The exponential growth of technology and, more specifically, worldwide communication systems has created a vortex in which the authority sworn to protect the masses must act in response, rather than by foresight to deter future crime.
While it may not have made mainstream news, America lost a major battle in the war on privacy. On Friday, Ross Ulbricht, a young man of 31 years of age, was sentenced to life in prison. He was the creator of the underground website, Silk Road. Operating under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts," Ulbricht had successfully programmed a website only accessible by hacking a Tor drive, which let users anonymously buy and sell anything from drugs to hacking tutorials. 
The presiding judge, Katherine B. Forrest publicly exclaimed her adamancy in making an example of Ulbricht, in part, to deter others from committing similar crimes.
"There must be no doubt that no one is above the law," Forrest said. And she is right. Our founding fathers laid their lives on the line, not for their personal benefit, but for the dream that one day all peoples could be free from oppression in a free and civilized society. Ulbricht is guilty according to the law, there is no question of that. However, in this democracy I would like to pose two straightforward questions. Why must one man rot in prison for creating the means by which others illegally find an end? And if his appeal is rejected, what does this mean for the future of our society?
Ulbricht is a graduate of Penn State, a prestigious university whose reputation was called into question only two years ago when Jerry Sandusky, an assistant coach for the Nittany Lions was exposed as ringleader in an underground child molestation circuit. Sandusky's charges fit the crime. Ross Ulbricht, instead, faces a similar lifelong sentence for inventing something that gave individuals the privacy and anonymity to act as they pleased.
Consider this, Ross Ulbricht accumulated wealth from the collective traffic his site generated. There is no concrete proof connecting him to the drug dealers and human traffickers who used his website for their personal gain. Yet, this man is now sentenced to serve hard time for the rest of his days.
Did he make the drugs? Did he transport them? Did he consume them? No, the only act he can be held responsible is programming a platform for all of this to occur anonymously. Think of other platforms upon which online users connect in mutual benefit. Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook originally to rate fellow classmates attractiveness. His social media website has exploded into a beast that now consumes the time and effort of over 1 billion people. It is impossible to deny that there have been cases of individuals using false profiles in order to obtain illegal nude photos of minors. Why then must Ross Ulbricht waste away in prison for the crimes of people he could not even hope to identify when Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest billionaire on the planet lives freely while acts of sexual perversion occur before the masses of online media to see?
What this isolated situation boils down to is part of a growing trend in American society. The Land of the Free is becoming an incarceration state before our very eyes. While the United States accounts for only five percent of the world's population, we account for 25 percent of the world's prison population. These cold hard facts send shivers down my spine. It seems ever apparent on the nightly news that the powers that be are using excessive force and rights far beyond their granted authority in order to police our free society as they deem fit. Meanwhile, whistleblowers like Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning are demonized as America-hating communists instead of being hailed as heroes for exposing the government for the corruption they have notoriously exacerbated as our nation matures in this rapidly evolving world. Our founding fathers are rolingl over in their graves.
I believe in an America where all individuals should be free to say and do to themselves however they please, as stated in our Constitution. It is a sad truth, but Ross Ulbricht is yet another martyr in this sinister war on the American people's liberty. We must never forget the strength our great citizens wield when it comes to seizing the rights we all deserve. One day we will rise, and for what it is worth, the voice of our people will be heard.
