INTRODUCTION TO DARK WEB


Have you heard of Dark Web before.. This is to the people who heard this concept for the first time. There are two types of Web (Internet), first is SURFACE WEB and the other DARK WEB or DARK NET or DEEP WEB. The SURFACE WEB is just 4% of what you see or is on GOOGLE, BING, YAHOO or other browser. For Example – the present moment you are reading the Article, watching videos on YouTube, etc. Everything on Internet which can be accessed with the Domain name “ .in, .org, .com, .co.in, etc. is all SURFACE WEB, While Dark WEB is 96% of Web contents which can be only accessed with the help of authorized tools or software  Eg: TOR browser. Here the Domain used is “ .onion” and even the IP addresses are difficult to find (used by Hackers and Government Officials for Confidentiality).


The Dark Web is also called as an Illegal Internet. To describe Dark Web in nutshell it is an internet platform where all the confidential and illegal transactions are carried out. With the multiplicity in the technological growth, there has been severe complaints of data being leaked. This is where Computer Science plays a key role in understanding the technology from scratch. Whenever you feel that your are safe in digital platform, just question yourself once : Are you safe ? or being tracked ..? I would suggest common sense is not just required in law but in every aspect when you deal with Technology too.

India was way behind to experience the early World Wide Web. 1990s was the beginning of the internet era where there was a sudden and excessive growth in the Web Development (internet development) . All thanks to the HTTP and FTP and the Computers which were able to run the browsers. In 2000 the companies used to exchange data via FAX, CDs, DVDs, Storage devices that too through Post Services. But when the companies took the aid of Internet, they were at ease to grow business, exchange data online. Alas, came the brilliant minds (hackers) who tracked the data of the companies by sniffing tool when the data was exchanged from one branch of the company to the other or clients. Now this led to the development of the VPN in form of Hardware as well as Software. VPN helped a lot to the companies but if there is a loop hole and the hacker couldn’t crack it that’s way impossible. Till today if there is a new technology and the hackers couldn’t crack it, is an ironical compliment!!

Since 1990s the US practiced Internet Freedom, which is umbrella term that consists of Digital Rights, Freedom of Information, the Right to Internet Access, Freedom from Internet Censorship, and net neutrality. Now here the important term that is to be understood is the Freedom from Internet Censorship, Internet Censorship is the Control of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Iternet enacted by regulators, or on their own initiative. Individuals and organizations may engage in Self-Censorship for moral, religious, or business reasons, to conform to societal norms, due to intimidation, or out of fear of legal or other consequences. In US the data on internet has freedom from censorship, while it differs from country-to-country. Like in India we have a lot of issues related to the censorships between the administrating bodies .

Now this freedom of Internet Censorship led to the development of FREENET in March 2000, which is a software developed by the company so that the user gets freedom of expressing on internet without fear as the users are Anonymous. Here is what the company states “Freenet is free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish "freesites" (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Freenet is decentralised to make it less vulnerable to attack, and if used in "darknet" mode, where users only connect to their friends, is very difficult to detect.” - https://freenetproject.org/pages/about.html

This service is still available till date, this helped the user’s privacy but also proved to be the rise for Dark Web. This dark web started with the illegal information, illegal pornography, pirated content.

The Most Important Dark Web Development commenced when there was introduction of “TOR” Browser or also known as “Onion Routing” which was originally developed in order to protect intelligence communications online. The United States Naval Research Laboratory created Tor in the mid-1990s. The project was transferred to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in 1997 and underwent its first round of software testing on 20 September 2002. Tor was publicly launched a year later. This TOR was developed by Syverson and computer scientists Roger Dingledine and Nick Mathewson Which is till date available on the   Play Store of Android.


This is when the Dark Web was mainly used for illegal purpose when, The Naval Research Laboratory released Tor’s code under a free license in 2004. The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation funded Tor’s continued development. Tor’s developers founded the non-profit The Tor Project to maintain Tor. This right of Freedom for Internet Censorship led to the introduction of TOR in Public domain. Another boon to the development of Dark Web was when the Cryptocurrency was released which was a piece of cake to the Hackers to sell and buy illegal stuff on the Dark Web.

Books that every Lawyer must read !! On Dark Web the thing is that the identity of the user is not revealed, being anonymous and the worst part is that the creator of such service cant track any user as the main object of Project being internet censorship. The most shocking fact is that Dark Web DAILY generates $ 500,000 from the Digital Activities. Here communications cannot be identified and only the data is visible and not the person doing it. Also it is 500k larger that the Surface Web.