Czech Police Seized a Tor-Based Social Network
Atlayo, according to the author of a blog post on Secrets of the Dark, is “a social media site on Tor which emphasizes free speech and anonymity.”
Its UI looks a lot like Facebook’s, which isn’t uncommon with these Tor social networks. Like Facebook, it has a chat feature, groups, pages, etc. The main difference is that most people don’t use their real names, and people’s interests seem to center around certain things: hacking, coding, anarchy, and sometimes things like self-harm.
Users could access Atlayo over Tor using the onion address <code>atlayofke5rqhsma.onion</code> or through atlayo.com. Additionally, Atlayo operated its own search engine at <code>xvwhmrw3sgwwmkko.onion</code>. Both onion services are offline and atlayo.com has little to no function beyond displaying a seizure banner.
Some Atlayo users, according to the Copenhagen Police, created Facebook-like groups that functioned as storefronts for various drug vendors.
According to an inspector with a special investigative unit of the Copenhagen Police, drug users purchased a total of 4.5 kilograms of cocaine, three kilograms of MDMA, five kilograms of methamphetamine, 3,500 ecstasy pills, and 40 kilograms of cannabis through the social network.
Authorities arrested two Roskilde residents—a 23-year-old and a 29-year-old—in connection with the investigation into Atlayo. Both men have been accused of creating and operating the social network. A police inspector revealed, during a hearing for the two suspects in police custody, that the Copenhagen Police had identified one more suspect. It appears as if the police have not yet arrested the third suspect and his role in the administration of Atlayo is currently unknown.
Copenhagen Police led the investigation in Denmark and the National Drug Headquarters assisted in the Czech Republic. According to Berlingske, a Danish newspaper and media outlet, Atlayo was hosted on servers in Czechia (and is currently hosted at Wedos, one of the largest webhosts and domain registrars in the country). The A record for atlayo.com changed on June 5, 2020—the date authorities took control of the site. The full extent of the National Drug Headquarters’ involvement is unknown.
“I don’t know how much money they got out of it or if that is necessarily the motive. In this environment you meet many kinds of people who have different motives,” Deputy Police Inspector Torben Henriksen with the Copenhagen Police told Berlingske.
The Atlayo case is notably the first of its kind for Danish police; it is the first drug-related onion service shut down by law enforcement in Denmark. They have taken other onions offline, though, including sites promoting child sexual exploitation.
Authorities in Denmark have been arresting suspected users of Atlayo (for alleged drug crimes) for several months now. They arrested seven suspected users since February 2020. And an investigation into the social network’s users is ongoing.
Comments (10)
where2020-07-10032f7d00
where can i find these based sites? darknetlive and darkfail dont show many sites
DPR2020-07-106087dfb0
Why its illigal to create a social media site on TOR? Why they arrest the admins becouse people create shops there? Should they arrest Mark Zuckenberg if someone tries to sell drugs on Facebook?
сумасшедшая2020-07-11d52ed0f0
Captain CookThu, Jul 9, 2020 "Both men have been accused of creating and operating a social network." So it has come to this... my exact thought, things are getting crazy. at what point do people say this is not okay and we have some civil involvement
Voice-of-Reason2020-07-123bb163f0
@DPR, Should they arrest Mark Zuckerberg if someone tries to sell drugs on Facebook? No; MZ didn't create Facebook for the express purpose of people buying and selling drugs on it. That's the difference between this site being taken down and these admins arrested vs Facebook continuing to operate and their admins remaining free: intent. FB has in place very stringent Community Guidelines by which the users agree to abide (or at the very least, agree to not blatantly disregard); guidelines which FB has a well-documented history of removing users for violating. Such guidelines show evidence of intent to any authorities which might come looking, and their record of removing noncompliant users provides the legal standing they would need to remain operational should any agency attempt to shut them down. And last, lest we forget, FB is willing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in every jurisdiction in which they operate. Alternatively, by running a social media platform on Tor instead of the clearnet, it is understood that the admins running the site from this article wished to bypass any legal repurcussions for both their own actions as well as those of their site's userbase. Furthermore, even if they did not originally intend to facilitate the buying and selling of illegal goods on their platform, neither did they put in place any roadblocks that might have prevented their users from doing so. Nor did they, upon vendor stores being created, ever remove those stores or the users that created them, further indicating at best an apathy toward their users' criminal activities and worst implicating themselves as active co-conspirators in such. I'm not saying that they deserve to be in jail or that I necessarily agree with the law as it exists; I'm only answering your very valid question. @CaptainCook, "at what point do people say this is not okay and we have some civil involvement" Do you have any suggestions? @HOLYSHIT, Please do shut up. Let's leave the hysteria and the theatrics for Dread, shall we? No need to create pandemonium here with such irrelevant - not to mention likely inaccurate - drivel.
Voice-of-Freedom2020-08-076c07c9a0
@Voice-of-Reason > No; MZ didn’t create Facebook for the express purpose of people buying and selling drugs on it. That’s the difference between this site being taken down and these admins arrested vs Facebook continuing to operate and their admins remaining free: intent. Not every site on darknet is focused on selling drugs on it. In Atlayo, as article says, people’s interests were centered around certain things: hacking, coding, anarchy, and sometimes things like self-harm. Please quote their tos if you are sure they did not forbid selling drugs there. > FB has in place very stringent Community Guidelines by which the users agree to abide (or at the very least, agree to not blatantly disregard); guidelines which FB has a well-documented history of removing users for violating. Just like in every other social network, on Atlayo you could get banned too for tos violation. You compare monopolistic corp able to hire over 40 000 employees to independent alternative run by two people. > FB is willing to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in every jurisdiction in which they operate. No problem, take a look at Protonmail, they also cooperate with LE and have onion service. If you are as a service not able to provide enough information about your users, it does not imply you break the law. Maybe only in fucked up US or other police state. > Alternatively, by running a social media platform on Tor instead of the clearnet, it is understood that the admins running the site from this article wished to bypass any legal repurcussions for both their own actions as well as those of their site’s userbase. No it is absolutely not understood by running it on Tor. Judge should laugh at you for that argument. It would make services like Securedrop (run by e.g. Forbes, BuzzFeed, The Guardian) also illegal with that logic. > Furthermore, even if they did not originally intend to facilitate the buying and selling of illegal goods on their platform, neither did they put in place any roadblocks that might have prevented their users from doing so. Nor did they, upon vendor stores being created, ever remove those stores or the users that created them, further indicating at best an apathy toward their users’ criminal activities and worst implicating themselves as active co-conspirators in such. Please give then proofs they did not removed stores after abuse report. They like Facebook are also not obligated to search for users violating tos. Nor they are able to with limited resources. Nor Facebook is also able to handle all of its users. You just attempt to justify FE to make every Facebook alternative illegal.
@Voice-Of-Reason2020-07-146cee3f20
Seems like LE (you) is explaining itself here. IMO that's good. But be honest: Wouldn't you like more to catch actual criminals ? Like Murders, Child Molesters, Human Traffickers, Fraudsters, Arms sellers ? Science has teached us already 10 years ago, that drugs aren't as bad as they are portrayed in media. Alcohol, the one drug that is legal, is worse than 90\% of the illegal drugs. Please, come to your senses, and pursue the real criminals again. We appreciate your work, we REALLY do. Especially in times like this, with Corona. But we can't understand why you want to put Weed smokers in jail. They are the most harmless people in the world.
Captain Cook2020-07-10fbbf9ba0
"Both men have been accused of creating and operating a social network." So it has come to this...