What is the dark web? How to access it and what you'll find
The dark web is part of the internet that isn't visible to search engines and requires the use of an anonymizing browser called Tor to be access.
THE DEEP WEB AND THE DARK WEB
When most of us think of the internet, we imagine day-to-day activities like watching a video, checking the news or booking a vacation online. However, under the surface lies a shadowy corner of the web where terrorists, criminals, and whistleblowers lurk.
INSIDE THE DEEP WEB
The Deep Web refers to any website that cannot be readily accessed through any conventional search engine such as Google or Yahoo! Search The reason for this is because the content has not been indexed by the search engine in question.
In layman’s terms, the Deep Web is just another ‘level’ of the internet. Residing below the “surface,” it is the deepest level of the internet.
Web Indexing Explained
Indexing is best explained through contemporary search engine Google and its robust, high-performance system of indexing. Google’s indexing methods rely largely on a process referred to as “crawling,” which is akin to a virtual spider crawling amongst the multitude of pages on a website that is readily accessed by clicked links.
A cursory scan is implemented, thus rendering the pages’ content to a format that can be sent to Google’s massive index servers, at which point the data is contextually organized and entered into a collective of algorithms that comprise the search engine.
If a website is not indexec by a search engine, it can only be accessed by navigating directly to the URL via a link or typing in the exact web address in to a web browser.
WHAT’S ON THE DEEP WEB?
The hidden world of the Deep Web contains a plethora of data, information, and a wealth of possibilities, including but not limited to the following:
- The internal sites of major companies, associations, and trade organizations
- The school, college, and university intranet systems
- Access to online databases
- Password-protected websites with members-only access
- Paywall enshrouded pages
- Timed access pages such as those found on online test-taking sites
- Circumventing paywalls for blocked digital content
- An individual’s personal account for social media, email, banking, and more
WHY DO WEBSITES USE THE DEEP WEB?
What the above all have in common is that their information is not intended for public consumption. The owners of the content may go to great lengths to render the information inaccessible by ensuring it doesn’t show up in internet browser search results.
It is worth noting that the Deep Web is not always illegal and there are plenty of activities taking place that are entirely within the context of the law. Activities such as those listed below are commonplace on the Deep Web, with a membership often comprised of in-the-know internet users well-versed in accessing the Deep Web.
- Social Media, Blogging, Text and Voice Chat
- International tournament-style games such as Chess and Backgammon
- Survivalist-type, end-of-world groups
- Book clubs, fan clubs, video game clubs
- Hidden Answers – a popular Deep Web version of Yahoo Answers
- Public records and certificates, library system indexes
- Communicating via encrypted use to ensure privacy and protection
- Karaoke and Singing Competitions
- Conspiracy theorist groups and preferred “home” bases
- Computer and technology skills classes and courses
INSIDE THE DARK WEB
Known throughout the world as the Dark Net, the Dark Internet, or most commonly, the Dark Web, this corner of the internet lies within the deepest points of the internet abyss.
Accessing the Dark Web requires a certain degree of savvy internet prowess, with a required list of steps that must be taken to not only enter this enshrouded world while maintaining the utmost privacy.
How to Access The Dark Web
In an effort to maintain privacy, Dark World visitors commonly utilize specialized anonymity software such as Tor to mask their identity. Traditionally, when an internet user visits any site that exists on the world wide web, they are tracked via their Internet Protocol (IP) address.
In stark contrast, surfing the Dark Web is an entirely different matter altogether, with masking software used to render a personal computer anonymous while masking identity, location, IP address, and more.
Who Uses The Dark Web?
The Dark Web has historically been a realm that has been accessed by a small minority of internet users. Out of the billions of internet users accessing the internet on an everyday basis, Dark Web use remains around3 percent.
While usage of the Dark Web may seemingly be minuscule, the network’s individuals, businesses, and various trafficking organizations have rendered it a highly powerful force that has resulted in countless internet users desperately wanting to access the Dark Web and to ultimately become a part of its anonymous user base.
What is Available on The Dark Web?
The Dark Web remains incredibly attractive to internet users for a wide range of reasons. The enshrouded nature and complex methodology required to access this world have effectively made it a secret world, full of salacious activity, black markets, sights, and perks limited to a select few.
THE FUTURE OF THE DARK WEB
Popular website Gizmodo released an article this March titled “The Dark Web is Disappearing.” The author, Bryan Menegus, starts off by stating that the Dark Web is now mostly full of useless garbage and that Tor is on its way to obscurity.
He illustrates this claims via comprehensive search probes conducted by Onionscan to query a database of upwards of thirty thousand Tor sites. Onionscan’s findings showed that only a little over four thousand sites (15%) were actually online and operating.
The lack of sites has led many, including Menegus, to believe that Tor and its counterparts are on the way to obscurity, with an increasing number of users ditching the services and its many drawbacks. The idea that Tor is headed towards obscurity in stark contrast to a press release that they released just last month where they claimed they had made great strides in growth and progress.
Former Dark Web Service Giants
These opposing statements can make it impossible to accurately gauge what’s really going on. However, we can predict Tor’s possible demise by looking at the untimely disappearances of two associated services: SIGAINT and Freedom Hosting II. If these two giant companies failed and disappeared, Tor can very well be headed towards the same downward path.
The Fate of Freedom Hosting II
Freedom Hosting II’s fate was sealed when it was accused of hosting child pornography sites. An activist or activist group hacked Freedom Hosting II, and the site crashed in a short time, taking over ten thousand hosted websites with it.
The Fate of SIGAINT
SIGAINT was a player on the Dark Web as well and was considered to be among the most popular and ubiquitous dark web email servers, favored by many individuals with an array of illicit interests.
Despite its immense popularity, SIGAINT had a shoddy performance record and was intermittently available, creating widespread frustration amongst users. The lackluster performance of SIGAINT went on for months and finally culminated in a period of downtime from which it never returned. With its demise, SIGAINT took with it millions of email correspondence that has been rendered lost forever.
Since SIGAINT’s disappearance from the Dark Web, other companies have taken its place and are lauded by users for providing the kind of consistent, reliable service that SIGAINT lacked.
The tandem loss of SIGAINT and Freedom Hosting II sent waves around the Dark Web community and has led many to speculate that Tor may very well shut down its operation and be replaced with a more viable contender without the many drawbacks found in using Tor.
THE DEEP WEB TODAY
The Deep Web will always exist, as it is merely a “locale” within the internet that holds all the hidden content that isn’t crawled by Google and similar web search engines.
While the Dark Web is highly associated with illicit, illegal, and immoral activities, itis often more generic in nature and is loosely defined by its collective of hidden sites, accessed by various individuals, many of them with innocuous reasons such as maintaining privacy, security, and safety.
Browsing the Deep Web is now easier than ever.
The Tor web browser is one of the leading ways to access the Deep Web today. Many users are now also Tor along with VPN tunnels for heightened security and privacy.
There are also a number of Tor-style plug-ins that can be used with major web browsers. It’s worth noting that using Tor or a Tor-style plug-in is something necessary to access the deep and dark web.
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