Screenshot Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after being convicted of running the dark web marketplace Silk Road. His family have set up the twitter account @RealRossU, which relays messages Ulbricht dictates from prison. The account has helped get over 55,000 signatures for a petition asking for clemency for Ulbricht. His supporters argue Silk Road was no different to eBay and it's not his fault that people used it to sell drugs. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, is dictating messages from prison that his family are delivering to the outside world via Twitter. The Twitter account @RealRossU was opened in June and sent its first tweet on July 19.