--- title: What Is Silk Road? Refresh Your Memory as Ross Ulbricht Goes to Trial description: TIME explained the Deep Web in a 2013 cover story canonical: https://time.com/3649919/ross-ulbricht-silk-road/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-13T12:00:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:04:03.221Z article:section: History og:title: What Was Silk Road? Refresh Your Memory as Ross Ulbricht Goes to Trial og:description: TIME explained the Deep Web in a 2013 cover story. og:url: https://time.com/3649919/ross-ulbricht-silk-road/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf426705fd664988/69877798428a9e8e0bcc654c/1101131111_600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Nov. 11, 2013, cover of TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Was Silk Road? Refresh Your Memory as Ross Ulbricht Goes to Trial twitter:description: TIME explained the Deep Web in a 2013 cover story. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf426705fd664988/69877798428a9e8e0bcc654c/1101131111_600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Was Silk Road? Refresh Your Memory as Ross Ulbricht Goes to Trial  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 13, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  The Nov. 11, 2013, cover of TIME The Nov. 11, 2013, cover of TIMECover Credit: ILLUSTRATION BY JUSTIN METZ FOR TIME  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jan 13, 2015 12:00 PM UTC Ross Ulbricht’s trial for his alleged role as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” the owner of the shadowy online market place Silk Road, is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Ulbricht was [indicted](http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/February14/RossUlbrichtIndictmentPR.php) last year for operating the site, which allowed users to buy and sell drugs anonymously. He was charged with narcotics conspiracy, engaging in criminal enterprise, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and money laundering conspiracy. As part of the indictment, Ulbricht is accused of running the website on “The Onion Router,” concealing IP addresses and hiding the locations of Bitcoin transmissions. If all that sounds complicated, that’s because it is. Shortly after Ulbricht’s arrest, TIME’s Lev Grossman and Jay Newton-Small profiled Silk Road and the world in which it operated. As they explained, there’s a reason the details are difficult to nail down. After all, that’s the whole point: --- > “” --- **_Read the rest of the story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Deep Web](http://time.com/vault/issue/2013-11-11/spread/28/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3649919/ross-ulbricht-silk-road/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3649919/ross-ulbricht-silk-road/"},"headline":"What Was Silk Road? 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