Only illegal business is done on the Darknet? Not true, even if the headlines are mostly about it. Google & Co. only know part of the internet. What the search engines do not automatically record is called the deep web. And then there’s the dark web, which is technically a completely encrypted area of the internet. The mighty parallel universe Darknet does not only serve illegal purposes. This is how access works.
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“Google knows everything”, you must not misunderstand this sentence. For almost every Internet surfer, search engines such as Bing or Google are the gateway to the web: what appears in the result lists is clicked on, what is not prominently found there on the first few pages of the hit list is ignored. But even if the information seeker took the trouble to click on all the links presented, they would only see a fraction of what can be found on the Internet. Because Google & Co. are inevitably not omniscient. Anyone who wants to hide something on the web from the search engines can easily do so.
Darknet: Secret Societies of the Internet
The operators of the Darknet and Deep Web also take advantage of this fact. The idea behind the online Darknets is similar to the concept of secret societies and hidden lodges in the real world and initially has nothing to do with illegal machinations: Only those who are personally known to at least one lodge member are admitted to the meetings.
These take place in places that are more or less open to the public, but only the insiders know what is happening, when and where. Applied to the Internet, this means that Darknets rely on the same technology as all other Internet services – websites, e-mail, file sharing – and would in principle be accessible to everyone. Provided he uses the right software and knows what and who to look for.
What is the dark web?
Imagine an ocean. All you can see from the air is the so-called surface web, the part of the internet that is made visible by search engines and where most users are navigating. You can think of the deep web as the part below the surface. Part of the deep web is encrypted and not easily accessible with any browser. This is the dark web.
How do you get into the dark web?
The easiest way to access the dark web is with the Tor Browser. It is based on Firefox and hooks into the Tor network, a huge anonymization network. Tor Browser allows anonymous access to “normal” websites and also to so-called onion sites. The latter cannot be reached without a gate.
What is illegal on the Deep Web?
Just because Google & Co. ignore the Deep Web doesn’t automatically make everything illegal. If you concentrate on the Darknet, i.e. the encrypted part of the Deep Web, things look different. Not everything is illegal there either, but a large part is. Whistleblowers, journalists & Co. also use encryption to protect themselves, but so do criminals. There is basically everything organized crime that you can imagine there, drugs, weapons, but of course also pirated copies or hijacked Netflix accounts.
What is Tor Browser?
Tor Browser is a browser that allows you to browse the dark web. He relies on Firefox and simply connects to the Tor network. Incidentally, you can also use the Tor Browser for normal surfing to ensure maximum anonymity.
How Much Bigger is the Deep Web?
This is difficult to answer and we are not aware of any current research on this topic. It is estimated that the deep web is up to 500 times larger than the surface web visible to search engines.
Napster, eDonkey & BitTorrent: The Origin of the Dark Web
The Darknet came about when prosecutors began scrutinizing file-sharing networks around the world and taking legal action against their participants. The file sharers were looking for ways to continue their activities undisturbed and designed a hidden counterpart to the publicly accessible peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms such as Napster, eDonkey or BitTorrent. In file sharing networks, central servers usually ensure that all users can exchange MP3 files, videos or images – of course without worrying about copyrights or other legal details.
Surfing the dark web: how it works
The most popular Darknet sites
This part of the deep web has nothing to do with illegal activities. In fact, in countries like China, Iran or even parts of Africa, Facebook can only be reached via it. The anonymity offered by the Tor network, exploited by some criminals on the dark web, is the only way for millions of others to circumvent government censorship measures.