page 3). Read carefully, Tor Project lost $17,285 in 2010 on revenues 
of $1.336 million. In plain english, they spent more than they received.

Perhaps the Silk Road people should donate to Tor. Perhaps they should 
fund hidden service improvements in Tor. Perhaps both.

This informs me a few things:

1. Tor is easier to use than we think, given motivation to do so.
2. 150,000 or so people use Tor for hidden services, or for silk road 
alone (a hidden service).
3. Tor is not profiting from hidden services.
4. Tor and hidden services are good enough for an ecommerce platform.

Who will make the first profitable, legal ecommerce site on dot onion?

Morris Tan
Prisoner #655321