Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Darknet/Deepweb



The World Wide Web is an amazing place. You might use it daily for services like music, social networking, shopping, and things like that. Yet the World Wide Web has a darker side to it. A place that people that are confident being behind a screen can play in sick ways. This is not meant to scare or repulse you, but rather to educate you and maybe make you feel appreciative of some public and government restrictions.

So, what is the darknet or deep web?

The darknet is an international network that is parallel to the World Wide Web with a fine line of separation. The darknet prides itself on its complete anonymous use and hidden services. The network accomplishes this by having its network host with no indexes. This means that web search providers like google will not find the sites on the darknet. Because google looks for indexes to label and add a site to its inventory, the darknet can stay away from the unknowing public. This does not mean that normal people cannot access it. In fact, you can easily get there with minimal help. Weather you like the underground experience or not are up to you.

Some services that are offered on the dark web include the purchase of drugs (LSD, acid, cocaine, heroin, and marijuana), stolen goods, guns, pirated videos and music, prostitution, pornography, and people finding services. All of these are unsightly calling cards of the online black market that is almost as easy to use as ebay. They even ship these thing to you through popular shipping services like Fed Ex, NPS, and UPS. Yet, a service that stood out to me was the hit men services. Some of the details of this service were prices for an assassination of a person based on their ranking in society. These prices were ranked from a citizen for $15,000 to a political official for $3,500,000. This is the dark market for sick gains and sick people.

 For a place with this level of illegal activity, it must have great security to still be running, right? Yes, this network has anonymous written all over it. It is not that government agencies like the FBI cannot find the network, it is that all of the interactions of the market are so untraceable that they cannot find out who bought or sold the services that go on there. Every site on this network is given a random URL to display and then that URL is changed routinely. Then to add to that, the market uses a completely anonymous form of currency called bitcoins. Bitcoins are one hundred percent underground made currency that can be traded for any currency world wide. They are also special in the fact that the transfers of this currency is untraceable. These places are growing daily.

 Some of these extremely popular websites are www.torproject.org, The Hidden Wiki, and The Silk Road Anonymous Market Place. All of these sites have been recommended as black market trading sites by online forums like 4chan.com. I HIGHLY DISCOURAGE anyone from visiting any of the previously mentioned sites, because they are portals to the darknet. Yet, I think that it is good for everyone to be able to recognize these sites and steer clear of them.

Sources:
http://thegeeksnetwork.blogspot.com/2012/12/deep-web-internets-dark-side_2667.html
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/life/shopping-on-the-dark-web-pure-drugs-and-plastic-explosives/
https://www.torproject.org/
http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion.to/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/07/online-black-market-drug-haven-sees-growth-double
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2 comments:

  1. Ben WilliamsMarch 10, 2013 at 9:49 PM

    That is very interesting. I have never heard of the darknet or the deep net. I am glad that I have read this so that I can look out for sites like those. Also I have always wondered how people have gotten illegal guns so easily. Now it all makes sense. It saddens me though that people have corrupted something like the internet. However, it is probably impossible for it not to be since it is in contact with so many people. I wonder how many things in life do we think are uncorrupted, but are actually contaminated with the worst of society?

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  2. AnonymousMarch 17, 2013 at 7:50 AM

    I had never heard of the darknet. This is kind of scary, when you think about it. There is a whole other world out there on the internet, and it is all based off of anonymity and not-so-good stuff. It is sad that this has happenned and that there can be such evil in the world. Why do poeple need the illegal drugs, guns, and pirated videos? I wish there was a way to help get rid of it, but since it is so anonymous, I see no way. I hope that this will become less corrupted in some way or another.

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