How Much Sentence for Selling on Darknet Marketplace? 

The darknet, known as the dark corners of the internet, have been associated with illicit activities for years. Even if it’s a good place for those who want to conceal their privacy and advocate free speech, we can’t deny the fact that the dark web belongs to criminals mostly. 

Now if you’re a darknet user and the idea of selling on darknet marketplace seems quite interesting to you, make sure you read this post carefully. I’ll talk about how much sentence is there for selling on darknet marketplace. Along with this, I’ll talk about a few cases that have happened in the past. 

What Does Illicit Really Means? 

Activities ranging over a broad spectrum are pretty much common on darknet marketplaces, but in the end, they all have one thing in common: illegality. 

These can range from:

• Drug trafficking
• Illegal arms sales
• Cybercrimes such as hacking, theft of data, and the distribution of malware 
• Endangerment or offence to people or animals 
• Distribution of illegal pornography 

Laws Around the World

So now you might be wondering about the rules that apply to the illegal stuff happening on the darknet. Just because these activities are happening in the shadows doesn’t mean they’re out of reach. In fact, there are several important international laws that target these very issues.

1. The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime: This law doesn’t just take a stand against what is considered an average internet crime like fraud and hacking, but rather targets something far more treacherous than that, like distributing child pornography or dealing drugs. 
2. United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime: If a crime takes place in more than one country, or if it’s plotted in one country but carried out somewhere else, then it qualifies as “trans multinational crime.”

These 2 laws are not the only ones, but they are something that can give you a big picture of the whole scenario. 

Speaking of other laws, here are some that you might want to look at: 

• Directive 2013/40/EU
• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
• African Union Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection
• Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote Convention)
• International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism

Some Darknet Users Who Were Charged Lately

1. Ross Ulbricht: Creator and operator of the Silk Road, a famous darknet market. He received a life sentence for crimes including drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy to commit murder and several other charges.

2. Gal Vallerius: “OxyMonster” is a vendor on the Dream marketplace. He was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to 20 years behind bars for drug distribution.

3. Blake Benthall: Arrested in 2014 for running Silk Road 2.0, a reboot of the original Silk Road marketplace. The FBI took control of the site and shut it down before charging Benthall with multiple counts including conspiracy to commit narcotics trafficking which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

4. Alexandre Cazes: Most darknet users already know about him. Just in case you don’t know, you should know he’s the founder of the AlphaBay marketplace, which was one of the biggest darknet markets. Arrested in Thailand back in 2017 and gone through multiple counts including conspiracy to engaging in racketeering as well as narcotics. He died just a week after his arrest before he could be extradited to the U.S.

5. Dr Garg: The Annex was a horrifying website hosting explicit images and videos portraying child sexual abuse. With staggering numbers of regular members reaching up to 90,000, the site had managed to attract over 1.4 million visitors in total. Among those who contributed towards this disturbing platform were Dr. Kabir Garg, a 33-year-old member, surprisingly a psychiatrist from London, took his involvement a little further when he uploaded explicit videos of his own on the website. Ultimately, Dr Garg was caught and sentenced to prison for 6 years. Considering his crime, the sentence should be way longer than this. Shame! 

Country-Specific Laws

There are different countries, and the punishment does not always match. Let’s take a closer look at the laws in 5 major countries:

1. United States: The U.S has several laws that address illicit activities on the darknet. Some of these include laws against drug dealing, illegal weapons selling, and cybercrimes (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act). Penalties can run from millions dollar fines to life imprisonment depending on the crime involved.
2. United Kingdom: The UK has strict laws against cybercrime. This entails the Computer Misuse Act and Digital Economy Act. Drug trafficking is covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act whereas illegal weapons sales are governed by firearms act. Penalties entail heavy fines as well as lengthy prison sentences.
3. Germany: The Penal Code covers a range of crimes that can be committed on the darknet in Germany—from drug trafficking to data theft. One law also targets hate speech and fake news. In Germany, penalties vary based on the seriousness of the crime.
4. Canada: Canadian law consists of provisions against drug trafficking in Controlled Drugs and Substances Act), illegal weapons sales by persons  (Criminal Code), as well as different forms of cybercrime in the Criminal Code and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. The penalty can range from fines to imprisonment.
5. Australia: Australia’s Criminal Code Act refers to a wide range of offenses, including drug trafficking, illegal weapons sales, and various cybercrimes. The Enhancing Online Safety Act is also important in curtailing cybercrime. Penalties can range from fines to long prison terms depending on the offense.

Final Thoughts! 

While these laws are country-specific, many darknet activities are transnational and things might not always look like they are. A person sitting in Australia, committing regular crimes in Germany might get a different kind of treatment from both ends. So in the end, we can’t say how much imprisonment people might get. But as far as I can tell, the punishment for selling on darknet marketplace might range from 5 years to life imprisonment, no matter which country you’re in.