Since the dark web is filled with people who are against the authorities, wouldn’t it be rather surprising to find out that the dark web is a product of the mind of researchers who work for the US Naval research laboratories? These groups of scientists concluded that the open web is not safe enough for the US military and government in sending information back and forth. They concluded that the open web can b traced and vital information sent across it can be tracked. This gave birth to the now known “dark web”.
So even though criminals make use of the dark web to transact illegally illicit products, thinking it is done outside the reach of the government, the whole of the dark web idea came from the government.
The dark web is a form of a decentralized network of websites that routes every single connection through a series of servers and encrypts every communication along the way. This simply means that the dark web is birthed for the sole purposes of privacy and anonymity.
In 2002, the Tor (The Onion Router) project was launched and it popularized the dark web for the first time. The Tor project made the dark web a place people can visit but it was not an easy thing to navigate. In 2008, Tor released the first Tor browser that made navigating the dark web n easy thing to do. Even though the Tor company believes the Tor browser made dark web navigation smooth, it was still so slow to navigate the dark web as of that time.
In the dark web
Have you ever wondered what happens in the dark web? What do people do visiting a place online where they cannot be seen or watched or tracked by the government? Well, you guessed right, people do almost anything you can think of. Some people just value their privacy that much and so even if they want to play an online game, they would rather have it in the dark web rather than play on the open web.
Some view government as tyrannical and as such, whatever will help them stay off government radar is their thing. These sets of people make use of the dark web for almost everything they do online. Some of these people work for the betterment of citizens where the government is truly tyrannical. Like the Arab spring uprising in 2010. Lots of journalists and whistleblowers made use of the Tor network to share images, audios, and files with the outside world.
The other set of people are those that are making use of the dark web for illegal transactions and dirty jobs. These people sell illicit drugs online via the dark web. They sell fake currency notes, bank account information of honest citizens, and so on. They offer services like assassination services, rent-a-hacker, Ruining other people’s lives services and so on. Sale of products like human parts and child pornography characterizes the transactions these people are involved in. One notable person is Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road. He was arrested and the silk road taken down by the government in 2015. Ross was convicted the same year and he now sits a federal prison in the US. He was able to launder several amounts f money for himself and people. He was also found guilty of conspiracy, hacking and illicit drug sale.
The prevalent set of people
So of the sets of people that make use of the dark web, which of them is more prevalent? Well, the answer is just what you have guessed. The criminals are more prevalent. One can say they form above 70% of dark web users. The figures don’t tell lies. It was found out in 2015 by Thomas Rid and Daniel Moore that the dark web hosts more than 5000 websites, 48% of which are offline or inactive without any content. Out of the remaining 52%, more than half is found to be trading illegal and illicit products. These websites deal with the manufacture, distribution, and sale of illicit drugs and illegally gotten prescription medicines. Some others trade in the stolen bank account information and credit card details, they even launder money and sell counterfeit currency notes. Some sites support extremism and even teach how to be a terrorist. Some sites trade in weaponry of all kinds and sorts. Some websites deal in child pornography, animal and even pornographic materials got without the consent of actors. Some of the sites sell human parts to people while some are offering hit-men services and some others, hacking services.
Since most of these websites are illegal and operate under suspicion, they tend to move shop very quickly and as such the website addresses changes often. This is one characteristic feature of dark web websites, they barely hold domain names for long to evade police and FBI.
Websites in the dark web users the “.onion” as opposed to the “.com” or “.org” and son that the open web makes use of. This makes it impossible to Goggle search any dark web site on the open web. Goggle will find no search results for them. In the dark web, though, there are search engines just like Goggle that can be used to search for web content.
If you must use the dark web, be as cautious as possible so as not to fall victim to hacking. Make use of a good VPN alongside the Tor browser and always stay on the right websites and never share any real information about yourself with anyone or any site on the dark web. The dark web is home to good people as well as criminal and as such, it is only the users that make it either illegal or legal.