Is Dark Web as Dark as it is Said to Be?

Internet is a vast field out of which 10% is accessible to us. Rest of it is known as deep web and dark web. Even though the sinister-sounding name Dark web is not just a site, it is used to refer some of the lesser-known corners of the internet. The dark web is a place where people sell drugs and stolen information or some rare sections which can’t be googled. But there is much more to it.

The dark web was created by Irish computer scientist Lan Clarke in 1999 called the Freenet to distribute the various type of data in a decentralized way. The structure of the Freenet hides the identity of the creator, which made it attractive to the people who wanted to host anonymous websites.

In brief, dark websites are just like any other website, containing whatever information the owner wants to provide. The difference is, it can only be accessed by special network routing software. These websites don’t end with “.com” or “.org” they contain long strings of letter or number ending with “. Onion” or “. i2p”.

Most of the deep web is used by government agencies, private companies, educational institutes and Medical agencies, Blogs and scientific reports. But a tiny part of it is used to carry out illegal activities like drug trafficking or selling of bank accounts or cards. Sites like silk road use to sell weapons, drugs etc. Due to specific sites, the dark web became infamous.

However, most of the sites listed are concerned with illegal activities. Some of these sites are scams, and so it is not clear how easy it is to buy guns, fake passports and hire hackers from the services listed. But there are likely sites on the dark web where these things are entirely possible.

Although the dark web makes law enforcement agencies’ jobs much more difficult, they have had a great deal of success in bringing down sites and arresting their users and the people behind them. The most famous of these was the arrest of Ross Ulbricht, the person behind the most well-known of the drug markets, Silk Road.

 It’s inaccurate to assume that online crime is based on the dark web or that the only activity on the dark network is dangerous and illegal. It is incorrect to say that the dark web is beyond the reach of the search engine because people use a search engine like tor, i2p etc. to gain access to these websites. Acting on these incorrect assumptions would encourage the government and corporates to want to monitor and police online activity- and would risk giving public support to privacy-invading efforts.

Written By- Ansuman