Did you know that whatever you conventionally surf on your browser is just 10% of the Internet?
Let us start with the basics, shall we.
Let’s start with a simple analogy, shall we?
This is Ram. Ram has a job, and is a model citizen. He does not break rules, and has all the identification documents issued by the Government. He can be traced by the legal agencies if needed, because they have the details of his identity from the documents he is given.
Ram is a conventional website. Websites are indexed by Google and Bing and other search engines. They are easily traceable and do not undertake in illegal activity.
This is Ramesh. Ramesh works paycheck to paycheck. He has a day job and is paid daily. He has no identification papers, and is not registered with the government agencies. He does not take part in illegal activities, and the government does not really care about identifying him either.
Ramesh is the deep web. All the websites that are not indexed by the search engines. Many of these websites are not hyperlinked and are skipped by the search engines, and some of them are just password protected. Not really nefarious, but not registered.
This is Mohan. Mohan is an illegal immigrant, and on top of that takes part in all the criminal activities – at a price. The government wants to find him and punish him, but they cannot, because there are thousands of safe houses that are spread across the country. The police know that there are safe houses, but do not know the addresses of these houses.
Mohan is the dark web. A place where criminal activities are rampant, and websites hide their IP addresses, and they are not indexed under conventional web search engines.
But if they are so hard to find, how do people access them?
Just like in real life. You need special access to get to these websites, and usually, a special browser that hides even your identity is used. As soon as you get to these websites, you are by default a part of something illegal. Just like walking into the safe house of a gangster. You are not doing anything illegal, but the police will presume you know what happened inside the safe house.
Here are some important nuances about the dark web.
1. A lot of people on the dark web are also good people – political dissidents, activists, whistleblowers who want to leak info, journalists and just normal people looking around.
The dark web is the reason we have had leaks and heard the truth about our politicians. In the day of online surveillance by governments, dark web lets people do good under the rug.
2. Any website that is hacked and accounts with passwords that are leaked are leaked first on the dark web.
Any news you find about hacked websites is actually days and weeks old. The info is usually leaked on the dark web before anywhere else.
3. Anything and everything is claimed to be sold on the dark web – drugs, guns, passports, currency, bitcoins, child porn.
And this includes weight loss pills, old video game emulators, antique relics. Authentic or not – you are the judge. Many of them are hoaxes, and are there just to lure innocent amateurs into losing bitcoins. There is no way you can pursue a legal case if you were duped.
4. Dark web users even employ custom operating systems to make sure that they are not traceable.
5. The Deep Web has also helped governments in catching terrorists and criminals.
The government keeps a keen eye on this network now.
6. If you are not a geek, you can fall into the trap of a hacker who has posted a link that looks harmless.
And after you click on it, poof! A malware is loaded and your computer is compromised. And you didn’t even realize it happened.
7. There are websites that offer assassin services too.
Hitmen are for hire and obviously, come for a lot of money.
8. You can also hire robbers and burglars too
If you want to get a place robbed, you can get them for a lot of money, but they are paid services.
Fact Source
The dark web is a very bad place, but it is a place that is away from any oversight whatsoever. That is the principle on which it is based – that a man is free to access whatever information he wants – without a legal agency monitoring his IP address. As long as he is surfing and not partaking in something illegal, this type of browsing is completely acceptable in many countries.
But is it really right to give a normal human being all access to any information? Especially the ones who are not really trained well to handle the information efficiently?
