American Kingpin: An Interview With Nick Bilton

As Dr. Melvin Kranzberg once famously said, “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”

I can’t recall truer words ever spoken. As amazing as smartphones, the Internet, apps, computers, and sensors are, there’s a massive downside. Technology has brought us Twitter trolls and revenge porn, but perhaps Kransberg’s axiom is best manifested in the Dark Web—a disturbing place where just about anything goes.

Curious about what goes on and how the feds took down one of the largest pirate web sites, I recently read American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road (affliate link). In short, the book is amazing and I plowed through it in under a day.

I recently had a chance to sit down with the book’s author, Nick Bilton.

Note that his publisher sent me an advanced copy of the gratis.

Here is our interview.

PS: Congratulations on penning such an excellent and compelling text. I barely know where to begin. Let’s start with background. How much of the story of Silk Road did you know before you decided to write the book?