Despite a lack of compelling evidence, the world has mostly assumed that villainous North Koreans broke into Sony last year, causing one of the biggest digital meltdowns of all time. But many experts remain skeptical, including one veteran hacker who says he's positive the Russians did it.

Today, a jury found Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht guilty of seven charges related to his alleged role in running the deep-web bazaar for drugs and other contraband. Ulbricht admitted in court to creating the site, but insisted that he sold it to another operator and left the business before the FBI arrested him in 2013.

The army of volunteers that keeps Wikipedia running is comprised mostly of men, many of whom are often obsessively devoted to its upkeep. One such man is Bryan Henderson, known on the encyclopedia as Giraffedata, who would take strong issue with the way he's introduced here.

Kevin Bollaert ruined the lives of many, many women, and he did it on purpose—the 28-year-old San Diego man ran a website that published stolen, naked photos and then charged victims to take them down. This week, he was found guilty of 27 felony charges.

The photo above was taken by Sarah Scurr on November 6, 2006, while Scurr was aboard a cruise ship near Chile's Northern Patagonian Ice Field. The photo below was taken by Marisol Ortiz Elfeldt on the same day, from the same ship, and looks nearly identical to Scurr's—a fact that recently led to a bizarre public row over accusations of plagiarism.

The most lurid detail in the trial of alleged Silk Road boss Ross Ulbricht was discussed in court yesterday, when an attorney read from emails that prosecutors claim show Ulbricht ordering hits on five people from a member of the Hell's Angels. Wired published a transcript of those emails in full—and the exchange sounds like a deep-web update on Léon: The Professional or Kill Bill.

Game developer Brianna Wu has been stalked, tormented, and harassed by GamerGate—the amorphous reactionary movement centered around video game journalism—for months now. But it's never been as frightening as it was this weekend—when she watched a terrifying video made by a deranged fanatic who claims he crashed his car on the way to her home. "I'm worried my husband and I are going to die," she tells me.

This week, Wikipedia's highest governing body finalized its decision regarding the Gamergate encyclopedia page—the subject of a fight nearly as intense and long-running as Gamergate itself. Despite the organization's repeated insistence that it is not taking sides in the conflict, it ruled to punish five editors who were specifically targeted by a coordinated Gamergate attack.

In the Soviet Union during the 1950s, Western music was seen as a form of neo-fascism or "mysticism" that could infect the youth, and was largely banned. But a recent project called X-Ray Audio has collected bootleg records from the U.S.S.R. that were cut onto x-rays illegally and are now beginning to surface on the internet.

For a few minutes this week, Taylor Swift's official Twitter and Instagram accounts were being run by someone who is not Taylor Swift. She's back in control of her social media—but the hacker tells me he obtained private DMs—and nude photographs—and is attempting to sell them to TMZ.

The trial of Ross Ulbricht—the man the federal government says was behind The Silk Road—has been a kind of legal coming-out party for the darker corners of the internet. Jurors have had to acquaint themselves with things like the anonymizing browser Tor, and Ulbricht's surprise defense involved the disgraced founder of a failed Bitcoin operation. But the courts have also had to contend with friendlier facets of web culture, like emoji.

Here's all you need to participate in the web's sloppiest shoe fetish: Your own two feet, a phone with a camera, a fresh pair of Nikes (though anything will do in a pinch), and a few snack packs of messy, gloppy, sexy pudding. Are you ready?

Four months after the release of his comeback LP Syro and days after a revelatory new EP appeared online, it looks like Aphex Twin is again releasing unheard music. On an anonymous Soundcloud account, there are over 70 tracks of music that sounds uncannily like Richard D. James' early, clubby and ambient work—and there's good reason to believe that James is the one uploading it.

Anita Sarkeesian became an involuntary protagonist of the GamerGate saga (and one of its top targets) after merely criticizing the way women are portrayed in videogames. That was last year. Today, one single week's worth of Twitter for her is a horrible, menacing hell.

Ever looked God straight in the eye? Here's the next best thing: the fellow who claims to have broken into Tayla Swift's Twitter account is tweeting what he claims are screenshots of her DMs with the stars. Take a look—just one peek.

It was June 2009. The Glee cast's rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" was the most popular single in America. Swine flu was raging worldwide. The tax day protests that launched the Tea Party began popping up across the U.S. months before. Unbeknownst to all but a handful of devoted Pokémon fans, against that backdrop unspooled a message board thread that ranks among the most perfect in internet history.

Dan Bilzerian, trust fund manchild and 21st century social media luxury icon, has made a pseudo-career for himself through stunning Instagram displays of fast living and risk taking. But it's not just for show: according to a new GQ profile, his house is filled with deadly weapons in every room.

Perhaps you heard over the weekend that Rihanna released a new song in collaboration with Kanye West and Paul McCartney, and if you're like me, you navigated to YouTube this morning hoping to hear it. What you likely found wasn't "FourFiveSeconds," the acoustic duet they actually released, but the G-funk instrumental above. What's going on here?

Wikipedia's entry on Muhammad was first published on November 8, 2001. It was eleven sentences long. Over the next few years, several thousand new words were added and edited, but it wasn't until 2005 that an image of Muhammad was attached: A 16th-century painting depicting the Islamic prophet. Two hours later, the painting was pulled down. The next day, the original uploader reinstated the art, along with a note for the editor who'd removed it: "Pls. explain yourself."

Man comforts himself by pretending the universe is random, else he must accept that it is governed by a ruthless and spiteful God. Colon-killer Denny's runs a successful social media campaign pandering to slobs via tween-approved meme-speak. But when Ragu tries the exact same thing, no one cares. Its flailing attempts are agonizing to behold.