A team of cryptographers and developers want to create a website where anyone can sell data sets to the highest bidder. “You’ll hate it,” is the slogan of the service, which is accessible via Tor. Payments are made via Bitcoin.
Who wants to leak a file to the highest bidder, must upload it to Slur, a marketplace for data. There are no restrictions on the type of data that is offered or the motives of the seller, says spokesman Thom Lauret of U99, the group cryptographers and developers behind the website. The design of the site is to “subvert and destabilize the established order“.
The website expects stolen databases, source code for proprietary software, zero-day exploits and other confidential documents, as well as “unflattering” pictures and videos of celebrities. Only the highest bidder will get the data, and then may choose to release the data, or just to keep it hidden. Large companies may be able to deposit money to keep leaks from publicity. In order to stem this, the website allows users to create a form of crowd sourcing/bidding that creates a larger bidding deposit .
Slur.io ensures that “whistleblowers” are to remain completely anonymous, and compensated. “Slur introduces a balanced system with the material interests of whistleblowers protected in exchange for the risks they take” said spokesman Lauret. Datasets can only be offered once.
To prevent false claims are made about the content of the data, the buyer can see the data before the seller gets the money. If the buyer is not happy with the content, you can start an arbitration involving other members to vote from the community about the content. If they agree with the buyer, the buyer gets his money back.
Payments are made via Bitcoin and the site will only be accessible via Tor to keep out the different governments. The developers do not expect to be targeted by the government because source code would fall under free speech and they do not claim to benefit from data that is sold on the site. The question is whether the American government agrees; the site is now based in San Francisco.
The developers of the website hope they get public money to pay for the development of the platform. In April, a beta version of the site was to be opened, and should follow a full release in July.