The Dark Web is a hidden segment of the internet that can only be accessed utilizing unique software most often Tor (The Onion Router) though also I2P (Invisible Internet Project) and Freenet. These applications provide the user with a high degree of anonymity by encoding and rerouting the internet traffic through several switches, hence making it hard to find the user or the website.
While the surface web can be easily accessed through Google or other search engines, which index the pages, the Dark Web contains concealed web pages that end with “.onion” or other unusual extensions that cannot be accessed using standard web browsers.
The underside of the internet otherwise referred to as the Dark web is however recognizable to many for its illegal activities including the trade in drugs, counterfeit goods, and even the selling of weapons.
However, the Dark web corresponds to several other significantly useful functionalities.
Some of these may be even necessary for communication purposes between journalists, activists, and whistleblowers who operate in regions with minimal or no freedom of speech. Effectively in these situations, the facilities offered by the dark web can serve to conceal people’s identities, and facilitate the exchange of critical and vulnerable information safely.
The Dark Web extends far beyond simply being a safe place to communicate. It is also helpful in many ways to researchers, even cybersecurity personnel or government officials. Stakeholders implement the Dark Web in cracking down on certain crimes committed online, engaging in various intelligence operations, and researching the cyberscape to enhance security within the community.
Some university scholars may also muck around on the Dark Web, looking for information that is not easily attainable anywhere else, even the bookshop, thanks to the nature of the subject, such as sociology or criminology, which requires the study of societies including deviant ones.
Sitting right under the surface of the media projected attention towards underground markets, the Dark Web is equally an archive of useful information. Several of the universities, research centers, and repositories have an overlay network that has restricted access to where academic papers, research materials, and publications can be located. These materials include databases, research papers, and periodicals in fields of high interest to scholars, researchers, and students needing to access otherwise classified or limited information.
The Dark Web, little known to many, offers the academic community a private and secure digital space where it can interact freely with complex data that may not be appropriate for the open web. People doing research in areas such as political or social sciences, and cyber defense have these databases at their disposal to research various topics, from the societal aspect to technological aspects, while safe from data tracing or disruption.
This is yet another example of how knowledge exchange and scholarly activities can thrive in privacy-destructive networks, where the internet is generally unfriendly to both in most countries.
Dark Web sites, which usually come with “.onion” endings, are very high on volatility and may regularly get offline or change their locations. The causes for this turmoil include but are not limited to the response from law agencies who try to curtail illegal activities, technical limitations of designs that favor anonymity, and even the willingness of the owners to move or close down their websites completely.
For users, this means that even a popular resource in the Dark Network can somehow cease its work or migrate to another location without any warning, thus maintaining stable access proves to be a great challenge.
The ignorance and unpredictability do not end here, as the level of organization and secrecy in the Dark Web is very much different. The surface web, for example, uses a fixed domain layer and hosting architecture, whereas the sites on the Dark Web work on a peer-to-peer basis, where the volunteers can turn off their nodes any moment they wish.
Such a dynamic environment poses an even greater threat to an individual or organization’s ability to monitor or use any tools available on the Dark Web, regardless of whether it is for academic purposes, secure messaging, or some other use.
People often mix up the Dark Web and the Deep Web, but they both have different functions as well as contrasting features. The Deep Web includes any content found on the internet that cannot be reached by common search engines like Google and Yahoo, this includes information sources such as medical records, academic, editorial notice boards, business websites, and secured data, among others. Such materials fall under the Deep Web simply because they are not available to the general public for reasons of confidentiality or for the sake of viewing them, one needs certain parameters.
On the contrary, the Dark Web is a much minuscule, manually concealed area of the Deep Web that is accessed via certain browsers such as Tor or I2P. The way how this layer was made does not favor any information sharing without anonymity which is a perfect zone for people with information that requires high security whether that information is good or bad.
Similar to how normal deep web content is simply content that search engines do not index, contents on the dark web go a step further and are encrypted and routed so that they are not retrievable by a simple search. The difference is that while all dark web contents are deep web works, not all deep web contents are dark web works as the former entails having special tools for access and high toxicity.
Constant modification aptly summarizes the state of affairs in the dark web. Features are continually being added by developers to create even better websites that will still support the demand for anonymity.
One such example is SecureDrop, a system developed for journalists to protect the identity of their sources, primarily allowing them to submit classified files over the web. Such services are required to provide a means of communication under circumstances where a person is likely to be observed, or in the case of a repressive state, where access to the internet is highly regulated.
With the rise in paranoia about surveillance and the need for data privacy, there has been a healthier use of the dark net for noble purposes. These platforms, being secure, give discomforted activists or journalists a chance to share secrets without the risk of getting caught. In addition to nurturing freedom of expression, such advancement is indicative of a broader trend geared toward protecting every individual’s right to privacy in cyberspace.
The implications are that the dark net has its righteous side where there are privacy protection services as well as communication that is not meant for any illegitimate causes.
The Dark Web is a section of the internet that is beyond understanding in terms of its dynamics, and its usage is well avoided by most. While it is true that some areas of the World Wide Web have black markets and other such content, a good deal of it is also used for safe, private communication. This is a place for people who wish to be anonymous, whether it is for personal reasons, to avoid being watched, or for safe exchanges of information.
This concealed fragment of the 'virtual sphere' possesses both danger and promise, being riddled with the dangers of criminal activities, mainly geared towards information gathering and dissemination, which of course in some cases is a positive usefulness.
While the use of such a platform may seem trivial to many, where communication is rather freely enjoyed, it is an integral aspect to most societies that many foiled measures to oppress speech, such as the use of the internet, including the Dark Net. Thus, it is both coveted for its necessity and feared for its potential to be abused in this age of information control.
