Did Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht Deserve Life in Prison? Deep Web Director Alex Winter Speaks

"The drug war and cyber war are two of the most mis-prosecuted and misunderstood and contentious areas of law that we face in America today," says Alex Winter, director of the recent documentary Deep Web. "And Ross Ulbricht is smack in the middle."

Winter sat down with Reason TV's Zach Weissmueller to talk about his film, which chronicles the rise and fall of the online black market Silk Road and the life of its founder, Ulbricht.

Winter discussed his opinion of Ulbricht's character ("kaleidoscopic" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbo-KIInFbw&t=0m57s)); of the life sentence handed down by a federal justice ("tantamount to torture" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbo-KIInFbw&t=8m29s)); whether Ulbricht really ordered hits against Silk Road's enemies ("hard to say" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbo-KIInFbw&t=3m58s)); and what the Silk Road represents in the broader history of the Internet ("the next big watershed technology" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbo-KIInFbw&t=8m42s)..)

Deep Web is available to watch on Epix and will be available on iTunes and all other VOD platforms on September 1.

Approximately 10 minutes.

Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Interview by Zach Weissmueller. Music by Segfult.

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